Christian Teacher Gets Fired Because of Her Christianity

[teapartysamurai]

A veteran city educator and devout Christian who prayed in her empty Brooklyn classroom claims her principal not only mocked her for her beliefs, but eventually fired her for them, too.

PS 224 assistant special-education teacher Anita Wooten-Francis, 52, claims she never hid her faith but took care not to influence kids. She worshiped in her classroom before or after students left, read the Bible on her lunch break, led other teachers in a prayer group, and played gospel music during non-instruction hours.

For 16 years she had no problem, until Principal George Andrews arrived at the Canarsie school in 2004.

He said, 'You can't be praying in my school,' " Wooten-Francis recalled. "He said I was the ringleader in praying."

Andrews even made fun of her for being devout, she claims.
He'd "constantly" tease her that "he was aware that she and other Christians were praying to have the demons removed from his spirit, but that it was not working," according to a lawsuit she filed earlier this month in Brooklyn federal court.

In one instance, he criticized the disabled woman for using the elevator and told her to take the stairs. When she protested, he allegedly said, "Why don't you just pray?" Then he laughed.

At the same time, she says, the school was going to hell in a handbasket, with school administrators charging students for bake sales "even though no charity received the proceeds," and using money from the school's Special Needs Funds to pay for lunches and parties, the suit claims.

After she complained, Wooten-Francis said she was fired on trumped-up charges accusing her of grabbing a kindergartner.

"Sometimes I will drop my Bible because my hands go numb and I have no feeling. How in the world am I going to grab a child?" she insisted, referring to nerve damage in her hands and feet from a host of medical problems.

Read more: Assistant teacher says she was fired for Christian faith - NYPOST.com

Anyone have any doubts that if this woman was Muslim, the defenders would be coming out of the woodwork to help her?

 

[Caroljo]

You're right...they would set a room aside for muslims to pray! If this is true, then i would think she would have a big lawsuit in her favor!! But, now it's proving it...sad.

 

[uscitizen]

And no one is coming out of the woodwork to help here now?

Someone wrote the article.

 

[rdean]

Why didn't gawd help her? Didn't he listen to her prayers? Maybe he disagrees with her.

 

[auditor0007]

Why didn't gawd help her? Didn't he listen to her prayers? Maybe he disagrees with her.

Now I understand why you are so disliked. While I agree with you on a number of things, it doesn't change the fact that you are a bit of a douchebag.

 

[midcan5]

Does anyone have a valid news site for this bit of so called news? I googled text and wingnutteryland has it everywhere as is their wont, but is there more to the story than this possibly irrelevant piece?

But aren't you winguts being a little hypocritical over someone being fired - assuming she was - doesn't capitalism require adherence to rule, and if she broke any, or wasn't liked, so what? You don't cry over Walmart's horrid treatment of employees, why cry over this? Picking and choosing your concern is rather phony.

 

[daveman]

Does anyone have a valid news site for this bit of so called news? I googled text and wingnutteryland has it everywhere as is their wont, but is there more to the story than this possibly irrelevant piece?

But aren't you winguts being a little hypocritical over someone being fired - assuming she was - doesn't capitalism require adherence to rule, and if she broke any, or wasn't liked, so what?

What rule did she break? And is there a rule that states employees have to be liked?

You don't cry over Walmart's horrid treatment of employees...

Because Walmart doesn't treat their employees horribly.

...why cry over this? Picking and choosing your concern is rather phony.

Oh, you mean like you're doing, dismissing this woman's claims but getting all weepy about Walmart's employees?

 

[freedombecki]

Does anyone have a valid news site for this bit of so called news? I googled text and wingnutteryland has it everywhere as is their wont, but is there more to the story than this possibly irrelevant piece?

But aren't you winguts being a little hypocritical over someone being fired - assuming she was - doesn't capitalism require adherence to rule, and if she broke any, or wasn't liked, so what? You don't cry over Walmart's horrid treatment of employees, why cry over this? Picking and choosing your concern is rather phony.

Midcan5, I only found 2 news areas that posted in in 3 pages of google, and the second (Brooklyn Teacher Says She Was Fired For Praying In School | News One) was a shorter, nearly verbatim pickup to the story at the nypost.com link: Assistant teacher says she was fired for Christian faith - NYPOST.com The second story was also published several days later than the NYPost version.

Most schools are advised by their counsels not to respond in any way to anyone asking questions in cases of employee firings in which a pending court case exists. We will therefore not know the other side of the story until the case is tried or settled out of court, in which case, the public may never know the school's version.

There are intimations here and there that the complaintant grabbed a child, which she denies emphatically. Since the school cannot and will not say, all that is known is what the fired teacher says.

I can't tell whether someone is lying or not if I can't see their eyes. Her picture, now all over the web, shows a woman with dark glasses covering her eyes.

Charges that religion got someone fired is sad. A person falsely claiming a popular shibboleth in order to get instant revenge on someone they hate is the only thing I know that is sadder. I can't tell in this case.

 

[Ringel05]

Why didn't gawd help her? Didn't he listen to her prayers? Maybe he disagrees with her.

So YOU were the principle. Go figure.

 

[random3434]

A veteran city educator and devout Christian who prayed in her empty Brooklyn classroom claims her principal not only mocked her for her beliefs, but eventually fired her for them, too.

PS 224 assistant special-education teacher Anita Wooten-Francis, 52, claims she never hid her faith but took care not to influence kids. She worshiped in her classroom before or after students left, read the Bible on her lunch break, led other teachers in a prayer group, and played gospel music during non-instruction hours.

For 16 years she had no problem, until Principal George Andrews arrived at the Canarsie school in 2004.

He said, 'You can't be praying in my school,' " Wooten-Francis recalled. "He said I was the ringleader in praying."

Andrews even made fun of her for being devout, she claims.
He'd "constantly" tease her that "he was aware that she and other Christians were praying to have the demons removed from his spirit, but that it was not working," according to a lawsuit she filed earlier this month in Brooklyn federal court.

In one instance, he criticized the disabled woman for using the elevator and told her to take the stairs. When she protested, he allegedly said, "Why don't you just pray?" Then he laughed.

At the same time, she says, the school was going to hell in a handbasket, with school administrators charging students for bake sales "even though no charity received the proceeds," and using money from the school's Special Needs Funds to pay for lunches and parties, the suit claims.

After she complained, Wooten-Francis said she was fired on trumped-up charges accusing her of grabbing a kindergartner.

"Sometimes I will drop my Bible because my hands go numb and I have no feeling. How in the world am I going to grab a child?" she insisted, referring to nerve damage in her hands and feet from a host of medical problems.

Read more: Assistant teacher says she was fired for Christian faith - NYPOST.com

Anyone have any doubts that if this woman was Muslim, the defenders would be coming out of the woodwork to help her?

Uh teaparty, if this had happened to a Muslim woman you wouldn't have posted about it, now would you?


Anyhoo, there are wacko principals out there that go over the line in their power and use their personal bias against other teachers, I've seen it done firsthand to a few teachers I've worked with.

There needs to be a full investigation to get to the bottom of this.

 

[freedombecki]

A veteran city educator and devout Christian who prayed in her empty Brooklyn classroom claims her principal not only mocked her for her beliefs, but eventually fired her for them, too.

PS 224 assistant special-education teacher Anita Wooten-Francis, 52, claims she never hid her faith but took care not to influence kids. She worshiped in her classroom before or after students left, read the Bible on her lunch break, led other teachers in a prayer group, and played gospel music during non-instruction hours.

For 16 years she had no problem, until Principal George Andrews arrived at the Canarsie school in 2004.

He said, 'You can't be praying in my school,' " Wooten-Francis recalled. "He said I was the ringleader in praying."

Andrews even made fun of her for being devout, she claims.
He'd "constantly" tease her that "he was aware that she and other Christians were praying to have the demons removed from his spirit, but that it was not working," according to a lawsuit she filed earlier this month in Brooklyn federal court.

In one instance, he criticized the disabled woman for using the elevator and told her to take the stairs. When she protested, he allegedly said, "Why don't you just pray?" Then he laughed.

At the same time, she says, the school was going to hell in a handbasket, with school administrators charging students for bake sales "even though no charity received the proceeds," and using money from the school's Special Needs Funds to pay for lunches and parties, the suit claims.

After she complained, Wooten-Francis said she was fired on trumped-up charges accusing her of grabbing a kindergartner.

"Sometimes I will drop my Bible because my hands go numb and I have no feeling. How in the world am I going to grab a child?" she insisted, referring to nerve damage in her hands and feet from a host of medical problems.

Read more: Assistant teacher says she was fired for Christian faith - NYPOST.com

Anyone have any doubts that if this woman was Muslim, the defenders would be coming out of the woodwork to help her?

Uh teaparty, if this had happened to a Muslim woman you wouldn't have posted about it, now would you?


Anyhoo, there are wacko principals out there that go over the line in their power and use their personal bias against other teachers, I've seen it done firsthand to a few teachers I've worked with.

There needs to be a full investigation to get to the bottom of this.

Judging from the two million articles about this pulled up in my Google search and slogging through 3 pages of political opinionaries favoring the fired teacher, my guess is that the investigation is at a full-court pitch as we speak. There are just as many principals who have no choice but to follow the law with regards to a teacher who has laid hands on someone else's child, and he can't defend himself because she not only has impugned his character through the media, she has lawyered up herself and is suing the people of New York city for redress based on her First Amendment privileges.

The crux of this issue lays on the shoulders of a child whose name will most likely not be revealed to the public.

I pray that right is done in behalf of that child who was allegedly grabbed by the complainant and that we will soon know who the true champion is for that child's better interests. I can't tell from the dearth of facts about the child's treatment.

 

[JBeukema]

Why didn't gawd help her? Didn't he listen to her prayers? Maybe he disagrees with her.

Now I understand why you are so disliked. While I agree with you on a number of things, it doesn't change the fact that you are a bit of a douchebag.

So.... why didn't her god protect her?

 

[rdean]

How do you know it wasn't because she was a irritating bitch that wouldn't stop telling people they were going to Hell?

 

[JBeukema]

I thought the Right liked at-will employment? So why does it matter why she was fired? The principal wanted a certain kind of worker and she wasn't it. Let her find another job and him find a new teacher. The invisible hand of the marker will fix this, right?

 

[JBeukema]

What rule did she break?

According to the NYPost, she claims the principal accused her of 'grabbing'; a child. She then insists she didn't hit the child

Assistant teacher says she was fired for Christian faith - NYPOST.com

After she complained, Wooten-Francis said she was fired on trumped-up charges accusing her of grabbing a kindergartner.

....
"And if you look at the reports, it's not even stated that the kids said themselves that I hit the kid," she told The Post in her home in Tobyhanna, Pa.

 

[geauxtohell]

A veteran city educator and devout Christian who prayed in her empty Brooklyn classroom claims her principal not only mocked her for her beliefs, but eventually fired her for them, too.

PS 224 assistant special-education teacher Anita Wooten-Francis, 52, claims she never hid her faith but took care not to influence kids. She worshiped in her classroom before or after students left, read the Bible on her lunch break, led other teachers in a prayer group, and played gospel music during non-instruction hours.

For 16 years she had no problem, until Principal George Andrews arrived at the Canarsie school in 2004.

He said, 'You can't be praying in my school,' " Wooten-Francis recalled. "He said I was the ringleader in praying."

Andrews even made fun of her for being devout, she claims.
He'd "constantly" tease her that "he was aware that she and other Christians were praying to have the demons removed from his spirit, but that it was not working," according to a lawsuit she filed earlier this month in Brooklyn federal court.

In one instance, he criticized the disabled woman for using the elevator and told her to take the stairs. When she protested, he allegedly said, "Why don't you just pray?" Then he laughed.

At the same time, she says, the school was going to hell in a handbasket, with school administrators charging students for bake sales "even though no charity received the proceeds," and using money from the school's Special Needs Funds to pay for lunches and parties, the suit claims.

After she complained, Wooten-Francis said she was fired on trumped-up charges accusing her of grabbing a kindergartner.

"Sometimes I will drop my Bible because my hands go numb and I have no feeling. How in the world am I going to grab a child?" she insisted, referring to nerve damage in her hands and feet from a host of medical problems.

Read more: Assistant teacher says she was fired for Christian faith - NYPOST.com

Anyone have any doubts that if this woman was Muslim, the defenders would be coming out of the woodwork to help her?

Well, that's one side of the story.

If true, it sounds like she has an easy case.

However, there is always another side.

I suspect there is more too this. That or this principle is criminally stupid.

The obvious answer that the OP wants the "liberals" to sound off to is that this woman has every right to pray and observe her faith in a school as long as she isn't foisting it on others or her students. The principle was wrong to mock her values if he was in fact mocking them.

 

[hortysir]

What rule did she break?

According to the NYPost, she claims the principal accused her of 'grabbing'; a child. She then insists she didn't hit the child

Assistant teacher says she was fired for Christian faith - NYPOST.com

After she complained, Wooten-Francis said she was fired on trumped-up charges accusing her of grabbing a kindergartner.

....
"And if you look at the reports, it's not even stated that the kids said themselves that I hit the kid," she told The Post in her home in Tobyhanna, Pa.

Apparently you missed this statement in the quoted article of the OP:

"Sometimes I will drop my Bible because my hands go numb and I have no feeling. How in the world am I going to grab a child?" she insisted, referring to nerve damage in her hands and feet from a host of medical problems.

 

[Mr. H.]

Teachers (non-tenured that is ) can be fired for any reason- or no reason. Tenured teachers can be fired but the process is quite onerous.

Think of school administrators as a family or collective. If the family (or the family father/mother for that matter) doesn't care to have you hanging around- you're gone.

They are not answerable to anyone. Their rule is absolute and final. It's like an organized mob.
There is no recourse via the Teacher's Union. That organization is impotent and most likely in bed with the school district anyway.

It is a world unto its own world.

 

[Big Hoss]

I am not a christian but sounds to me the whole damn school system there was corrupt...I hope she wins..guy sounds like an first class asshole.

 

[JBeukema]

What rule did she break?

According to the NYPost, she claims the principal accused her of 'grabbing'; a child. She then insists she didn't hit the child

Assistant teacher says she was fired for Christian faith - NYPOST.com

After she complained, Wooten-Francis said she was fired on trumped-up charges accusing her of grabbing a kindergartner.

....
"And if you look at the reports, it's not even stated that the kids said themselves that I hit the kid," she told The Post in her home in Tobyhanna, Pa.

Apparently you missed this statement in the quoted article of the OP:

"Sometimes I will drop my Bible because my hands go numb and I have no feeling. How in the world am I going to grab a child?" she insisted, referring to nerve damage in her hands and feet from a host of medical problems.

Why does she feel the need to say she never hit the child if those aren't the allegations?

We're not getting the whole story, methinks.