At Least This One Isn't Boffing A Student (As Far As We Know)

http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw115641_20050511.htm

School punishes teacher for getting pregnant before married

May 11, 2005, 12:45 PM

BERRIEN SPRINGS, Mich. (AP) -- A kindergarten teacher at private Christian elementary school has been placed on paid administrative leave until her contract expires because she became pregnant before she got married.

Christine John, a first-year teacher at the Village Seventh-day Adventist Elementary School in Berrien Springs, said she was asked at a meeting with school officials last week why she was four months along in her pregnancy when she had been married just two months before.

John, 24, said school officials told her that premarital sex is an act strictly forbidden by the school system and the Seventh-day Adventist religion. In the end, she was told her services were no longer necessary.

Now she's considering legal action.

"I was very surprised. Shocked," John told the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune for a Wednesday story. "I had no clue what the meeting was about."

School officials said John was placed on administrative leave until her contract expires.

Michael Nickless, communication director for the Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, said that under the school's policies, unmarried teachers who get pregnant can be fired immediately.

"In our school system, our teachers are expected to be a positive spiritual example for our congregations and youth," Nickless said in a prepared statement. "When she (John) chose behavior contrary to those values, she was placed on administrative leave.

"Even though policy allows for immediate dismissal, out of compassion, her present contract continues to be honored and she will receive full pay and benefits until the contract expires."

John said her contract runs through June 8.

A 2003 graduate of the Seventh-day Adventist Andrews University in Berrien Springs, John said she hadn't encountered any disciplinary problems with her job until last week.

The Stevensville resident said that after she became pregnant, she talked to the school's principal about taking a maternity leave.

"I never tried to hide the situation," she said.

I expect folks to disagree, but good on the school for standing by their principles. It's a religious school. She went to their religious college. She's part of the religion, as near as I can tell.

(The Seventh Day Adventists are part of an end of the world cult that waited for their leader's predicted end of the world. It didn't happen. He made a new prediction. It still didn't happen. The folks who stayed in the church formed the core of the SDA.)

If you're dumb enough to work for an organization like that, you play by their rules, distasteful as they are to we the unwashed masses.

And they aren't even firing her. They are paying her to stay home. When her contract expires, they owe her nothing.

vsp wrote:

If you're dumb enough to work for an organization like that, you play by their rules, distasteful as they are to we the unwashed masses.

Please elaborate on why working for an organization like that makes her dumb. I understand that you are offended by any organization that sets a high moral standard for its members but fail to see how her intelligence or the lack of it affects her decision of whether or not to work there.

It's a two pronged point in my opinion.

1) dumb religion
2) dumb for getting caught breaking a rule you know about

I'll explain, Beestie

If (worldview A) not = (worldview VSP)
Then (worldview A) = stupid

Troubleshooter wrote:

1) dumb religion

What's dumb about it?

I guess they don't read Heinlein. Heinlein explained in one (possibly more) of his books that "what takes a cow or a countess 9 months can be accomplished in much less by an eager young bride."

I thought hypocrisy was one of the unbeliever's biggest problems with Christianity. So if a Christian school thumps its employees for demonstrating hypocrisy, that's now a bad thing?

Are you sure your point isn't more along the lines of "all believers are dumb poopoo heads and stupid and dum. and i hate them."

Beestie wrote:

What's dumb about it?

For myself, any religion is dumb in a contemporary context, but I was simply referring to what I thought his statement meant. Specifically that that SDA is dumb because they've struck out twice and people still line up for it.

I admire the tenacity of their belief, despite the lack of the end of the world. And they seem to be resposible for my Sugar Pops.

wolf wrote:

And they seem to be resposible for my Sugar Pops.

This I gotta hear...

Check the religioustolerance.org link that I posted below the quoted article (Hint ... Battle Creek, MI, Dr. John Kellog).

Rereading it ... wow, they gave us Waco too ... hadn't realized that.

dar512 wrote:

"what takes a cow or a countess 9 months can be accomplished in much less by an eager young bride."

:thumb: Yess! Love the Heinlein quote. That was from Farnham's Freehold, right?

Pie wrote:

:thumb: Yess! Love the Heinlein quote. That was from Farnham's Freehold, right?

I was thinking Time Enough for Love. But you could be right. I've read 'em all so many time, I forget where I've seen stuff.

dar512 wrote:

I was thinking Time Enough for Love. But you could be right. I've read 'em all so many time, I forget where I've seen stuff.

FAVORITE BOOK OF ALL TIME!

I have given away 6-8 copies out of sheer proslytizing joy!

Dumb for opening her mouth, that's for sure. There's a long tradition of people looking the other way (which is what the Heinlein quote is all about).

I hope she wins a billion dollar judgement from the school. The SDA's I've (knowingly) been in contact with, love being martyrs. It would make them so happy. :lol:

It's not likely if they can show even a hint of it being common knowledge or policy. Hell, they may even be able to cite their religious text as a source.

It is a private school, based on a specific faith. If a standard of behavior was part of the contract, then there isn't a damn thing she can (or should) do.

i'm not SDA and don't agree with their take on things, but if we are going to classify them as a christian faith we can't say they are wrong in following through on their beliefs while calling other christians hypocrites when they don't.