The two employees of North Middle School in Oregon were put on leave back in March for creating the "I Resolve Movement" encouraging the community to resist proposed LGBTQ legislation.
Now, former assistant principal Rachel Damiano and former science teacher Katie Medar have been terminated in a 4-3 vote by the school board. Evidence for their termination included emails sent to Ben Shapiro, saying this violated the policy against using school resources for a political campaign.
Damiano's hearing began at 3 p.m., where she denied allegations of "political campaigning." She also stated that Medart and herself didn't use work resources or work hours to work on the "I Resolve Movement."
But she did use a school email address, and for that, she's been ousted from her job.
The "I Resolve Movement" proposes that individuals use anatomically correct bathrooms or single-stall gender-neutral bathrooms if available. They also oppose legislation, specifically the Equality Act, that would require teachers to use students' preferred pronouns.
One 8th-grader at North Middle School started a petition to fire the educators, saying of the movement:
"When I heard about it, it was just so shocking to me and I couldn't believe that this was like the world that I was living in."
Yes, the world where people who urinate standing up use urinals, and people who sit down to pee use toilets. What a crazy world we live in.
Damiano and Medar have filed a First Amendment lawsuit and are being represented by Pacific Justice Institute. Their attorney, Ray Hacke, stated:
"Because there was a backlash from fellow employees and community members who didn't like what they had to say you know the district basically threw them under the bus. People are allowed to have discussions with people about political topics on their own time. I'm sure there are people in the lunchroom who talked about Trump versus Biden."
It's insane that an attorney even needs to argue these basic things.
