Education

Pregnant While Teaching

April 09, 2007 1 min read
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Is it immoral to be pregnant without being married? What if you’re a teacher?

In a lawsuit filed against her former public school district in North Carolina, teacher Heather Zampogna claims an assistant superintendent accused her of “immorality” for being an unwed mother-to-be.

He told her “this was a ‘Baptist community’ where people go to church,” and said she might be fired, according to the lawsuit, which alleges a violation of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

A month later, the former Tryon Elementary School Teacher of the Year was reassigned to tutor failing 5th graders in a trailer. The fact that the trailer lacked running water and a restroom, she said, made it difficult to work as her pregnancy progressed.

What do you think? Is it right for an administrator to make personnel decisions on personal grounds?

A version of this news article first appeared in the Web Watch blog.

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