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After Sex Change, Teacher Is Barred From School
https://archive.ph/03WSO#selection-1929.0-2525.142
By all accounts, David Warfield was an excellent teacher.
He came to Center High School in this Sacramento suburb for his first teaching job nine years ago and soon made a name for himself, developing a program for unmotivated students that became the award-winning Media Communications Academy. Students routinely called him one of the best teachers they had had or expected to have, the one most likely to be remembered as a major influence in their lives. He was awarded an $80,000 grant for his program, won the school's Stand and Deliver award for the teacher who most inspires students and received a standing ovation from the district's staff at its annual meeting last September.
Given this backdrop, when David Warfield wrote a letter to colleagues in May explaining that he was undergoing a sex change and planned to return to school as Dana Rivers, shock quickly turned to sympathy. In June, after the school board sent a letter disclosing Mr. Warfield's decision to all 1,500 families in the district, only four parents wrote back in protest.
But Dana Rivers has yet to walk through the doors of Center High. Weeks before classes started, the school board voted 3 to 2 to place her on paid administrative leave pending a formal dismissal, which is expected soon. What might have been a quiet if difficult adjustment at Center High to get to know the person some students once called Mountain Man for his love of macho sports has instead become the sole subject of board meetings and a growing, rancorous debate in this ethnically diverse, middle-class town.
At its core lies the question: Why would Dana Rivers be fired? To her supporters, the answer is obvious.
''The board members didn't want a transsexual teacher,'' said Ray Bender, a board member who voted against dismissal proceedings. ''They said they didn't want to create confusion for the students.''
The Dana Rivers case, Mr. Bender said, has become a cause for religious conservatives assisted by the Pacific Justice Institute, a local conservative legal organization that demanded that the school board fire the teacher or face a lawsuit.
''One board member,'' he said, ''was heard telling a parent that this is a holy issue.''
But board members who voted to begin dismissal proceedings say their position has nothing to do with transsexualism, the Pacific Justice Institute or religious conservatives.
''That is the furthest thing from the truth,'' said Scott Rodowick, the board president. ''This is about parental rights. This is about issues that the board became aware of that have nothing to do with the teacher's being transgendered. There are things I know that I would love to talk about, but I have to respect the rights of an employee. It's a personnel issue.''
The majority on the board refused to discuss the case, but the members who voted for Ms. Rivers said the others wanted an excuse to fire her. They found it, the board members say, in a few parents who complained that the teacher had improperly discussed her condition, known as gender dysphoria, with their children.
''One parent stood up at a board meeting and said that her daughter was traumatized,'' Mr. Bender said. ''But right after that, her daughter stood up and told the board that her mother was wrong.''
But Donna Earnest, whose son is a junior at Center High School, said she was not the only one who believed her parental rights had been taken from her.
''My position is that this teacher acted totally unprofessionally,'' Ms. Earnest said. ''My child was not in the class, but kids talk all over the school, and according to the kids, he said he had been sodomized as a youth and that he always felt he was a woman trapped in a man's body and that he was going to be changing into a woman in the fall. He should have gotten permission from the parents to say this.''
Brad Dacus, founder of the Pacific Justice Institute, said he filed administrative complaints on behalf of more than a few parents who felt that their children had been traumatized.
''One student had to be pulled from the school,'' Mr. Dacus said, ''and two children have had to be put in counseling.''
Ms. Rivers, on the advice of the teachers union, would not discuss the details of the case. But her colleagues say that students learned of her plan when teachers read Ms. Rivers's letter to their classes. Ms. Rivers said that as rumors began circulating throughout the school and students began asking about them, she agreed to an interview with the school newspaper. The 2,600-word profile was printed the week before school ended in June.
''I didn't have to send a letter to everyone telling them what I was doing,'' Ms. Rivers said. ''I could have just walked into school. But what confusion would that have led to?''
In a way, the debate is reminiscent of arguments about gay teachers who come out of the closet. But unlike gay men or lesbians, Ms. Rivers said, there was no way she could hide as she underwent a gender transformation. Her hair is long and auburn now, with bangs. She wears eye shadow, pink nail polish and skirts. She has trained her vocal cords to deliver a soft, feminine tenor.
''If there was a way that I could have gone on the way I was, believe me, I would have, because this is the hardest thing I have ever done,'' she said.
Until age 44, David Warfield had been a Navy electronics expert, a political consultant and school board member in Huntington Beach, a baseball coach and a white-water rafting instructor. Ms. Rivers says she is still proud of that resume, but is happier personally now. Like many other people with gender dysphoria, which the International Center for Gender Education describes as extreme discomfort with one's sex, Ms. Rivers said her condition led her to alcoholism, thoughts of suicide and three failed marriages.
''I've been able to lead a successful life, but personally it's been a real struggle,'' she said. ''Since I started taking hormones last January, I've been happier because I'm getting to be who I am for the first time. I'm going to be a better teacher for it. It's not about being a transsexual; it's about not always pretending and hiding.''
She stepped near the school for the first time this school year on Friday. Classes were not in session, but in an annual staff day 40 students and 200 teachers held a lunchtime rally for Ms. Rivers across the street from the school. Students chanted ''Two, four, six, eight, we demand a reinstate.''
Angela Duvane, 17, a senior in the Media Communications Academy, said students missed their teacher.
''In her former state as Mr. Warfield, she was awesome,'' Miss Duvane said. ''We all love her. Even students who never had her as a teacher.''
https://archive.ph/03WSO#selection-1929.0-2525.142
By all accounts, David Warfield was an excellent teacher.
He came to Center High School in this Sacramento suburb for his first teaching job nine years ago and soon made a name for himself, developing a program for unmotivated students that became the award-winning Media Communications Academy. Students routinely called him one of the best teachers they had had or expected to have, the one most likely to be remembered as a major influence in their lives. He was awarded an $80,000 grant for his program, won the school's Stand and Deliver award for the teacher who most inspires students and received a standing ovation from the district's staff at its annual meeting last September.
Given this backdrop, when David Warfield wrote a letter to colleagues in May explaining that he was undergoing a sex change and planned to return to school as Dana Rivers, shock quickly turned to sympathy. In June, after the school board sent a letter disclosing Mr. Warfield's decision to all 1,500 families in the district, only four parents wrote back in protest.
But Dana Rivers has yet to walk through the doors of Center High. Weeks before classes started, the school board voted 3 to 2 to place her on paid administrative leave pending a formal dismissal, which is expected soon. What might have been a quiet if difficult adjustment at Center High to get to know the person some students once called Mountain Man for his love of macho sports has instead become the sole subject of board meetings and a growing, rancorous debate in this ethnically diverse, middle-class town.
At its core lies the question: Why would Dana Rivers be fired? To her supporters, the answer is obvious.
''The board members didn't want a transsexual teacher,'' said Ray Bender, a board member who voted against dismissal proceedings. ''They said they didn't want to create confusion for the students.''
The Dana Rivers case, Mr. Bender said, has become a cause for religious conservatives assisted by the Pacific Justice Institute, a local conservative legal organization that demanded that the school board fire the teacher or face a lawsuit.
''One board member,'' he said, ''was heard telling a parent that this is a holy issue.''
But board members who voted to begin dismissal proceedings say their position has nothing to do with transsexualism, the Pacific Justice Institute or religious conservatives.
''That is the furthest thing from the truth,'' said Scott Rodowick, the board president. ''This is about parental rights. This is about issues that the board became aware of that have nothing to do with the teacher's being transgendered. There are things I know that I would love to talk about, but I have to respect the rights of an employee. It's a personnel issue.''
The majority on the board refused to discuss the case, but the members who voted for Ms. Rivers said the others wanted an excuse to fire her. They found it, the board members say, in a few parents who complained that the teacher had improperly discussed her condition, known as gender dysphoria, with their children.
''One parent stood up at a board meeting and said that her daughter was traumatized,'' Mr. Bender said. ''But right after that, her daughter stood up and told the board that her mother was wrong.''
But Donna Earnest, whose son is a junior at Center High School, said she was not the only one who believed her parental rights had been taken from her.
''My position is that this teacher acted totally unprofessionally,'' Ms. Earnest said. ''My child was not in the class, but kids talk all over the school, and according to the kids, he said he had been sodomized as a youth and that he always felt he was a woman trapped in a man's body and that he was going to be changing into a woman in the fall. He should have gotten permission from the parents to say this.''
Brad Dacus, founder of the Pacific Justice Institute, said he filed administrative complaints on behalf of more than a few parents who felt that their children had been traumatized.
''One student had to be pulled from the school,'' Mr. Dacus said, ''and two children have had to be put in counseling.''
Ms. Rivers, on the advice of the teachers union, would not discuss the details of the case. But her colleagues say that students learned of her plan when teachers read Ms. Rivers's letter to their classes. Ms. Rivers said that as rumors began circulating throughout the school and students began asking about them, she agreed to an interview with the school newspaper. The 2,600-word profile was printed the week before school ended in June.
''I didn't have to send a letter to everyone telling them what I was doing,'' Ms. Rivers said. ''I could have just walked into school. But what confusion would that have led to?''
In a way, the debate is reminiscent of arguments about gay teachers who come out of the closet. But unlike gay men or lesbians, Ms. Rivers said, there was no way she could hide as she underwent a gender transformation. Her hair is long and auburn now, with bangs. She wears eye shadow, pink nail polish and skirts. She has trained her vocal cords to deliver a soft, feminine tenor.
''If there was a way that I could have gone on the way I was, believe me, I would have, because this is the hardest thing I have ever done,'' she said.
Until age 44, David Warfield had been a Navy electronics expert, a political consultant and school board member in Huntington Beach, a baseball coach and a white-water rafting instructor. Ms. Rivers says she is still proud of that resume, but is happier personally now. Like many other people with gender dysphoria, which the International Center for Gender Education describes as extreme discomfort with one's sex, Ms. Rivers said her condition led her to alcoholism, thoughts of suicide and three failed marriages.
''I've been able to lead a successful life, but personally it's been a real struggle,'' she said. ''Since I started taking hormones last January, I've been happier because I'm getting to be who I am for the first time. I'm going to be a better teacher for it. It's not about being a transsexual; it's about not always pretending and hiding.''
She stepped near the school for the first time this school year on Friday. Classes were not in session, but in an annual staff day 40 students and 200 teachers held a lunchtime rally for Ms. Rivers across the street from the school. Students chanted ''Two, four, six, eight, we demand a reinstate.''
Angela Duvane, 17, a senior in the Media Communications Academy, said students missed their teacher.
''In her former state as Mr. Warfield, she was awesome,'' Miss Duvane said. ''We all love her. Even students who never had her as a teacher.''
