This week’s Catholic School Matters Radio Hour is a long-form conversation with Sr. Angie Shaughnessy of Loyola Marymount, the “nun lawyer.” This is her fourth time on the podcast and this time, our discussion is focused on hot topics in Catholic schools. I sent Sr. Angie the topics beforehand and we alternate topics we want to discuss. This podcast serves as a conversation starter with school leaders to introduce these topics and give guidance to them about how to proceed.
We lead off by discussing the firing of gay teachers and Sr. Angie maintains that teachers are not fired for being gay. Rather, they are being fired for a relationship becoming public. She maintains that firing a teacher because of their sexual orientation is not recommended but schools are usually cleared to fire (in most states) if a gay marriage violates a moral standards clause.
The second topic is the firing of a teacher for social media posts which seem to indicate that she was favoring a pro-choice position. The teacher identified herself as a Catholic school teacher. Sr. Angie mentioned that a teacher was fired years ago for signing a pro-choice petition and the courts have upheld the school’s position. We discuss the nuances of Facebook posts, accountability and intention.
Then we discuss the teacher claiming to be fired for being single, the school contended that she was dating a married school parent which became the source of scandal. Sr. Angie made it clear that she didn’t think the teacher had much of a case. Then she discussed the teacher fired for being pregnant and we discussed some of the particulars of the case. She also brought in cases of teachers fired for IV fertilization. She mentions that there is a double standard of how men and women are treated in these cases. We discuss the implications and difficulties of these matters as well as examples of situations we’ve come across. We are hoping to give guidance and direction to Catholic school leaders. The next discussion centered around a newly-hired teacher who was showing support for the LGBTQ community. After signing the contract, the teacher was fired. Sr. Angie discusses how different interpretations impact actions and the course of action she would favor.
Then we discuss last summer’s racist video controversy when a student was allowed to withdraw from school after making racially threatening videos. Parents were upset that more information has not been made public. The balance between transparency and privacy is discussed as well as the balance between public discipline and individual needs. The issue of how seriously the Church takes allegations of racism (compared to other complaints) is explored.
Here is another link to this week’s podcast.
Top 5
This week’s blog focuses on Sr. Angie and her perspective on hot topics in Catholic school law. This will also be the focus on this week’s podcast. The Top 5 links:
- In the American Catholic news section, the first article focuses on a Philadelphia Catholic school controversy. When the Archdiocese considered leasing part of a building to a charter school, they received criticism. Read about the divisions, the conceptions of community, and the perception of Catholic school parents.
- In the Leadership section, the first article from Daniel Pink in Education Week focuses on how schools use time. How we organize the school day usually has more to do with institutional traditions or factors other than what are the most optimal conditions for children to learn. It’s interesting to hear Pink’s take on the school day.
- The next article in the Leadership section highlights Disney’s creative strategy.
- In the Teaching & Learning section, the first article from Tom Barrett’s blog explores how to build better relationships with our students. We all talk about how important relationships are with our students but we often don’t talk about HOW. We just assume that teachers can figure out how to reach students. In the same way, we ask new administrators to build relationships with parents but we never really explain how. So this is a great practical article!
- The next article in that section focuses on student engagement. Finding ways to make the material relevant to students is the key.
Have a great week!
Podcast
This week’s Catholic School Matters Radio Hour is a long-form conversation with Sr. Angie Shaughnessy of Loyola Marymount, the “nun lawyer.” This is her fourth time on the podcast and this time, our discussion is focused on hot topics in Catholic schools. I sent Sr. Angie the topics beforehand and we alternate topics we want to discuss. This podcast serves as a conversation starter with school leaders to introduce these topics and give guidance to them about how to proceed.
