I am curious as to how this woman managed to teach in a secular school system for 10 years and only now her refusal to participate in holidays has become an issue.
What about all those other holidays besides Valentine's Day? How was her noncelebration of holidays handled in the past? Did her classes just have to opt out of coloring Easter eggs or Xmas trees? Did her classes go for 10 years sans celebrations or activities of any kind related to holidays?
I am with Cofty and Landy on this one. It sounds like a last straw. There seems like there is more to this than what is being presented.
I have an image in my head of all these kids sitting in their classroom on Valentine's Day with nothing to do while the rest of the school celebrated. A whole classroom doing what I was forced to do as a kid - sit and watch while everyone else got to participate and I didn't.
It's a conundrum. On one hand, it is reasonable to expect that a person should not have to violate their religious beliefs in their job, but on the other hand, it seems to be wrong that the students do not have the right to be free from the teacher's religious views.
The teacher's refusal to accomodate the classroom's freedom from her religion becomes a problem. At what point do the children's rights become paramount over her rights?
I am grateful that neither of my children were unlucky enough to draw a JW teacher when they were going to school. I would have lost my mind.