A high school teacher in Texas was
fired after he told his students he was gay in a text message.
Dr. Josh Hamilton was the coach of
Grapevine High School's competitive speech team.
He came out to his speech team in a
text message intended to motivate them to focus on an approaching
tournament.
“Guys, I get it. We all have
something going on,” he wrote, adding that he overcame depression
and came out as “a happy functioning gay man.”
The following day, Hamilton was
questioned by the district's human resources department. He handed
over his phone so that administrators could see the messages he sent
students.
He was placed on administrative leave.
The Grapevine-Colleyville board recently voted unanimously to fire
Hamilton for violating the district's texting policy. The Board of
Trustees also voted unanimously to remove Hamilton.
"Dr. Hamilton violated the
standards by developing inappropriate relationships with students,
providing inappropriate information to the students concerning his
personal life, through text messages, treating students as family
members or close friends and providing inappropriate personal
information to the students," the district said.
One text was sent to a student who
watches his child. The district questioned a text in which Hamilton
told the student that he was going on a date. Hamilton said that the
student needed to know where he was going to be in case of an
emergency.
“Sitting in the boardroom and hearing
her use the word inappropriate, inappropriate, inappropriate painted
me to the public as a child predator,” Hamilton
told NBC 5.
He said he would appeal the ruling.