Posted on 08/02/2005 1:41:35 PM PDT by Coleus
A teacher at Mountain View Middle School in Mendham Borough left his classroom in June as a man, and plans to return to school next month as a woman.
Some parents and teachers have accepted teacher Kerri McCaffrey's decision to embrace his feminine identity and undergo gender reassignment surgery. A few others have concerns about whether middle school-age children should have to deal with such issues.
McCaffrey said she can't imagine why she wouldn't come back to school.
"I just want to be Kerri McCaffrey, a great teacher like I've always been," said the 41-year-old language arts teacher. "I'm a good influence on children, and I've dedicated my life to them."
After struggling with her identity since the age of the 7, marrying and becoming a parent of two, and teaching for 12 years, McCaffrey underwent gender reassignment surgery in February and returned to school wearing a jacket and tie to avoid disruption, she said.
"If I came out with this in February, I wouldn't have been able to teach because it would have caused such a commotion," McCaffrey said. "I could not be selfish and hurt the kids in the middle of the year."
The summer, she decided, would be a good transition period for students and parents to hear about the surgery, get answers and accept it. But McCaffrey, who grew up in Madison as Herb McCaffrey and lives near Mendham Borough, said she has tried to stay low key these past few months.
"I didn't think it was fair to run into people in town who knew me as Herb, as a Little League coach, just weeks after I did this," she said.
Superintendent Janie Edmunds said she could not comment specifically about McCaffrey because personnel issues and medical issues are involved.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
You're nothing but an intolerant meanie! This is an excellent opportunity to teach the kids it is never okay to judge somebody.
/PC
Color me evil. Still, I'd never let a person like that near my dog,much less teach my kids.
If my child were in this person's class I'm pretty sure I would be paying a visit to the administration. Absent any satisfactory recourse I would be forced to use this as an opportunity to reinforce to my children the lesson that some people are just screwed up in the head.
I think it's appalling that this kind of stuff is given a veneer of normalcy by people like this writer.
Set aside the religious/moral issues for one moment. Wanting to cut off a part of your body and mutilate it in other ways is a sign of MENTAL ILLNESS. And yet we have psychiatrists, doctors, and journalists encouraging this stuff. Madness.
> If these middle-school kids are like the ones I went to school with back when it was called junior high, that teacher is probably going to suffer.
That sounds about right. We gave our respect to teachers whom we respected...
"I could not be selfish and hurt the kids in the middle of the year."
Your kids, you mean? Oh wait, they don't matter as much.
"Hi - I am your teacher and I am a self mutilated freak. You have reached childhood's end. Welcome to the nightmare...."
Yet another reason for home schooling!
"I'm a good influence on children, and I've dedicated my life to them"
Talk about BS, oxymorons, and doubletalk. This guy's children are DEVASTATED, I'm sure, that their father not only wanted to be a woman but had surgery to become one. I'd say that's proof positive that this guy is a horrible influence on children.
I've known a few adults whose fathers "came out" in the 1980s or 1990s, left the mothers, and declared they were gay. These adult children were basically devastated.
It would be even worse if the father told them he was surgically becoming a woman.
This is all about the glorification of perversion, pure and simple.
Having them around young children probably could send some of their parents into a frenzy.
Many other parents, though, will just lean back and suck on a doobie imported from BC.
OK class everyone raise your hands, see mine is raised too. Now how many of you know what sex you are, if you do put your hands down. See mine is still raised? Oh and so are some of yours. Thats good. This is a time of discovery for us all. In this class we are not going to discuss mathematics, or science, or english. All I want to talk about is how I finally have clothes on that seem right....(/sar)
"He" is still a "he".
"He" is voluntary amputee with severe mental problems (and a freakish ability to properly accessorize), but still a "he".
Wow, I guess they have to tear up one of the scripts for next season's South Park.
Well there goes my lunch.
Warped me for life, man,.....warped me for life
You still have a "Y" chromosome? >>
He will always be a male. What kind now, who knows?
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