DeLay Blasts School System for NAMBLA Decision -- 06/25/1998

DeLay Blasts School System for NAMBLA Decision

25 June 1998
6:47 p.m. (EDT)

By Bruce Sullivan
CNS Staff Writer

(CNS) "Where are we going as a nation when a teacher who answers questions about God is fired within days, while a pedophile is merely transferred?" said House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX). He asked this question to a crowd of supporters and news people on the Capitol lawn this morning. He was referring to Mildred Rosario, who was fired from the NYC school system for allegedly praying with her students, and to another teacher discovered to be a member of the North American Man-Boy Love Association, who is still employed by the school system.

About a hundred supporters, news people, Congressmen, and Hill staffers gathered on the east lawn of the Capitol today to hear Mildred
Rosario thank her many supporters in Congress at the conference jointly
called by DeLay and Rep. Bob Riley R-AL.

"I am just a simple schoolteacher," said Rosario. "I believe this is an injustice," she continued, referring to her sudden and swift removal from her classroom by the principal of I S-74, Leroy Johnson. "But I believe also that the laws of this country are applied equally to everyone," adding that she expects to get her job back. "God bless you all," she told the sweltering crowd. "And God bless America."

Rep J.C. Watts R-OK, Rep. Joseph Pitts R-PA, Rep. Ernest Istook R-OK, and Family Research Director Gary Bauer also attended the event. After opening the press conference with a prayer, DeLay urged New Yorkers "to rise up and express their outrage at the treatment of this woman," whom Delay said was only trying to answer her students’ questions about an accidentally drowned schoolmate.

One reporter from New York asked Riley if he agreed with the N.Y. City School Board’s decision to fire Mildred Rosario because "she conducted a Christian prayer in a classroom with students who did not all share her religious beliefs." Riley said that the sixth grade teacher did the best she could to help her students deal with the tragic accidental death of a schoolmate.

Shortly after the brief press conference, Rosario gave CNS an exclusive interview and was asked a similar question from a different perspective. Was her swift and sudden removal from her classroom, possibly without due process, because of her Christian faith? "Jerry Cioffi [NYC School Board official] told me that because of Jesus Christ I lost my job," Rosario said. Reverend Miguel Rivera, Rosario’s spokesman said that he is certain that she was treated differently because she is an "Evangelical Christian."

Related Stories:
Fired Bronx Teacher to Visit Washington
Giuliani 'Astounded' by Bronx Teacher's Dismissal
Teacher’s Lawyer Promises Civil Suit
Supporters Rally to Fired Immigrant Teacher
Support for Dismissed Bronx Teacher Grows
NYC Teacher Vows to Fight Firing
An Editorial Comment: Liberal Double-Standard Runs Amok in New York City Schools

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