Teacher Out of Job After Taking Student to the ER and Footing the Bill

A teacher at Red Bank High School in Tennessee is out of a job for taking a student to an emergency room and paying for the visit.

According to local news reports, Jennifer Mitts took a student to the ER and was generous enough to pay for the full cost. However, school officials didn’t respond by thanking her for her care and consideration—they say she’s been warned in the past not to do this exact same thing. Officials disciplined Mitts back in January for taking students off campus in her car without permission.

The school disciplined Mitts for her actions and now there are conflicting reports about exactly what her punishment was. According to WTVC, Mitts says she was forced to resign after the latest incident:

When school officials found out what she did, Mitts says “They then dictated to her what she should write in the resignation letter, including forcing her to waive her right to a hearing.

That conflicts with a statement from a school representative, according to WDEF:

[A]ssistant superintendent of human resources Stacy Stewart says Mitts was only facing her second suspension within three years.”Instead of taking the suspension, she opted to resign and we allowed her to do so. She has mentioned being forced to wave her rights to due process and that’s incorrect,” Stewart said.

[S]he has received several warnings, reprimands and even an 5-day suspension for other incidents that raised administrative red flags. There was even a letter from a school administrator explaining how her good intentions were putting the district in jeopardy of a potential lawsuit. “It’s a liability issue. It’s an issue of insubordination after doing something you were officially warned not to do and doing it again. It’s an issue of neglect of duty because the classroom was left unattended. There’s several issues,” Stewart said.

According to WTVC, there is a petition to get the teacher job back:

Students and residents began to petition for her to be reinstated. “Honestly if it was my child and we couldn’t afford it out of pocket, I hope there would be somebody that would do that for us,” says Ashley Gonzales.

The petition includes a statement reportedly from the student Mitts took to the hospital last year:

“I was the student that she took to the er [emergency room] last year. I had a temp of 105, pneumonia, a kidney infection && a bladder infection. I was also 7 months pregnant. Ms. Mitts saved my baby boys life as well as mine! And she did it out of the kindness of her heart, NOT because I asked [all sic],” reads the comment.