Fired Teacher Sues Religious School

There is no denying that Michelle Ganzy, a math teacher dismissed from a religious school, had premarital sex. Her 19-month-old daughter Nyla is proof. But was she fired for fornication, or because she became pregnant?

Ganzy, 28, is suing Allen Christian School in New York, claiming dismissal for pregnancy, in violation of the 1964 federal civil rights act that bars discrimination for such reasons as gender. Last month, a federal court judge refused a defense request to dismiss the case. A jury trial is now possible, though no date has been set.

A lawyer for the Rev. Elaine Flake, who heads the school, said that having unmarried mothers as teachers does not reflect the school’s Christian values, and that Ganzy knew that. “We’re dealing with a very strong constitutional issue of protection of freedom of religion,” Michael E. Pressman said.

In September 1995, Ganzy was hired to teach math for grades three through eight. In October, she became pregnant by her boyfriend, but did not tell a supervisor until the following February.

A day later, she said, she met with Flake and the supervisor, and was fired. “I was shocked, devastated. My self-esteem went very low,” Ganzy said. “I couldn’t understand how the school could be so cruel.”

As a compromise, Pressman said, the school offered to move Ganzy to a less visible job during her pregnancy and to place her back in the classroom after the birth. But, the lawyer said, she turned that down, and that led to what may be the school’s first-ever firing for fornication.