Anti-Trump teacher storms out of classroom over student's MAGA shirt before sending epic email rant
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A California teacher reportedly stormed out of her classroom after seeing a student wear a Make America Great Again shirt last week.
The unidentified Spanish teacher at Cerritos High School later sent students a lengthy email in which she argued that MAGA clothes are 'meant to intimidate both students and teachers' and called president-elect Donald Trump a 'fascist.'
She also argued in her missive that it is unfair that students can wear political clothes, but teachers cannot - saying that she is speaking to ABC Unified School District officials about the policy and is 'in talks with my union representative and attorneys.'
'Given the current political climate and ABC USD's policy of neutrality NOT being neutral in the sense that students are allowed to express their political views by wearing their preferred political party attire and teachers are NOT allowed to express their political views by wearing their preferred political party attire, I am having a disagreement with administration regarding this double standard,' the teacher allegedly wrote in the email on November 7, screengrabs of which were shared on social media.
'It is not a neutral stance when one group is allowed to express their political views (even if those views are racist, misogynistic, antisemi[tic] and homophobic) and the other side is silenced under threat of losing their job and/or being seriously reprimanded,' read the email, simply signed Profe. O.
A Spanish teacher at Cerritos High School (pictured) reportedly walked out of class after seeing one of her students wear a Make America Great Again shirt
The teacher then sent students a lengthy email in which she argued that MAGA clothes are 'meant to intimidate both students and teachers' and called president-elect Donald Trump a 'fascist'
The teacher then seemed to hit out at the student who wore the MAGA shirt saying it represents 'a deep hatred of minorities, women, non-Christian religion and LGBTQ+, and in my opinion are a HATE crime when worn at school.'
'As a Latina woman, who is agnostic at best but leans towards atheism and a mother of an LGBTQ+ daughter and supporter of ALL my LGBTQ+ students, I do not feel safe at work, and I fear for the safety of my daughter and my students when administration allows students to wear clothing that expresses their utter disdain and hatred of women, minorities, non-Christian religions and the LGBTQ+ community.'
She also called Trump a 'fascist put into office by people who fear the changing demographics of a country, never mind that this country was founded by people immigrating to this great country as they fled dictators and tyrants (my dad from Cuba) or impoverished countries (my grandmother from Mexico) and have come to this country to give their children a better life and opportunity at an education.'
Profe. O concluded by saying she will be taking a few days off for her mental health 'while trying to come up with a better definition of what political neutrality looks like in the classroom so that we can all feel safe coming to school, rather than being intimidated by MAGA attire which has promised to end social services, including education as we know them.'
In the meantime, she encouraged her students to 'keep the politics at home, not in the classroom.'
ABC Unified School District told DailyMail.com they are aware of the situation, and are investigating the teacher's actions. Superintendent Gina Zietlow is pictured
ABC Unified School District told DailyMail.com it is aware of the situation, and is investigating the teacher's actions.
It also said that 'we encourage students to exercise their freedom of speech within the policies set by our Board of Education and California Education Code.'
Courts have previously upheld students' right to free speech inside a school, as they are required to attend, with the Supreme Court ruling in the 1969 Tinker v Des Moines case that pupils do not 'shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.'
But attorney Michael Overing, who teaches First Amendment rights at the University of Southern California told ABC 7: 'It's different with teachers because the teachers are the ones who are there to do a job.
'If the person is exercising a First Amendment right, they risk losing their job,' he said of teachers.
'It's pretty straightforward.'
