Posted on 04/11/2012 9:44:41 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
ROCKWALL — Cathy Samford, a volleyball coach and science teacher, was fired from Heritage Christian Academy for getting pregnant and not being married, the school acknowledged.
"I looked it up and thought, 'They can't do this,'" said Samford, 29.
For almost three years, she coached volleyball at the private school. Samford was named "Coach of the Year" and recently began teaching science.
But when she got pregnant last fall, the school fired her because she was not married.
"We all have different views and interpretations," Samford said. "It's not necessarily the Christian thing to do to throw somebody aside because of those."
"You can't discriminate against someone who's pregnant or has a pregnancy-related medical condition," said Colin Walsh, her attorney. "That is both state and federal law."
But Heritage Christian said this case is not so simple.
"I understand some people that would say 'It's a heartless thing to do,'" said the school's headmaster, Dr. Ron Taylor. "It wasn't easy to do."
Taylor acknowledged that Samford could not get fired for an out-of-wedlock pregnancy in a public school. But HCA is a private, religious campus, and Taylor said the school considers teachers to be ministers, since they're allowed to share their beliefs in the classroom.
"The Supreme Court, as a matter of fact in the last month, has ruled 9-to-0 that a Christian school does have that right, because this is a ministry, so we have the right to have standards of conduct," Taylor added.
Taylor said Samford violated the morals clause in her contract and was not a "Christian role model" to her students.
"How's it going to look to a little fourth grade girl that sees she's pregnant and she's not married?" Taylor asked.
Mediation did not result in a resolution between the two parties. The school said it also refused to settle the case.
Taylor said HCA was contacted by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding the firing.
Samford and Walsh said they're now considering legal action. The fired teacher and expectant mother said she did nothing wrong, and faces financial problems now, including giving birth without insurance.
/s
She signed a contract that probably had clear rules of behavior. My wife works at a private school and has a contract that has things like no drinking, no smoking, etc. There is no mystery, it is just a matter of honoring your word in the contract you agreed to.
Freep the poll at link.
Should Heritage Christian Acaemy have fired Cathy Samford for being unmarried and pregnant?
Right now it’s
Yes: 52%
No: 48%
I’m a Christian and I don’t believe this is right.
Christians beat their chest about abortion and contraception and then ostracize women who become pregnant out of wedlock.
So much for loving the mother and child...
And I doubt the fourth grader is going to know or care that she was or wasn’t married.
Oh noes! A Christian academy actually enforcing Christian morality among its own faculty?
What is this world coming to???
She should name her baby, Jesus.
Inb4 the father is one of her students...
And is it Christian to bring a baby into this world without a husband and the protection of marriage? Just watch Maurie every day to see the ridiculous results of disgusting behavior.
This is basically no different that Obummer trying to force the Christian organizations to provide and pay for abortions, birth control pills, etc., which run against their very dear teachings.
I hope this teacher stays fired because of a signed behavior code and cannot come back.
Anyone know is she was plannign on raising the kid herself, or putting it up for adoption? The school could have considered giving her a paid leave of absence for the rest of the year..
Wouldn’t it have been simpler for her to just get married.
I have no problem with them firing her but they should have kept her on until she had the baby so it was covered under insurance. Now the school will appear heartless.
This is a Christian school, and every school has a handbook that is handed out every year, to teachers. Among the many requirements is a "Morality Clause". This means, no drunken orgies, no drug use, don't molest students at home, do not be seen by students going into local bars, drinking in public, swearing in public - and many other items.
She knew she was in violation of the school policy - now seems shocked to see that the policy is being enforced. There are other schools with lower standards out there; but is seems pretty hypocritical to tell young teenage girls not to have sex, or to use birth control - then have an unwed and pregnant teacher as a role model.
What if she was raped and decided to keep the baby? Should she be punished? Your sense of morality is full of holes and you also know nothing about the circumstances here.
“Christians beat their chest about abortion and contraception and then ostracize women who become pregnant out of wedlock.”
All too often, which in turn inclines the mother in the direction of an early abortion and life with a guilty secret.
So. You would have no problem with sending your child to a school with hypcrites for teachers?
“Christians beat their chest about abortion and contraception and then ostracize women who become pregnant out of wedlock.”
I guess your solution would be for us to just shut up about abortion and contraception.
Hoo boy.
Best comment of the day.
The “Harper Valley PTA” song comes to mind.....
Another example where someone who doesn’t follow the rules, wants everyone else to break theirs so she doesn’t have to take responsibility.
She had the choice to not have sex while being unmarried and knew she had a chance to get pregnant and lose her job. She loses.
Go find baby daddy to get your hospital bill and pre natel care along with child support. Instead she chooses to do it with a lawsuit so we all pay.
Hey now. Just because Tsgt made an ignorant reply is no reason for you do do the same.
we’ll be paying a lot more when she receives welfare and food stamps.
Why does everyone assume she wasn’t raped. That would mean she truly did nothing wrong.
That's why we have a little thing called "police reports."
She apparently chose not to.
She was raped? Really? I must have missed that in the story.
She would have mentioned it.
She wasn’t raped.
Jeez, just the other day I was walking down the street, minding my own business when I tripped over a f**k.
Had I been a young woman I could have accidentally become pregnant.
(see tagline)
Further, letting her go from employment does not equal "she's going to have to go get an abortion." It means that she broke her contract and set a bad example for the kids, and the school exercised it's 1st amendment right to determine its own composition.
As with other times when stories like this get posted and the predictable cries of feigned horror are vomited up onto the thread, I strongly suspect that what really offends a lot of folks is not that this woman was fired, but that the school would actually have the audacity to enforce moral standards - standards which a lot of even professing Christians find themselves not wanting to have to abide.
The school has a right to their policy for teachers which I’m sure she was aware of. They could have quietly removed her from the teaching position and put her in another job. If I were the administrator and it fell within policy, that’s what I’d have done (along with doing my best to leave the media out of it).
What if she was raped and decided to keep the baby? Should she be punished? Your sense of morality is full of holes and you also know nothing about the circumstances here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What if? Really?
OK, I can play that game. What if she was the Virgin Mary???
Sheesh.
And YOU castigate others for knowing “nothing about the circumstances here”?
She should be on her knees giving thanks that this wasn’t a Muslim school.
You didn't watch the video did you? She didn't say it was rape, she said 'she had different standards'.
Hey Deb, I doubt very seriously that she was...that would be in the title of the article if she was dont you think?
what are the odds of finding a female gym teacher that’s actually straight?
BTW, if she doesn't want to keep the baby, there are a ton of place who will pay for all prenatal, birth and post natal care in return for the rights to adopt the child into a two parent home. My niece was fortunate to be so adopted and my sister and BIL paid all expenses.
M/A ping.
And as usual... FReepers are all over the map here with pro and con opinions
>>Christians beat their chest about abortion and contraception and then ostracize women who become pregnant out of wedlock.<<
Please explain what one thing has to do with the other. You can make your own decision about premarital sex, but the church (and this school) has made it pretty clear that its not a good example of Christian behavior. If you’re going to work for such a church or school, you follow their teaching.
There’s no ostracism. This was an employment contract where one party breached their duty of performance.
“Hey now. Just because Tsgt made an ignorant reply is no reason for you do do the same.”
I take the lesson of the woman taken in adultery to heart.
I see Catholics doing a better job handling this kind of problem than most denominations, offering spiritual council and support, prenatal care and often adoption assistance. That is the proper mix, IMO. Correction, example and support. Otherwise we are just Moslems who eat bacon.
There’s a difference between ostracizing someone and declining to use her as a moral example for one’s children.
As a matter of fact, these things do influence our children. When my daughter was 8 her teacher got pregnant and had a baby out of wedlock. Everyone in the public school was “supportive” and “nonjudgmental.” Trouble is, the children in her class then got the idea that it was fine and normal for women to have babies without a husband. Yes, they do notice, they do look up to their teachers, they do get impressed, they are influenced. And that daily message—that it’s okay to get pregnant and have a baby without a husband—outweighs the disapproving messages their parents try to give them after school.
>>So much for loving the mother and child...<
This is nothing but a STUPID comment. If she failed to show up for work or stole from the school and was fired, would you make this comment? What if she threw an eraser and hit your child?
She’s unloved because she was fired for one thing only? Please.
Which she may anyway. Why make the school pay and make them bend their rules?
Since I love sarcasm, I love your reply.
But since this is a private Christian school, your remarks about the government provding free contraception do not apply.
It clearly is the repsonsibility of the Christian School to provide the condoms.
What I propose is this: Once a month the children must bring condoms to school to benefit those teachers who are having unmarried sex.
My daughter was teaching Kindergarten in an inner city Houston school in the 1980s when she was suddenly called into the Principal’s office during school hours. Her BF was there with a ring and a large bouquet of roses. He proposed and she accepted.
Back to class, her kindergarteners wanted to know why she left. “I’m engaged to be married,” she answered and showed them the ring. “Iz yuh gohnto hava BABY?” was the response from one and all.
These kids had never heard of anyone getting married who wasn’t pregnant. And one boy (who was particularly large for his age) was really bummed. He claimed that she’d promised to marry HIM.
Too late. I already pointed that out as well. I guess you know this woman personally and are with her 24 hours a day?
Firing this woman is the same as spitting in God’s eye as far as I’m concerned. Haven’t you hypocrits learned anything from what Jesus taught you?
I didn’t address the rights of the school. I responded to a statement about who will pay for the decision.
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