The Georgia Board of Education voted unanimously without discussion on
Thursday to uphold the firing of a Cobb County elementary school teacher who
read a book to her class on gender fluidity.
Katie Rinderle had been a teacher for 10 years at Due West Elementary School
when she got in trouble for reading the picture book “My Shadow Is Purple” by
Scott Stuart to her class of fifth graders. Rinderle was fired in August 2023 after
parent complaints and filed an appeal to the state Board of Education in
September.
Georgia lawmakers enacted laws banning the teaching of “divisive concepts” in
Georgia public schools in 2022, which Cobb County now enforces. Rinderle’s
attorney called the district’s policies vague and undefined.
In its 21-page review, the board found that Cobb County’s policies are not
“unconstitutionally vague,” and that her firing was not a “predetermined outcome.”
Georgia law gives either Rinderle or the school district 30 days to appeal the
decision in Cobb County Superior Court.
At the same time, Rinderle and the Georgia Association of Educators are suing the
Cobb County School District for discrimination relating to her firing. The complaint
filed last week in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta said that the plaintiffs “have
been terminated or fear discipline under vague censorship policies for actively and
openly supporting their LGBTQ students.”
