Sometimes the Good Guys Win

 Sometimes the Good Guys Win

 

A transgender woman taught for eight years for the Prince George’s County school system during which time she was transitioning from male to female.   During that time she endured years of harassment abuse and retaliation at three different schools.  Appeals to the administration for protection yielded only more abuse from administrators, fellow teachers  and even students and parents.  Despite multiple reports and documentation of the events, school official did nothing and even took away some of the “plum” teaching assignments such as AP English.   Finally the teacher filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) describing the harassment and the hostile work environment.  The EEOC issued a letter finding that there was a reasonable cause to believe that the teacher had been subject to unlawful treatment based on her sex and gender identity in violation of Title VII, in effect recognizing and confirming the discriminatory treatment on the part of system and families.  The school district retaliated by taking away some of her better assignments and opened a disciplinary hearing against the teacher.   No reason for the discipline was found in the hearing.

Prince George’s Board of Education filed for judgement in their favor prior to the case coming to trial.  The District Judge denied the request citing ample evidence  that the defendants had not taken measures reasonably calculated to end the harassment.   Finally, the District decided to negotiate an out of court settlement which was finally resolved this fall.

First of all, the teacher will receive a monetary settlement for her abuse and for pain and suffering.  And more importantly to the teacher, the school district agreed to institute an agreed upon policy and training changes to protect transgender students and staff within Prince George’s County Public Schools.

The teacher issued a statement: “This settlement vindicates my pleas for help and sensitivity training on LGBTQ+ issues for students and staff. Every student and every teacher should feel safe, welcomed, and respected in a school environment. I am hopeful that with the new policy and training changes adopted by the Board of Education in response to my case, there are now strong measures to prevent and address discrimination or harassment towards transgender staff or students. “

Schools need to be safe for everyone and administrators are responsible for making that happen.  In this instance the good guys won.