Posted on 06/09/2010 10:00:05 AM PDT by inflorida
Fourth-grade teacher Jarretta Hamilton was newly married and expecting a baby when she went to speak with her supervisors in April of last year.
But the administrators at Southland Christian School in St. Cloud parried her query about maternity leave with a query of their own: When did she conceive?
After Hamilton admitted that her child had been conceived about three weeks before her February 20, 2009, wedding, the school fired her.
Now she's suing in federal court.
"She wants compensation for the loss of the job, and she's seeking compensatory damages for emotional distress," said Edward Gay, Hamilton's attorney who filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Orlando.
In the complaint, which asks for a trial by jury, Hamilton alleges her termination was based on the fact of her pregnancy — and that the school offended her by disclosing the information about when she conceived to other school staffers and the parents of students Hamilton taught during the 2008-2009 school year.
Hamilton did not authorize the school to reveal that information, according to the complaint.
She also tried to keep the matter from getting to this point, Gay said. She filed discrimination charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Florida Commission on Human Relations, but has since exhausted her options.
A July 20, 2009, letter signed by school administrator Julie Ennis explains why the school's administrators thought they had to fire Hamilton:
"Jarretta was asked not to return because of a moral issue that was disregarded, namely fornication, sex outside of marriage," the letter reads. "The employment application, which she filled out, clearly states that as a leader before our students we require all teachers to maintain and communicate the values and purpose of our school."
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Yes. There should be. You should lose your job every time you sin.
Saying you will do one thing, then doing something contrary is left wing extremeism to the core. There is nothing wrong with passing judgement on a behavior (not a person) that is forbidden by scripture. That it not a public school, but a private Christian one.
There are always consequences to sinning. Are you saying you are the one who gets to dole them out? Are you saying this girl wasn’t repentent for her sin? Did the woman about to be stoned have a consequence? My goodness. GRACE....look it up
Liberalism has corrupted ALL of our thinking. There used to be a time (within my lifetime, living memory), when it was unacceptable for woman to stand in front of children as a teacher and be unwed and pregnant. Now we all act like “It ain’t no body’s business!” That stupidity will lead all of America down the same rat hole that Black America is trapped in: poverty, entitlement mentality, race-based thinking, raw idiocy. Wake up and realize that the Progressives have used our own Christian beliefs against us as weapons.
True enough, but that only addresses part of the theological issue. Obviously, we are all sinners. Obviously, we all need to grace to cover those sins. This is all well and good. Yet, it doesn't change the fact that we all also have to face up to the consequences of our decisions, including when we make the decision to sin. Check out what Paul has to say about the qualifications for a pastor in I Tim. 3, for instance. A man could not be a pastor if he had openly and notoriously sinned at some point (vv.2,7). Does this mean he couldn't be forgiven? Obviously not. But it does mean that, due to the circumstances, he was not qualified to fill that particular role anymore.
The circumstance in this case is that this teacher chose to fornicate while she was employed at this school, violating a contract which she had previously agreed to. Does that mean she cannot be forgiven for that sin? Of course she can - and nobody on here (despite the hysterics from some) has said that she couldn't or shouldn't be. All the same, there are consequences for her action that she has to continue to bear, even after she has been forgiven.
That's the key point that I think you are missing - forgiveness is not a "get out of consequences free" card. A murdered doesn't get to be released from gaol just because he finds Jesus.
I’d venture a guess that most of the teachers and administrators have engaged in a sexual sin at some point ... if her head is on a platter, theirs should likely be right next to it.
Why? Did they all do it while employed at the school? Actually, probably not.
She committed a sin — she is not living a sin. She married the man who impregnated her (only a month or so after being impregnated), and is, as far as we know, is no longer engaging in sexual sin. She’s a married woman and the father is her husband ... which relegates this particular sin to a lack of self-control and an error in judgment, not a lifestyle choice.
Again, true as all this may be, it doesn't negate the fact that she broke her contract (which also means she lied and oath-broke), which is a theological and moral issue in and of itself, not merely a legal one. If she had fornicated in the past before becoming a teacher, but then married the man who was the father, etc., fine and dandy. She messed up, she got it right. Fine. But that's not what happened here, and I think your approach is forgetting a few salient details.
Forgiveness is also a Christian value.
True, and so is living up to the consequences of our actions.
The marriage bed is undefiled
In addition, Florida is a right to work state. An employer can fire you for the color of your eyes or for no reason whatsoever, if they like. That includes Christian school employers, by the way.
Because none of the other people at the school had ever had sex before marriage, nor committed any other sins.
It would seem to me that a Christian school would recall the time that Jesus challenged the Pharisees to cast the first stone. If the article is to be believed, it appears that the admin of this school are the sort who would have taken it upon themselves to start the festivities.
Interestingly, this article does seem to include all of the salient facts, including an unambiguous statement by the school.
Whether the stated reason is merely a cover for other employment issues is, of course, quite possible. But for them to have taken such an inquisitorial tone .... doesn't seem very Christian to me.
But if you ask me, I think the teacher is well shut of that place.
We are instructed to do so privately and in love. This woman was spiritually abused in a most public and VILE hypocritical way!
That's EXACTLY what he's saying.
What an arrogant jerk you are. I just asked a question. Since I have no authority over this woman or anyone else for that matter, I don’t get to “dole out anything”.
I do believe that a Christian school has the right to fire someone for behavior they consider unacceptable.
Or, check what Jesus had to say to the woman who was caught in the act of adultery, which is directly on-point. That woman's sin appears to be far more egregious than what happened in the case of this teacher.
She's better off not working for Pharisees, if you ask me.
My goodness...Romans 6:1...look it up
In reality, we all know what the consequences of her sinning is: She gets to raise a teenager!!! That should be consequence enough!!
Actually, it's not on-point at all, unless you wish to posit that each member of the administration of the school had also committed fornication while employed at the school as well, thereby also violating their contracts on this point as well, since that's the whole point to the biblical story.
This woman is the one who made this public outside the church (or school).
God help her...
I think there are 2 issues.
Does the school have a right to fire the woman? I think they have a right to fire her for whatever reason they want because they are a private enterprise.
From a moral Christian perspective, should the school have fired her. That’s where I think they were wrong. She made a mistake. She repented and got married and she is not actively doing that sin.
They asked when she got pregnant, and she told them.
There was decetion, however. She was unmarried when she was hired, and she lied to them by indicating she was not pregnant.
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