An elementary school teacher in Georgia was fired this week for reading a book about gender identity to her fifth-grade students earlier this year.
Katie Rinderle, who was a teacher at Due West Elementary School before being fired, read a picture book to class in March called “My Shadow Is Purple,” which is described on Amazon as “a heartwarming and inspiring book about being true to yourself and moving beyond the gender binary.” The cover features a boy wearing a shirt and pants, but whose shadow shows him wearing a dress.
According to an earlier report by PJM’s Chris Queen, Rinderle’s students weren’t comfortable listening to the story, which was done during a time students were supposed to be learning math, and were forced to use “they/them” pronouns when referring to the main character of the book. Parents were also extremely upset about Rinderle’s actions. Rinderle appears to be a left-wing activist using her classroom to indoctrinate her students. In 2022, she read a book by Stacey Abrams, who was running for governor at the time, which also prompted complaints from parents, but she faced no discipline for her actions then.
Promoting radical leftist gender theory, however, was too much and resulted in her termination.
The Cobb Country School District supported the board’s decision, which overrode the recommendation of a panel of three retired educators not to fire the grooming teacher.
“The district is pleased that this difficult issue has concluded; we are very serious about keeping our classrooms focused on teaching, learning, and opportunities for success for students. The board’s decision is reflective of that mission,” the district said in a press release.
The teacher’s termination took effect immediately.
It’s comforting to see the school district supporting the termination and that administrators took action quickly upon learning what the teacher did. While the story does have a happy ending, it is still quite frightening. Not only did an elementary school teacher deliberately attempt to indoctrinate her students with radical leftist gender ideology, but she nearly kept her job. The Cobb County School Board voted 4-3 in favor of her dismissal. That’s a ridiculously close vote, and, as you can imagine, the vote went down party lines. The board’s four Republicans voted in support of termination, while the three Democrat members opposed it.
Had just one of those Republican members been a Democrat, Rinderle would still have a job and likely feel emboldened to teach propaganda to her students. Clearly, the Democrats who run for school board have an agenda, and it will take Republicans running and getting elected to ensure that teachers are kept in line to teach the content they’re supposed to.
So, the next time there are school board elections, remember this story, and consider joining the fight against liberal indoctrination in schools.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member