Frankly, if I was nearly 70 years old and still working as a teacher to a pack of elementary kids, I’d really enjoy having a teaching assistant at all times.
And if the nutso parents objections get me out of bathroom-helper duties (for either or all genders), I’d call that a good thing, too.
It’s the classic “WHAT ABOUT the CHILDREN!?!!?” attack strategy.
Is there a picture of this teacher somewhere? Not all MTFs have masculine features. Also, many transgendered folks go through vocal training to feminize their voice, if necessary.
Though I agree that the kids aren’t stupid. They’ve no doubt overheard their parents discussing the issue. The whole thing is stupid. I agree that the problem appears to be rooted in religion, though it wouldn’t surprise me if they were just hiding behind religion to mask the fact that they’re uninformed dolts. They probably figured they’d get more people in their corner if they thumped their bibles loud enough.
Nothing in the article you linked to states or implies that the vote was on the question of whether to allow a transsexual to teach, and furthermore the reasons for the one dissenting vote is not given. For all we know it’s standard practice to conduct a vote when someone on a leave of absence petitions to return to work, and perhaps the member who voted nay did so for reasons entirely unrelated to the teacher’s transsexuality. (Maybe he or she doesn’t have faith in the teacher’s teaching ability, or maybe he or she thinks there are enough substitute teachers on the payroll already.)
The OP’s second link has a photo.
Sorry…this is taking place not too far from where I live, so her pic has been all over the place. Here, have a video.
Thanks for the link. She really doesn’t look any more masculine than most elderly women (my grandmother, for instance). But that’s neither here nor there.
The one quote from that article made me giggle: “I will not allow you to put my kids in a petri dish and hope it all comes out fine,” said parent Mark Schneep, who had taken out an ad in a local newspaper urging parents to attend the meeting."
Good gawd…I hope none of the other parents had their children via in vitro!!!
Wait a minute- how old are these kids? My 4 year old daughter goes to the bathroom by herself every day, and she’s not yet in elementary school. I can see if an adult is needed to make sure the student actually goes into the bathroom and not out to the jungle gym, but are teachers really accompanying children into the room and helping them on the toilet? Furthermore, do you really think a child that young will notice or care what’s up with their teacher’s sexuality?
I suspect that by the time the kids are old enough to notice the transgendered-ness of a person, they will have outgrown Ms. McBeth’s class.
I saw this story on the local news, and I think the general reaction has been very positive. Yes, some of the parents have been bigotted morons. But, the news portrayed McBeth as a decent human being, and a good teacher. I consider this marvellous progress.
Agreed. There will always be insufferable morons, but we can be happy that the school board didn’t cave in to them. That’s a rare thing.
Anybody else thinking of Kaitlyn? At least this time it’s true.
Just had to comment on the juxtaposition of these two posts…
Based on the picture in the OP, I was thikning more along the lines of John Goodman. Otto’s link couldn’t find a less flattering picture?
Whoah man, is this guy gonna be disappointed when he realizes the entire universe is one big toss up.
You’re not the only one. I wasn’t sure it was real until I read the links.
“Schneep”?
Really? Schneep?
Schneep.
Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep Schneep.
Schneep.
Heh.
Here’s a site with a better pic . It’s in Spanish, so I have no clue what it says, but it’s one of the few pics I found of Lily and the only that has a full view of her face.
Man, she is a beauty and a picture of femininity next to several of my teachers who were as far as I know natal women.
I’m thinking it might be during bathroom breaks, when the teacher stands right outside the bathrooms to make sure the kids aren’t in there goofing off, perhaps?
[nitpick]
That’s Italian, not Spanish. 
[/nitpick]