Madeline Kirksey said she was fired from a Texas school for her concerns about a six-year-old transgender child. (FOX26)
Two staff members say they were fired from a Texas school when voicing concerns after being told last week to refer to a 6-year-old girl by a new name and start acting like she was a boy.
Madeline Kirksey said she was fired Monday from Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center in Katy because of her stance when told one of her female students was now to be considered transgender.
“One day, she wanted to be a girl, the next day she wanted to be a boy,” Kirksey told FOX26. “The other kids are confused as well, calling her a boy and she would start screaming, ‘I’m not a boy!’”
Kirksey said the child’s parents cut the girl’s hair short and workers at Children’s Lighthouse were told to begin calling the girl by a boy’s name.
School administrators allegedly handed out a “common sense” set of guidelines for “How to Handle Transgender Students” to the staff, according to a document viewed by FOX26. The “mini-guide for teachers” suggested steps such as “Accord them the same respect you wish for yourself,” “Help defend their dignity” and “Educate yourself and your students.” One section begins, “Like the first black student in a white school 30 years ago, the transgender student today faces a population that finds them strange and frightening.”
“One day, she wanted to be a girl, the next day she wanted to be a boy"
Kirksey said she advocated talking to parents about the directive, and shortly thereafter she was fired from her position as a manager.
“I don’t think we should be talking to other people’s children who are under the age of 18 about being transgender,” she said.
A teacher at the learning center also said she was fired for voicing her concerns.
The school told FOX26 it doesn’t respond to issues regarding the staff or students and the parents of the 6-year-old child did not wish to comment.
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