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Subscribe to RSSA teacher in Ohio is suing her former school district, alleging discrimination: She says she was forced to teach younger kids despite her fear of them.
Maria Waltherr-Willard, 61, who worked for Mariemont City Schools for 35 years, was reassigned from a high school to a junior high in Cincinnati, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Her lawsuit claims the district discriminated against her based on age and her "pedophobia," which can mean an extreme fear or anxiety around young children, the Enquirer said. The suit was filed in June 2012.
When Waltherr-Willard was transferred to a junior high school, she reportedly asked if there would be a high school position for her the following year. The school district claimed there were no open positions at the high school for her, according to Fox19.com in Cincinnati. She eventually retired in March 2011.
The lawsuit calims that the French and Spanish teacher had been diagnosed with specific phobia and general anxiety disorder, Fox19.com reported.
Experts told the Enquirer that extreme anxiety or irrational fear around children is a rare but recognized anxiety disorder.
"Like any phobia, it’s a situation in which one responds with overwhelming fear and anxiety to the stimulus," Dr. Caleb Adler, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati, told NBC News.
Childhood trauma and bullying incidents could be the cause of phobias like this, Adler said.
A spokesperson for Mariemont City Schools declined to comment Tuesday because of the litigation, but referred NBC News to the district's legal representation. Attorney R. Gary Winters said the district believes there is no merit in Waltherr-Willard's claims.
"Ms. Waltherr-Willard was a tenured teacher who could have continued to work as long as she wished, but retired," Winters said.
An attorney for Waltherr-Willard did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The Enquirer reported that a federal judge last week dismissed three of the six claims in her lawsuit gave the district's attorneys more time to respond to the others.
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So what is the major difference between an 8th grader and a 9th grader?
Momma always said that people were like a can of Planters...just never know how many nuts yer gonna get...and that all I have to say 'bout that.
Ok, who wastes time getting educated in a field were the children scares the crap out of you !
I cant stand to be around snakes, so maybe I'll go to florida and join the python hunt !
90% of people who sue are lazy and looking for an easy payday !
Hmmm. Ok - I am confused. She is a teacher who cannot be in a classroom with children due to mental disability? But she thinks that she should be allowed to teach an empty classroom? Sounds like she should lose her teaching license because of mental illness.
Why are we allowing people with mental illness to work around our children? Have we not learned anything? Will we be concerned when she feels that she needs a gun to protect herself against the students?
The size of the spit-wads?
Why didn't I think of this years ago. I could of had a huge payout and never wouldof had to work again
Very little difference. If she fears kids, she was in the wrong profession. I bet if you polled her students over her career, she wouldn't get a very effective rating. arely leashed fear is as obvious to kids as open fear.
Anita-2036926
So what is the major difference between an 8th grader and a 9th grader?
LOL If you are afraid of snakes and spiders does the size matter?
Shame on the judge who didn't just dismiss the entire lawsuit all together! This whole situation is just ridiculous and she should obviously never had gone into teaching. First of all, how stupid was that, and she taught for all those years? Stupidity and teaching seem to go hand in hand these days. What a thing to teach her kids now. Just plain dumb.
Dude, what the @!$%#??? Seriously?
Haha, my sentiments exactly. I have a phobia of a 40 hour (or more) work week. Perhaps I should sue my employer...
Took the words outta my mouth.
I have a phobia....it's terrible....I'm afraid of not having any phobias......
Who do I sue?
Then why is she a teacher at all! Why not be a translator- or anything else. Tenure or not this is a JOKE!
I have a phobia too- the phobia of no money!
"I have a phobia of work I studied and applied for, therefore my employer should be sued for forcing me to do my job in return for payment. I expect a large settlement to cover my excessive mental duress and copious legal expenses."
I get that this phobia is a real thing and that some people do probably suffer from it, but for a suffer to choose to be a teacher... that's a little far fetched.
Beam me up, Scotty.... no intelligent life here.
This is why we need tort reform..She isn't satisfied with a pension after 35 years of work.I'd say that she is greedy and has no phobia.
I agree some lawsuits, including probably this one are frivolous; however, the right to redress in civil court is a necessary one in a free society, and I therefore would reject any attempt at limiting it.
You can get rabies just as bad from little dogs and you can from big dogs.........
Can MSNBC get a little bit more information on this or what? WHEN was she diagnosed. Did she bring this issue to the school when they moved her? Did the school give her any options?
I understand phobias, heck I have one, but it does seem a little peculiar - it either comes down to their physical stature (which there isn't much between middle school and high school students), or their mental/emotional differences. Considering she has been teaching for 35 years, there is no way she can tell me that today's middle school students seem "younger" (mentally/socially) than high school students just 10 years ago (let alone 20 or 30 years ago).
Sounds to me like she had a preference of teaching high school and was not very happy about the change, or she was too accustomed to that age and was not ready/didn't have the skills to teach a younger group.
I have a phobia of flying. Really debilitating, actually. I, however, would never become a pilot. It's not like you can "catch" this, like a cold. These things don't just pop up overnight, unless she had some major, MAJOR traumatic event. In which case she should have applied for SSD and left the profession.
Unbelievable! And who's the @!$%# attorney who took the case???
same jackass that was going to sue Newtown schools on behalf of the 6 yr old last week i'm guessing.
... and same schmucks who advised AIG to sue for not getting everything they wanted when we the tax payers had to bail them out, after they helped tank our economy...
I have a phobia of working. When do I get my check?
Reminds me of an episode of "The Practice" when a cop sued for disability because the job made him a racist. That case was as ridiculous as the fact that tenure actually exists in real life...
This is just ridiculous! When I heard younger children I was thinking more like 5-10 range. Not pre-teen-teenagers.
I thought pedophobia was what children had when they were around Catholic clergy.
So, she has a fear of so called younger kids. Oh how in the world does this woman walk outside?! Or in a mall, or movie theater...give me a break. I hope she looses.
That would be agoraphobia, fear of going outside. Yeah, this has a large amount of bogusness to it.
Jessiegrrl - what NyNy is saying is that there are little kids everywhere you go out in society, how does this lady go out and function?
I have this phobia and it is indeed debilitating.
Hoping someone suffers just because you don't understand their phobia seems a bit much.
What is next? A trial lawyer suing because, he have a phobia of going to court. When can I get my check?
Only in America. ONLY in America.
It's getting close to April and I have taxmephobia so do I still have to file and pay taxes?
I too quit teaching because of a common phobia: strangleteenaphobia.
Which reminds me, as most things do, of a joke:
Biblical scholars have finally determined that the OT Isaac could not have been more than nine years old when he accompanied his father up Mt. Moriah to the altar. Because if he had been a teenager, it wouldn't have been a sacrifice!
If only our founding fathers who wrote the Constitution could see the mess we have become today. Something tells me they would revise it and make some fundamental changes.
Probably transferred due to union rules. Happens all the time. However, if she cannot teach around young children, she shouldn't be a teacher at all.
This woman is not fit to be around any kids, of any age, in my opinion. She has a seriously limiting mental illness that disqualifies her for the job. It is like a one armed man wanting a job moving furniture, or a blind person who wants to work in a bookstore. What in the hell ever motivated her to be a teacher? Perhaps she should use her teaching experience to do something more in the background of the education field, such as course planning, or some administrative job.
Any judge that rules in this woman's favor would have some real explaining to do.
What a tool!
Its actually amazing what you can get a diagnosis for today - there is always someone licensed somewhere willing to give you a diagnosis you are looking for. I have friends who are 'bipolar' - and as such are not able to work and just collect off the system - yet they are actually as stable as I am - but now get their food, housing, medical paid for by the state. Most of their time is spent with friends at clubs at night - driving cars I as a working person can't afford. It gives a bad name to everyone else who actually has any type of mental affliction. What lawyers won't do to get a buck these days.
LOL! LOL! This "so-called" teacher being fearful of small kids, Omgosh......seems to me shes NOT fit to be around any children, mentally speaking! Boy, there is a prognosis for anything these days!
see the original article to clear up all of the facts....
Much easier to understand the situation with all of the information that msnbc does not give you.
what! Are youtrying to say this story is less than journalistic, how could they just not give facts?????? Noooooo not NBC news.
Theres a million other professions that could have been chosen. The stories just get weirder every day.