A Roman Catholic school in Montana has fired a teacher after becoming pregnant while being unmarried.
Shaela Evenson, a teacher a Butte Central Grade School, has been teaching students in grades six through eight for a little over eight years. But in this circumstance, Ms. Evenson’s ability to teach is beyond the reasoning for her firing.
“Shaela made a willful decision to violate the terms of her contract. This happened as a result of her decision to violate the terms of her employment contract, and in so doing she’s disqualified from teaching at a Catholic school. It’s a sensitive issue and it’s unfortunate all around,” said Patrick Haggarty, Superintendent of Schools for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena.
According to Yahoo! News, the middle school teacher is not going to take the decision to fire her lightly. Evenson’s attorney stated that she “plans to file a discrimination charge with the Federal Equal Opportunity Commission alleging the school violated her rights under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
The Montana Standard wrote that although the school doesn’t explore personal lives of employees, it was mandatory that actions be taken once the pregnancy of the teacher was made known.
“Not only do we teach the sacrament of marriage to the children kindergarten through 12th grade, but we’re held to that standard as well,” said Superintendent Haggarty.