It says a teacher in the district was unjustly fired over allegations of violating a Safe Touch Policy toward students and for mentioning God.
This happened at Belleville Public Schools.
According to the demand letter sent by Liberty Counsel on August 8, the unnamed teacher was abruptly terminated on Jan. 7 of this year.
"Well, this is a case of a Christian teacher, beloved teacher who the children adore. She teaches first through third-graders as a substitute teacher,” said Richard Mast with Liberty Counsel.
He explained the teacher is contracted through Kelly Services. It's an employment agency that provides substitute teachers to school districts across the country.
“She came to Liberty Counsel because she was terminated from her substitute teaching job for two reasons that were verbal. Only one was written. The two reasons that they said were that she had violated the Safe Touch Policy with regard to touching the children, and then that she had talked about the Bible or God."
The talking about God part was never written.
Mast said someone from the school district called over to Kelly Services and told Kelly Services that they didn't want her back because she had violated the policy and that she had said what she said.
“In the termination letter, Kelly services never mentioned the accusation of talking about God. They solely focused on violating the so-called Safe Touch Policy."
He said a picture is worth a thousand words.
“We believe this was a pretext because there are a number of teachers -- and in our letter, there's pictures of two principals in the school district appropriately hugging the children."
Mast said removed teacher never violated this policy.
He indicated that the real reason for this is that somebody overheard or found out that the teacher had told the children that they had an opportunity to participate in an after-school Bible club with the permission of a parent.
He said this case is an example of anti-Christian bias.
“We’re going to defend this teacher. We're going to defend other teachers, and we're hopeful of a good outcome."
District focuses on hiring firm
AFN reached out to Belleville Public Schools for comment.
We received an email reply signed Erick Alfonso, Superintendent of Schools for the Belleville Board of Education.
It said in part the teacher was not an employee of Belleville Public Schools, that Belleville is not involved in the hiring or termination decisions of Kelly Services.
Since this is now the subject of legal claims, Belleville Public Schools will not be providing further comment, Alfonso said.
Mast said Belleville still has time.
“There’s still an off ramp for them to do the right thing and make sure that this teacher gets rehired so that constitutional rights are respected."
