3.26.2007
The Pagan Firing Trend
Its common journalistic knowledge that while two related incidents might be a coincidence, three related incidents makes a trend. Its seems that "Pagans fired by schools" is forming into an actual trend for 2007. First you had the case of Lauren Berrios, a teacher from Ohio who claims she was fired because the school in question thought she was a Witch (she wasn't, she was actually Jewish). Berrios recently lost a lawsuit against the school, who described her as mentally ill. But despite those claims, colleagues and students at her current job have not reported any alleged mental instability.
The second case involves Sommer De La Rosa, a teaching assistant in the UK who claims her Wiccan faith got her fired. Her former employers claim she was fired for excessive absences and not for her faith. De La Rosa insists that she was singled out due to her faith, and that her supervisor compared her faith unfavorably to communism. A judgment is still pending at her tribunal.
Now a man who worked as a bus driver for the Davie County Schools has lost his job after the school system discovered his MySpace page in which he lists himself as a Wiccan.
"William Russell Shaver never thought that the MySpace page he shares with his wife would get him into trouble. But it did ... According to a letter provided by Shaver, the school system dismissed him because of his Web page of MySpace.com, saying that he had damaged his "position to be a role model for Davie High School and in the school community" ... He has sued in federal court, alleging that the school system and the fire department used his page as an excuse. He alleges that the real reason he was asked to leave both places is because he practices Wicca, a pagan religion that emphasizes nature."
Shaver also lost his postion as a volunteer fireman and EMT shortly thereafter. They also cited his MySpace as a motivating factor. When questioned, Steve Lane, the superintendent for Davie County Schools, pointed to a school board policy on being a "positive role model". The fire department in turn accused his wife of soliciting sex online.
"According to the complaint against the fire department, Shaver was dismissed during a special meeting on July 17, 2006, for conduct unbecoming a member of the department. The fire department told Shaver that his wife had a blog on the page that solicited sex, Shaver said. Shaver said that his wife is bisexual but was not soliciting sex. In an April 30, 2006, blog entry on the page, Shaver's wife says she is "looking for a bifemale to join me for some girls only fun (shopping, dancing or just hanging out with girls)." It also warns readers to stop reading if they get offended."
It would be interesting to know how the school district (and in turn the fire department) got a hold of this information. I'm pretty savvy with searching and I couldn't turn up any hint of this MySpace page. So it seems like someone who knew about the page turned him in. I hope Shaver wins his case, last I heard being Wiccan and having a bisexual wife aren't legal firing offenses.
These firings (except perhaps for De La Rosa's) point to a possibly more disturbing trend, where schools are being purged of people with "alternative" lifestyles by broadly enforcing "decency" and "role-model" provisions. Only so many of these are going to end up in court, so its a win-win situation for school boards where conservative culture-warriors have gained a majority. I predict we'll see more firings of this nature soon enough, all claiming the teachers were "mentally ill" or that they weren't upholding an arbitrary level of "decency".
Labels: Paganism, Wicca, William Russell Shaver, Witchcraft
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