Dismissal

Article #6

Dismissal

Alexander Bonde-Balutowski

College of Southern Nevada

May 8, 2019

Abstract
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The following essay will cover a situation encountered by a Kindergarten teacher named

Karen White. After her newly acquired affiliation with Jehovah’s Witnesses, Miss. White

informed her parents and students that she could no longer lead certain activities or participate in

certain projects because they were religious in nature according to her Religion. When

confronted with this information, parent protested and her boss, Bill Ward the school principal,

recommended her dismissal based on her ineffectively of meeting the needs of her students.

Throughout the following essay, we will explore both Mr.Wards side of the argument for

dismissing her as well as Miss. White’s side of this situation.

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Rather than a court case, the first thing that comes to mind when viewing this scenario is

that the school would be violating the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. “Congress shall

make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,”

(U.S. Const. Amend. 1.) By dismissing Miss. White on the sole reason that she could not

participate in certain activities because of her religious choice would directly violate this

amendment. Miss. White in no way took away from the education of her students and if parents

truly insisted that certain events happened in the classroom a fellow coworker of Miss. White

could have stepped in and done those tasks in her place. Out of the following court cases listed

below, this is the biggest reason that I believe the school would be wrong in dismissing Miss.

White.

The first court case that comes to mind in defense of Miss. White would be Wigg v.

Sioux Falls Sch. Dist. This particular court case deals with a scenario where a Miss. Wigg, a

third-grade teacher, wanted to participate in a student religious club. Miss. Wigg’s boss told her

that she could not participate in this club due to the possibility that it could cause the perception

that the school was endorsing a religion. When this case made it to the courts, the case sided with

Miss. Wigg and found that because Miss. Wigg was participating in the club as a private

individual it was within her rights to do so. One of the biggest ways that this case aids Miss.

Whites defense is that it highlights that teachers have rights to religion just as much as any

student. By dismissing Miss. White because she can not participate in a few minor events would

heavily be violating her rights.

One case that could be used as an aid on Mr. Ward’s side of the case would be Downing

v. W. Haven Bd. of Educ. This case follows a court case in which a teacher was asked to change

and or cover her T-shirt with the slogan of “Jesus 2000” on it. At first, the teacher fought against
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the school and said that it violated her freedom of religion and expression. The courts, however,

sided with the school and found that there was no violation of her rights. As an employee of the

school, the teacher was required to stay within the dress code which she failed to do so.

Additionally, it could be viewed that by her wearing this shirt that the school was endorsing the

religion. One of the biggest ways that this case helps Mr. Ward is that it highlights how a school

can act if they believe a teacher is pressing religion on a student. It could be viewed that by

reframing from doing certain events in the classroom could be a way of press her religion on her

students.

Finally, the last court case that can be used in aid of the school would be DeNoyer v.

Livonia Public Schools. This court case follows a situation in which a second-grade teacher

showed a video of her singing a Proselytizing religious song. Although the teacher stated that she

showed the video as a way to develop self-esteem amongst her students by giving an oral

presentation, the courts found that it was not in line with the assignment. Although this case is

different from the above scenario, it shows an example of something Mr.Ward is attempting to

prevent by dismissing Miss. White. By allowing Miss. White to not include certain traditions in

her classroom, it could lead be replaced by Miss. White instead including traditions of her

Religion.

When it comes to this court case, I fully side with Mr. Ward did not have appropriate

grounds to dismiss Miss. White. In no way was Miss. White interfering with her students

learning and most of the things that she reframed from had no backing in the educational realm.

Additionally, by dismissing Miss. White due to a few minor things she could not participate due

to her religion heavily violated her First Amendment Right. This was truly an interesting case to

learn about and it was intriguing to see how other religious cases like this ended in court.
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Work Cited

382 F.3d 807 (2004)- IN THE MATTER OF WIGG v. SIOUX FALLS SCHOOL DIST,
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. Retrieved on May 8 2019 from
https://www.leagle.com/decision/20041189382f3d80711127
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162 F.Supp.2d 19 (2001) IN THE MATTER OF DOWNING v. WEST HAVEN

BOARD OF ED. United States District Court, D. Connecticut.. Retrieved on May 8 2019
from https://www.leagle.com/decision/2001181162fsupp2d191179

799 F.Supp. 744 (1992) IN THE MATTER OF DeNOOYER BY DeNOOYER v.

LIVONIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS ,United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, S.D
Retrieved on May 8 2019 from
https://www.leagle.com/decision/19921543799fsupp74411447