At the close of a two-day hearing about whether to fire her, Cobb County teacher Katie Rinderle maintained that a book that challenges gender norms was appropriate to read to her fifth grade students.
“Providing a safe and welcoming environment for your students does not cause a loss of confidence as an educator,” she said on Friday during a sometimes-emotional testimony. “This is what we are called to do.”
The Due West Elementary teacher has been on administrative leave since March, when she read “My Shadow is Purple” to her class. Rinderle is accused of violating policies modeled after new state laws that require teachers to get pre-approval to bring up potentially sensitive topics in the classroom, and reserve parents’ rights to “direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of their children.” She’s believed to be the first public school teacher in Georgia to face termination under laws passed last year that limit what teachers can talk about in the classroom.
Next week, the Cobb school board is expected to make a decision about whether Rinderle can keep her job.
Representatives from the school district made the case over two days that Rinderle’s professional judgment is not trustworthy and that she knowingly violated the district’s rules.
“We cannot put her back in the classroom because we cannot trust that she won’t continue to show this poor judgment,” said Gretchen Walton, the district’s compliance, legal and legislative officer, on Friday.
But according to evidence from Rinderle’s attorneys, she’s been a model teacher. She routinely received high marks on her annual evaluations and was a mentor to other teachers, her principal, Mary “Cissi” Kale, testified.
On Thursday, the first day of the hearing, three parents said they felt like their children weren’t ready to talk about gender identity in school. On Friday, another parent testified on Rinderle’s behalf that she read the book and felt it was appropriate.
“I was shocked that there seemed to be a lot of anger — if I may use the word hate, even — and I don’t understand why,” the parent, Susan Oruseibio, said.
Over two days and eight witnesses, the attorneys made opposite cases: that Rinderle violated the district’s policies, or that the district’s policies weren’t clear; that Rinderle’s professional judgment is irreparably poor, or that Rinderle is a model teacher; that gender identity is obviously a controversial issue, or that inclusivity is not.
Craig Goodmark, Rinderle’s attorney, made the case that “controversial” has not been defined in Cobb’s rules. He asked Kale to define “controversial” on Friday.
“When people have different opinions,” Kale said. “Things that parents would have differing opinions on. It could be political, religious, things of that nature.”
arvin.temkar@ajc.com
arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Rinderle said later in the hearing that after listening to the day’s testimony, she was even more confused about the policies.
But Walton, who spoke for the district, said Cobb’s rules provide guardrails for teachers.
“We depend on our 8,500 teachers exhibiting common sense, discernment and good judgment in knowing what the controversial topic is,” she said.
A panel of three tribunal members, each a retired Cobb principal, listened without posing questions on Thursday and Friday. They will reconvene on Monday to deliberate in private.
State law gives them five days to make a recommendation to the school board, which has 10 days to render a decision. School board Chair Brad Wheeler said the board will discuss the issue privately and vote publicly at its next meeting Thursday. After that, appeals can be taken to the Georgia Board of Education.
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