After an investigation revealed that the teacher had secretly taken pregnant students to get abortions, a New Hampshire school fired her. This news comes during a national discussion about parental rights, and teachers’ attempts to undermine them.
The Boston Globe received documents via a public records request indicating that the former teacher had admitted to lying when she reported being sick. The educator is said to have driven the student that day to a medical facility. The authorities launched an investigation to determine her actions.
Frank Edelblut, the New Hampshire Education Commissioner, first brought this story to public attention in an op/ed. In a list of possible issues that could warrant an investigation by the Department of Education, he brought this story up:
How should the Department react when a parent contacts them to voice their concern about a teacher calling a student “White supremacist” and confiscating the Trump flag while ignoring the Pride flag-wearing student? He wrote: “Or when an art instructor, instead of teaching art, introduces kids to Black Lives Matter or LGBTQ for Kids without consulting parents or school leaders.” “Should We Look the Other Way?”
Edelblut mentioned briefly in that list a teacher who was accused of lying and taking a student “to get an abortion” without the parents’ knowledge.
He asked rhetorically, “Should We Turn A Blind Eye?”
Edelblut’s Op-Ed, which stoked concerns about secrecy among school personnel and their students, echoed the contentious debate that state legislators had in 2022 and 203 over legislation about “parental rights”. Edelblut expressed his disappointment when the legislation failed last year. He is a socially conservative and former GOP governor candidate.
Edelblut, in an op-ed in the New York Times, criticized media outlets for their unfair reporting of parents who were concerned about what was being taught to children in school.
The NHPR questions list is lacking in curiosity towards educators and students who have expressed concerns about the circumstances of their schools. The articles explore in great detail the feelings of the educators to whom the Department reached out but seem to be lacking the perspectives of the teachers, students, and parents who raised concerns with the Department.
We serve families and students in education. Education leaders serve their constituency, their community, and the educators within their system. We all work for the taxpayer in the public sector.
The department released a report heavily redacted about the incident in May. In the report, the former teacher said that she told investigators that it was her job to help the pregnant student “determine their stage of pregnancy… so they knew what options were available”.
The teacher assisted the student in finding a “safe facility” that provided abortions and spoke with her about the procedure. She said she would accompany the student to their appointment because she thought she “didn’t have anyone supporting them.”
Later, the educator was placed on administrative leave until her contract was completed. It was not renewed. New Hampshire prohibits abortions on children under 18 until 48 hours following written notification from a parent. Massachusetts, on the other hand, allows females who are pregnant to consent to an abortion without parental involvement. The report doesn’t indicate whether the teacher took the student to an abortion facility in New Hampshire or another.
The teacher now works in a new school district in New Hampshire.
