Anonymous wrote:I am really curious to hear from anyone who has firsthand knowledge of the Jennifer Eller harrassment suit against PG County Schools. She is a transgender teacher who claims to have suffered years of abuse at the hands of faculty, administration, students, and parents following her transition to female in 2011. I'm a teacher, and from what I know of the current climate in schools, it seems highly improbable that this could have happened, especially over the course of years. Teachers who don't believe in gender ideology, or who have qualms about having to keep students' pronouns secret from parents, don't dare utter a word. I've yet to hear a complaint from a student or parent about having to share bathrooms and locker rooms with female-identifying males. Everyone is terrified of getting fired if they offend anyone who identifies as trans, and our administrations let us know in no uncertain terms that we need to keep our personal beliefs to ourselves and protect the school from getting sued. What is the real story here?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ETA- PGCPS's offical policy on Transgender students and staff is very progressive.

Which is wild, as in 10 years I've only ever seen PGCPS forms that list "MOTHER" and "FATHER" and couldn't be less LGBT inclusive overall.

Anonymous wrote:ETA- PGCPS's offical policy on Transgender students and staff is very progressive.

Anonymous wrote:I know no details about the actual suit, but I think it is naive to believe that because of what OP suggests that is improbable that Ms. Eller was not discriminated against. What OP is talking about is overt and superficial signs of bigotry. What Ms. Eller was subjected to is likely subconscious and systemic bigotry.

To give some examples, like OP, I doubt anyone would come out and say anything that would suggest that they were not supportive or disagreed with Ms. Eller due to her gender identity. However, it is not unusual for coworkers (like other teachers, administration, paraeducators, etc) to avoid or shun the person. If she put in requests for leave and they were not approved at a disproportionate volume to coworkers. I know someone who had a medical condition, but her employer did not "recognize" her medical condition without doctor documentation and had sick leave and medical leave rejected, whereas other employees were regularly granted leave without doctor documentation. There may have been a higher number of parents who requested that their children not be in this teacher's classroom or supervised by this teacher. If the administration acknowledged that there was a high volume of requests to opt out of this teacher's classes and lead to changes in assignments, this all creates a hostile environment for her as an employee. If Ms. Eller felt she was passed by for opportunities due to her gender identity or even due to parents' requests for children not to be in her class, these create a hostile environment and could be causes for her suit. For example, we recently had a G/T teacher retire. One current teacher in the school was "promoted" to this position and a replacement was hired for her previous position. But, if Ms. Eller had a similar type situation where she applied for a position, but was passed over and she suspects that parental comments to the administration lead to her losing the position, this could be causes for her to feel harassed by the administration.

Having felt racial discrimination in situations where others have not recognized that discrimination, I would not be quick to judge Ms. Eller's accusations. I believe that she deserves her day in court for her lawyers to present the case and let a judge decide whether there were damages for which she deserves recompense.

Anonymous wrote:I am really curious to hear from anyone who has firsthand knowledge of the Jennifer Eller harrassment suit against PG County Schools. She is a transgender teacher who claims to have suffered years of abuse at the hands of faculty, administration, students, and parents following her transition to female in 2011. I'm a teacher, and from what I know of the current climate in schools, it seems highly improbable that this could have happened, especially over the course of years. Teachers who don't believe in gender ideology, or who have qualms about having to keep students' pronouns secret from parents, don't dare utter a word. I've yet to hear a complaint from a student or parent about having to share bathrooms and locker rooms with female-identifying males. Everyone is terrified of getting fired if they offend anyone who identifies as trans, and our administrations let us know in no uncertain terms that we need to keep our personal beliefs to ourselves and protect the school from getting sued. What is the real story here?

Anonymous wrote:I am really curious to hear from anyone who has firsthand knowledge of the Jennifer Eller harrassment suit against PG County Schools. She is a transgender teacher who claims to have suffered years of abuse at the hands of faculty, administration, students, and parents following her transition to female in 2011. I'm a teacher, and from what I know of the current climate in schools, it seems highly improbable that this could have happened, especially over the course of years. Teachers who don't believe in gender ideology, or who have qualms about having to keep students' pronouns secret from parents, don't dare utter a word. I've yet to hear a complaint from a student or parent about having to share bathrooms and locker rooms with female-identifying males. Everyone is terrified of getting fired if they offend anyone who identifies as trans, and our administrations let us know in no uncertain terms that we need to keep our personal beliefs to ourselves and protect the school from getting sued. What is the real story here?