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School district reinstates suspended transgender substitute teacher

School district reinstates suspended transgender substitute teacher

LUMBERTON, Texas — A transgender substitute teacher who was told not return to her classes at a Texas elementary school after parents complained that she was a “distraction” to their 10 and 11-year old children, has been reinstated.

Laura Jane Klug
Laura Jane Klug Facebook

Laura Jane Klug said she has been “re-installed” on the Lumberton Independent School District’s substitutive teacher roll following a school board meeting Thursday evening.

Klug, 52, was suspended Tuesday after complaints by parents of fifth grade students at Lumberton Intermediate School.

Klug said she has always conducted herself in a professional manner and “would never discuss” her identity in school or with students. She said she had substituted at the school previously and without any concerns.

On Thursday, 13 people addressed the school board about Klug’s suspension during a regularly scheduled meeting. Klug did not speak on her own behalf, but sat attentively as people spoke both for, and against, her.

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One speaker accused Klug’s supporters of trying to intimidate the school board, while another said he was concerned about which bathroom she would use.

The decision to reinstate Klug came following a closed door session after the public forum.

“I am re-instated!” Klug wrote on a Facebook group aimed at supporting her employment with the district.

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