http://news.yahoo.com/catholic-high-school-cans-teacher-big-gay-wedding-090205650.html
This article talks about how a Catholic high school in California fired one of their teachers after his "Big Gay Wedding" got published in the newspaper. It talks about how the teacher had taught at the school for 17 years, 10 of which the school knew he was gay. Then it talks about how "the employees have a contractual obligation to abide by [Roman Catholic] values in public. Then it talks about Catholic Doctrine on Homosexuality, according to Catholic.com. Then it talks about how some of his former and current students are petitioning, marching, etc to get him his job back, and his lawyer says he may sue to get it back.
(sorry for such a choppy overview.)
See, I personally am not afraid of gay people getting married. That is their business, they can live their life. I also think that it's good when employers don't take that sort of thing into consideration when hiring, after all, who are we to judge another? What I won't like though, is if he wins the lawsuit and this private, Catholic School is forced to give him his job. After all, the article says (emphasis added): In
"In a statement, School officials called St. Lucy's Priory "a community of faith for those who wish to express, practice, and adhere to values in education based on the Roman Catholic tradition." School employees noted that employees have a contractual obligation to abide by those values in public. "while the school does not discriminate against teachers or other school employees based on their private lifestyle choices, public displays of behavior that are directly contrary to church teachings are inconsistent with these values," the statement says, according to the Times"
So, to me, it sounds like it is safe to say that he knew that he had to abide by their values in public to teach there, and since he didn't, he got fired, just as any other teacher could have for violating another value. I think that that school has a right to define what they think is acceptable behavior for their teachers and what is not and hold them to it. If he gets his job back because the legal system forces this private Catholic school to give it to him, even though he has violated their 'honor code', then that is not right. But, if he gets his job back because of all the students marching for it and stuff, that is fine with me..
Although I understand that they want to portray Christian morals with their staff, I don't see why they would limit who could work there based on how they publicize their lifestyles. I think it's a bit contradictory for them to allow a gay man to work there (that they know is gay) and be ok with it, but once he decides to share it with a few other people it's a problem. Their policy should be more black and white, like just not hiring people who do not share said Christian values instead of forcing their employees to hide who they are.
ReplyDeleteI understand, (hopefully, to some degree) that this teacher has the right to his job. I would suspect, through some fine print, that this teacher's post comes with certain restrictions and expectations, and some of those were to abide by the standards of the Catholic church? (Does that language ring a bell, anyone?)
ReplyDeleteTo further illustrate my point, what would happen if a BYU professor were to do something against the standards of the LDS church? Say, for example, that the professor was caught drinking in a bar, and that was publicized. What would BYU do? What would BYU have to do, to maintain a reputation? I think that in no uncertain terms, despite the opaqueness of the fine print, that the school would either fire or suspend the professor. The suspension wouldn't be a slap on the wrist, either. So, I fully believe that the school is within their rights and obligations to dismiss an employee who fails to keep the standards and expectations of the school, within a reasonable margin, of which this professor went beyond the bounds of.
However, I would have to find some more information. If it is true that the school already knew of the 'gay professor,' I want to know what had already been done to remedy the situation. Had the teacher been given disciplinary action already? Why wasn't it working? Were there other things involved, like bribery, or the fact that the school didn't want to get rid of a completely competent teacher who failed to obey the rules?
My final verdict is that the teacher should be dismissed from teaching at the Catholic school, and that the incident should go on the teacher's record as a failure to abide by the constraints of his teaching contract. Furthermore, I would also expect someone (on the legal side) to through the teaching contract, both as it existed and how it exists now, so that a situation like this can be definitively dealt with in the future.
I agree with you that the school has the right to not give this teacher his job back. He was hired on a contract and is expected to abide by the rules it states. He violated his contract and therefore, the school has the right to fire him and to keep his job from him.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the fact that the school knew he was gay for 10 years, but didn't fire him until his lifestyle was publicized is a bit ridiculous. They had a chance to fire him, back when they discovered his way of life. But they didn't. Had this been the revealing moment, I would say they definitely had the right to fire him. But since they already knew 10 years prior to this, I would say they lost their chance. It's almost as if they are saying, it's ok for us to violate the contract... but only as long as it's kept a secret. I'm sure that's not the message they want to be sending to everyone, but that's kind of the way it's coming across. Anyways, I think they went about the whole thing the wrong way, but it'll be interesting to see whether or not they let him have his job back or not.