A TEACHER WITH A PHOBIA OF KIDS?

Most of you who know me, know that I have a severe phobia of 'little people'. When I say 'little people', I mean midgets and not children. For me, it's so bad that when I'm in the presence of a 'little person', my palms begin to sweat and I begin to have anxiety, just to give you an idea of my phobia. With that being said, an Ohio teacher has recently slapped her school district with a lawsuit claiming that she was discriminated against because she has a phobia of young children. WHAT? How can you go for a career as a teacher and be scared of kids? My fear is of 'little people', which means, I will not be taking a job at the carnival or circus or as a producer for the show Little People, Big World! That's just insane!

It turns out; Maria C Waltherr-Willard taught Spanish and French classes to high school students in the Mariemont school district for 35 years before she was reassigned to a middle school in 2009. The 61-year-old teacher alleges that school officials dealt her the reassignment to force her to retire as they were fully aware that she suffers from pedophobia, a deep-rooted fear of young kids. I'm just taking a guess here, but I'm guessing she has no kids. 

According to the suit, Waltherr-Willard has suffered from the rare, debilitating phobia since the 1990s. She provided medical officials' statements that detail the degree of stress, anxiety, chest pains, high blood pressure, nausea and nightmares she experiences when around children. I still question her career choice, though, knowing she has this phobia. When I was younger I had a friend who joined the Navy, but was later discharged because he had a fear of water, or at least, that's what he told them. Why would you join the Navy if you had a phobia of water? This is the same thing theoretically. 

 The lawsuit says that Waltherr-Willard was asked to instruct younger children once before in 1997, when school officials requested that she switch to teaching 4th through 6th grade. She would decline citing her phobia and the district did not force the issue. 12 years later, the school district was less accommodating when she spoke with her students' parents about the school's move to eliminate the teacher-led French classes to offer them online instead. She was reprimanded by the high school's principal after parents complained about the planned change. He allegedly told her that if she continued to discuss the issue with parents, she would lose her job. 

According to Waltherr-Willard, she was moved to the middle school as punishment. She eventually retired in March 2011 because of her condition and filed a lawsuit against the school in June 2012. A federal judge dismissed three of her six claims listed in her lawsuit, arguing that the district had followed Waltherr-Willard's contract and that she would still have a job if she had not stepped down. If the claims go to trial, a hearing will likely be set for February 2014. I'm really curious to see how this one turns out because I'm sticking to my original thoughts of why she chose to be a teacher if she knew that she might have to work with kids. It makes no sense. While I try to figure this out, I might try to get a job as a Carnie! It makes absolutely no sense!