Carie Charleston is a divorced mother of two who works as a second grade teacher for a Christian high school in California. There are many reasons for divorce. Some people divorce and wind up having excellent relationships with their ex-spouse. Others have bitter divorces that take their toll emotionally and physically. Carie’s divorce was the later. For reasons we don’t know, one weekend Carie had to call the sheriff’s office three times to respond to problems she was having with her husband. The issue was so bad that when she arrived at work on Monday morning she told the principal about the situation and to keep an eye out for her husband. Sure enough he showed up sitting in the school parking lot later that day and the school went on lockdown. The police were called and her husband was arrested and put in jail. Carie was put on administrative leave and her two children were sent home. Three months later she was fired and her kids were not allowed back at school.
There are a lot of people involved in this story, so lets look at it from different angles.
How would you feel if you were Carie, the teacher and mom, after being fired? What would you do?
What would you have done if you were the principal or member of the school board? Would you make the same decision?
What would you have done if you were a parent with a child going to the school? Would you side with Carie or would you side with the school?
It’s hard to put ourselves in the place of a parent or administrator all the time. So lets look at it this way. What if a school expelled a student because he was being bullied. They could say the student is creating an environment that attracts and provokes bullies. Although that student is a good student, it’s tempting other people to do bad things because he/she is so easy to pick on? Or maybe you can think of it this way. You have a pet dog who is your best friend in the whole world. One day you find out that the neighbors next door just rescued one of Michael Vick’s dog-fighting dogs. You see their dog playing with their kids and going for walks. But would you let your dog play with the neighbor’s dog?
There are a lot of issues to consider here. The safety of other students, the example set to the community, and the welfare of an employee and friend who is a part of your church and school. Remember, this happened just a few months after shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary. What we need to keep in mind though, is that this is a Christian school. How does it being a Christian school make the decision different than say a public school? What kind of Christian example does this set? Should we be concerned Atheists and non-Christians think about this?
In the first chapter of the book of James, verses 19-27, we’re told what it means to be listeners and doers of the word. If we hear Jesus’ words and good news, we can’t just sit there and think to ourselves “I’m a good person now”, we need to follow up on that with actions. In verse 27 James says specifically “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress”. Jesus shows us over and over how to take care of those around us who are in need. He healed the sick and fed the hungry. He touched with people whom others wouldn’t even speak. He even told the story of the Good Samaritan with church people who walked on the other side of the road instead of helping someone.
Do you consider Carie a widow in distress? If you were another school and Carie applied to teach there, would you hire her knowing the entire story?
Source
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/teacher-fired-domestic-violence-ex-husband-161455153.html
Saturday Morning Muffins 