Georgia teacher fired after reading book on gender to fifth-grade class

Rinderle worked at Due West Elementary School, in Marietta, Ga., and read the storybook “My Shadow Is Purple” by Australian author Scott Stuart to her class in March.

The picture-book is about a child who reflects on his mother’s shadow being “as pink as a blossoming cherry” and his father’s shadow that’s “blue as a berry,” and says their shadow is purple. Some parents complained, although Rinderle said others had also expressed their support for the lesson.

Rinderle, a teacher with 10 years’ experience, was removed from her classroom and the Cobb County School District accused her of violating the district’s policies on teaching controversial issues, and urged her to resign or face termination of employment. She was issued an official notice of termination on June 6.

Rinderle sought to overturn her firing, and a tribunal of retired educators, appointed by the Cobb County Board of Education, determined following a hearing that although she had violated district policies, she should not be fired.

However, on Thursday the Cobb County School Board of Education voted along partisan lines to reject the tribunal’s decision, with three Democrats opposing the decision to fire her and four Republican lawmakers upholding it.

School district lawyer Sherry Culves, speaking earlier this month at the hearing, argued that “the Cobb County School District is very serious about the classroom being a neutral place for students to learn. A one-sided viewpoint on political, religious or social beliefs does not belong in our classrooms.”

Conservative legislators in some school districts in Florida, Virginia and Texas among other places have taken steps in recent years to pass laws to limit how issues of race, gender and sexuality are taught in schools.

Books with LGBTQ+ content have also become increasingly controversial in some states — earlier this year, the federal government ruled that a Georgia school district’s removal of titles with Black and LGBTQ characters may have created a “hostile environment” for students, as the country faces a historic rise in attempts to pull books from school libraries and classrooms.

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“I am disappointed in the district’s decision to terminate me for reading an inclusive and affirming book — one that is representative of diverse student identities,” Rinderle said in a statement via her legal representatives, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

“The district is sending a harmful message that not all students are worthy of affirmation in being their unapologetic and authentic selves. This decision, based on intentionally vague policies, will result in more teachers self-censoring in fear of not knowing where the invisible line will be drawn.”

Rinderle said she had purchased the picture book at the school’s book fair and asked her 10- and 11-year-old students to vote on a variety of books that she offered them. They “overwhelmingly chose” Stuart’s book, according to the SPLC.

“After the reading, the class discussed the book’s message of acceptance of oneself and others and embracing diverse and complex identities and experiences,” it added in a statement. She then tasked her students with writing self-reflective poems to express how they felt after reading the book.

The book’s author and human rights group PEN America were among those voicing their support for Rinderle earlier this year, when news of the notice of termination emerged. PEN America called it “shocking” that she lost her role. “Unfortunately the climate for public education continues to be chilled by these harmful decisions to discipline educators for simply doing their jobs,” the nonprofit said.

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Stuart, in a TikTok video, said the decision was “gross, it’s disgusting.”

“This whole thing just really goes to show how much more interested the school system in the U.S. is in playing politics than they are in educating kids.”

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“Rinderle is the first known public school teacher to be fired under Georgia’s trio of censorship laws passed in 2022,” according to SPLC. The laws seek to prevent the teaching of “divisive concepts” in classrooms and allow for the removal or restriction of educational materials deemed harmful.

“Public schools have become the political battleground between those who support the teaching of historically accurate, inclusive school curriculums and right-wing politicians who seek to erase our nation’s uncomfortable history,” SPLC said in a statement.

“What happened to me is not just about me,” Rinderle said in the same statement. “Censorship is not only a threat to our students, teachers and public school classrooms — but to our democracy at its core.”

One local grandmother, Pamela Reardon, welcomed the decision and described herself as a “patriot” during Thursday’s board meeting, adding that it was for parents not teachers to decide if they want to teach “cultural fads” to their children. She told reporters afterward: “I don’t want the teachers indoctrinating. I want the parents to be parents and the teacher’s to teach — that’s it.”

The Cobb County School District covers 112 schools and some 107,000 students, making it Georgia’s second-largest school district. Rinderle can still appeal her termination to the state Board of Education and seek legal redress.