Many schools and districts have rules and regulations put in place that teachers are meant to follow. Not following these protocols can sometimes end in suspension or firing.
While some rules are important and understood as to why they’re there, others can be seen as inappropriate and wrong.
One Missouri teacher claims she was “harassed” during her last year as a teacher at the Roman Catholic school where she was employed. She claims she was later fired for being, “pregnant out of wedlock.”
Michelle Bolen told media outlets that she was fired after informing her administration she was pregnant.
Bolen claims she told a priest at St. Therese Catholic School in Kansas City. The priest was concerned with the type of “scandal” that would come about.
As Catholic schools push religion on the forefront, the priest was concerned about Bolen having “sex outside of a marriage.”
The priest believed there would be “backlash” from families in the community.
Bolen claims that when she approached Rev. Joseph Cisetti, he had said she made the “right choice” for keeping the baby.
As abortion is frowned upon in the Catholic religion, he said keeping the baby was the “right thing to do.”
However, he also said the pregnancy “violated her employment contract.”
The lawsuit states that the priest later “implied” that getting an abortion would have meant no one “had to know” about her pregnancy and she would have had “no repercussions.”
The priest also insisted that Bolen wear “loose fitting” clothing to school.
Both the priest and the former school principal also sent a letter to the school’s entire staff, outing Bolen for her pregnancy and also shaming her.
The letter called her pregnancy “less than ideal.”
Due to the fact that Bolen was “not married to the child’s father.”
The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, who run the school, refused to “renew” Bolen’s contract.
However, Bolen had been working for the diocese for 15 years.
Now, Bolen has decided to sue both the school and the diocese.
The lawsuit, which was filed in 2016, has not been closed. The diocese has tried to have the lawsuit dismissed, claiming the First Amendment protects them.
The diocese has also stated that Bolen was fired for “other reasons.”
Numerous statements have come about stating her termination had “nothing to do with her pregnancy.”
The Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Charles McKenzie has allowed this lawsuit to reach trial.
The trial is scheduled to start August 26, 2019.
