Rachel Stonecipher used to teach English and journalism at MacArthur High School in Texas until she was placed on administrative leave this past September and was recently informed that the district would be terminating her contract at the end of the year.
This action all stems from an incident where Stonecipher and a colleague placed rainbow stickers on their classroom doors in support of gay and transgender students.
Stonecipher’s removal last fall caused hundreds of students to walk out of school in protest, and since then, reports are that gay and transgender students say they have been called “homophobic slurs and bullied with school staff members failing to intervene,” per the Dallas News.
In a statement, the Irving Independent School District said that while it doesn’t retaliate against employees for expressing their personal viewpoints, though district policy “prohibits teachers from using the classroom to transmit their personal beliefs.”
The statement went on to say: “Labeling certain classrooms as safe havens for certain groups could communicate to students who do not see themselves reflected in that classroom’s decorations that they are unwanted or unsafe in those rooms.”
Stonecipher says she plans to move into a role in higher education upon the conclusion of the current school year. She said, “I don’t want to leave K-12 education, because I care. But it’s people like me who leave K-12 education because they care.”