Posted on 05/11/2005 10:24:29 AM PDT by hoosierboy
BERRIEN SPRINGS -- At a meeting last week with school officials, Christine John was congratulated on her March marriage, John says.
Then, said the first-year kindergarten teacher at the Village Seventh-day Adventist Elementary School, she was asked why she was four months along in her pregnancy when she had been married just two months before.
John said the meeting ended when she was told her services were no longer necessary.
In a statement prepared by the Niles-based Edwin Bertram agency, she said she wasn't allowed to retrieve her belongings or return to the school during regular school hours.
"I was very surprised. Shocked,'' she said Tuesday. "I had no clue what the meeting was about.''
Now, the 24-year-old John is considering legal action. School officials said John wasn't fired but was placed on administrative leave.
Michael Nickless, communication director for the Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, released the following statement:
"The Seventh-day Adventist Church operates nearly 50 Christian schools in the state of Michigan. In these schools, we follow the teachings of Jesus as understood by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
"Each of our teachers is issued a 'Ministry of Teaching' license. In our school system, our teachers are expected to be a positive spiritual example for our congregations and youth.
"When she (John) chose behavior contrary to those values, she was placed on administrative leave. Even though policy allows for immediate dismissal, out of compassion, her present contract continues to be honored and she will receive full pay and benefits until the contract expires.''
John said her contract with the school system runs through June 8. She questioned why she was singled out.
"Working there, I've seen a lot of things that were done that were against our policy and those people haven't been fired,'' she said.
A 2003 graduate of Seventh-day Adventist Andrews University in Berrien Springs, John, 24, said she hadn't encountered any disciplinary problems with her job until last week.
The Stevensville resident said she and her husband, whom she didn't identify, had been dating two-and-a-half years.
After she became pregnant, she said she talked to school Principal John Chen about taking a maternity leave.
"I never tried to hide the situation,'' she said.
At her meeting with Chen and two other administrators from the Lake Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, John said she was told premarital sex is an act strictly forbidden by the school system and the Seventh-day Adventist religion.
Whether she has legal recourse or not, she said she'll look next for a job "with people who accept me.''
It'll most likely be with a public school system, she added, rather than a private one.
She knew the rules, broke them anyway, and is now crying "foul".
That may be part of it.
Where is the gender bias here?
Legally/technically, there may be none.
As I said, it would depend on that state's particular laws (if any) regarding gender and/or bias against pregnant women. As well as how the state's courts have ruled on such laws (again, if they exist). And lastly, whether or not those rules expressly apply to religion-based employers or have been interpreted through prior court rulings to apply to religion-based employers.
The Holy Ghost did it! It's a MIRACLE!
IMHO, any private employer anywhere has a right to terminate any employee at any time whether or not there is cause.
Private Church school...their rules.
An unmarried, pregnant woman represents moral turpitude to the 7th Day Adventists. That Church is very strict, and practices shunning/excommunication.
A friend of mine in highschool was Adventist. He was kicked out of home and church when he was discovered to have a drug problem.
Immaculate conception?
The first kid can come at any time, the rest take 9 months.
Absolutely their business... You work for a strict Christian school and you are found to be violating the tenants of the church.... see ya later.
This rediculousness that as an employee you have an absolute wall between what you do at work and what you do outside of it is rediculous. You are employed AT WILL... don't like it start your own business where you can be the boss.
That's not true. There's a multitude of local, state & federal laws that protect employees under a variety of circumstances including those related to: age, ethnicity, race, gender, etc.
Nrmally none of their business, but this is a strict 7th Day Adventist School, and she agreed to adhere to their strict rules.
Smart, though, for them to let her contract expire and not fire her. Avoids most any lawsuit.
The school cannot forgive her as she did not sin against them. She is not being expelled from fellowship. I read nothing in the story to the effect that she was no longer welcome in the congregation. The school merely wanted to remove her from a position of authority because her actions were contrary to the churches doctrines.
How one could interpret the message of abortion from the church's actions is beyond me.
She is still receiving pay and benefits for the duration of her contract. I can't see how she would have any grounds for a lawsuit.
My Mom lost her's in 1942, Florence, SC, when she and Dad got married. School board changed policy later during WWII.
She taught until she couldn't stand it any longer. Then taught at a Vo-Tech where the students "wanted" to be there.
Still home schools Latin students at age 89.
One of her students took top National honors.
"When she (John) chose behavior contrary to those values, she was placed on administrative leave. Even though policy allows for immediate dismissal, out of compassion, her present contract continues to be honored and she will receive full pay and benefits until the contract expires.''
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I have no problem with this. It's too bad that our public schools don't have the ability to fire teachers who exhibit this kind of behaviour.
"Too many times, people sue to get some crappy job back, working for a boss they hate. Why?"
For the money. They technically get the job back, but in reality the institution doesn't want them back any more than they want to be back, so they get paid to go away. That's all she wants-- money.
"She'll be welcome with open arms in our great public education system."
No doubt about that. She's fit right in too and would have to be pretentious about her so called "beliefs". She could be herself and inspire other unwed mothers with her tawdry behavior.
My libertarian side says they should be able to fire whomever they want. If you agree to the rules, don't piss and moan when they are enforced.
I disagree. A teacher was fired from a Catholic School in Delaware about a year ago when it was broght to the school's attention she was a signer of a pro-abortion petition printed in the local newspaper.
She sued and lost.
Wrong, the take home message is that you FOLLOW THE RULES. This is called ACCOUNTABILITY. This seemingly is something whose concept has eluded you.
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