Lillian White was approaching year two of her teaching career at Great Hearts Western Hills charter school in San Antonio, but her time was cut short.
A week before students were set to return to class, White was fired for her refusal to stop wearing homemade masks that displayed phrases like "Black Lives Matter" and "Silence is Violence," according to KENS 5's Zack Briggs and Adam Pyle.
“It was really stressful because I have a financial obligation to help support my family. It’s also kind of heartbreaking that this is the kind of – this is the reason that I lost my job," she said.
White told KENS 5 she started attending weekly in-person training sessions at work back in July, and at first, no one — besides teachers inquiring about masks for themselves — said anything about her facial coverings. On Friday, that changed.
“We’d like you to stop wearing these masks anymore, parents will be coming around more and we don’t discuss the current political climate,” White told Briggs and Pyle, citing a text message she received from her school's assistant principal.
White continued to wear the masks.
In an emailed statement to KENS, Great Hearts Texas superintendent Daniel Scoggin said the district's policy requires facial coverings with no external messages.
"Great Hearts was founded and exists today to serve the innate dignity and worth of every human being," the statement read, in part, as reported by Briggs and Pyles. "We stand with the Black community and all who are suffering. Great Hearts is committed to an America where racism, violence, and injustice do not happen, because such acts find no home in the hearts of a great people.”
Despite losing her job, White remains committed to the cause surrounding Black Lives Matter and is "still trying to get [the school] to enact some kind of anti-racism action plan."
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