teacher fired for being survivor of domestic violence

[niyad]

Teacher Fired for Being a Survivor of Domestic Violence

Second-grade teacher Carie Charlesworth was fired by Holy Trinity School in San Diego because of the events that followed her reporting her husband's domestic abuse. Her termination, which took full effect in April, has prompted her to speak out against the district's decision.

School officials sent Charlesworth a letter on April 11 terminating her 14-year tenure as a second-grade teacher, citing concerns about her husband's "threatening and menacing behavior." In January, she went on leave after a situation in which she called the police to report her husband three times. The next day, her abuser appeared in the school's parking lot and sent the school into lockdown. At that moment, Charlesworth and her four children were put on indefinite leave from teaching or attending the Diocese school. Three months later, she was told by the school that they "simply cannot allow" her to return to work. Her children no longer attend the school.

"They've taken away my ability to care for my kids," Charlesworth told local news reporters at KNSD, sharing her anxieties about finding another position before her salary ends in August. "I mean that's why women of domestic violence don't come forward," she added, "because they're afraid of the way people are going to see them, view them, perceive them, treat them."

In 2011, a study commissioned by Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center revealed that 40 percent of domestic violence survivors in California report being fired or fearing termination. Charlesworth is no longer allowed to teach at any other Diocesan school.

http://www.msmagazine.com/news/uswirestory.asp?ID=14405

[diabeticman]

1. Yes, I understand the school wanting to protect itself BUT this is wrong she should sue.

[CoffeeCat]

2. I was just thinking that myself...

She could win a lawsuit for sure and probably secure significant damages for wrongful termination, as well
as pain and suffering.

This was really stupid and thoughtless on the part of the school officials.

[Hekate]

3. Absent a life-term in prison for hubby, what would you have the school do? Wait for another...

... Sandy Hook Elementary School type massacre?

This predicament falls on the school's shoulders precisely because of the failure of the rest of society to deal adequately with the complex of issues surrounding spousal abuse: ability to purchase firearms, inability to meaningfully enforce restraining orders, lackadaisical enforcement of spousal abuse laws (including stalking) by cops, judges, and juries; low funding and low availability of escape hatches for abused spouses, no help at all that I know of for entering something like a protected witness program.

How is this the school's fault?

If I as an administrator am looking at a man who is stalking his wife onto the campus and behaving in a threatening manner such that the school goes into lockdown, and given the other facts, then I have some truly horrible choices to make, but first and foremost I must consider the safety of dozens of children and their teachers.

As a humanitarian gesture the administration might bend over backwards to get the abuser's family out of town and to a safe place. But keep her in the classroom? I think not.

Sure, she can sue the school and the diocese, but while that case is dragging through the courts I presume she and her kids will still be at the same address as always -- very handy for her abuser, no? What do you think his plan is, after he gets out of the slammer? I'll bet dollars to holes in doughnuts that he will go right home and reclaim "what's his." Lovely.

[niyad]

5. I agree with what you are saying, because those were my thoughts as well. This is only, alas,

but another in a long, long line of stories like this--women who lose their jobs, get evicted from their residences, etc., etc. as was pointed out in the article, this is why so many do not even report the abuse.

As a society, we have failed, and continue to fail, miserably in this area. I do have a solution, but, it tends to be frowned upon.

[Hekate]

6. Society has failed horribly in this arena, and no one "wins."

I know there are some small groups that help women leave and escape the prison of their abuse, but it is such a tiny ad hoc effort given the size of the problem. I know there are battered women's shelters, but there are so few of them and funding for more is out of the question -- plus, if a women goes back to her abuser and gives out its location, she and her children are not allowed to ever return (and for good reason).

With my children's lives at stake I think I would do anything to get away, but I also know that women who are physically and/or emotionally battered often lose their ability to even think in those terms, because they are isolated and their souls are in prison.

I feel badly for this woman -- she has built a life in one place, probably co-owns a house and other property with her husband, had a job. She can either stay and wait for him to return, or get out with whatever she can pack in a U-Haul. But realistically she has now been handed a golden opportunity to run while he is locked up. Strange as it sounds, losing her job means a significant tie to the area has been severed and she has no responsibility to stay. If I were her I'd be planning fast and not sharing my plans with anyone except my lawyer. No forwarding address, no going home to my aged mother, nothing where he has the address already.

But she'll probably stay because familiarity is comforting and jumping into the unknown is scary....

[freeplessinseattle]

4. frickin' abusers just have to ruin every aspect of a person's life

I understand both sides, but boy is it ever frustrating and helpless to be at the mercy of an abuser's actions, even at work.

When I was trying to extricate myself from an abusive relationship, some 20 years ago when I was working at a mall shoe store, he would come in and sit right beside the customers I was helping and whine and cry.

So my managers banned him from the store, but he simply stood right at the border between store property and mall property yelling vile names at me. My colleagues were supportive, but it wasn't the best thing for business, and while I tried to remain composed and just ignore him, I was so stressed about losing my job, and my peace of mind!

[Posteritatis]

7. Gotta wonder how many people policies like this kill. (nt)