Stacy Bailey

JAMES RUSSELL | Contributing Writer
james.journo@gmail.com
Stacy Bailey, an art teacher at Charlotte Anderson Elementary School in Mansfield, south of Fort Worth, was placed on administrative leave on Sept. 8. On Tuesday, April 24 — 228 days since Bailey was placed on leave — supporters told school district trustees at their monthly meeting that Bailey is a remarkable teacher, an advocate for students, a role model for teachers and a compassionate individual.
She also really, really misses the school, her wife, Julie Vazquez, said.
“All she wants is to be back at Charlotte Anderson teaching,” Vazquez said.
But to others in attendance at this week’s Mansfield ISD board meeting, Bailey was promulgating an extreme agenda by discussing her homosexuality and marriage to a woman.
She was taking away children’s innocence, said Tanika Dean, a parent in the district.
“I stand with parents of MISD who are supporting the suspension of Stacy Bailey,” Dean said. She also urged the school board not to add LGBT protections to district policies.
The Tarrant County Republican Party forwarded an e-mail to its members, encouraging them to show up at the meting to speak against the policy changes.
“Mansfield ISD is being pressured to pass a policy that would infringe on religious liberty and allow boys into girls’ shower, locker-rooms and bathrooms,” according to the e-mail.
District officials do not comment on personnel matters. But text messages obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram between Anderson Principal Sheira Petty and district administrators suggested a parent expressed some concern to Superintendent Jim Vaszauskas and the school board about Bailey’s sexual orientation.
The timing was right to also rectify the situation by amending the district’s nondiscrimination ordinance to include sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. Supporters said they want protections similar to those in the Fort Worth school district passed in 2016.
Currently the district’s policy prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability, or any other basis prohibited by law. It does not explicitly include LGBT protections. But the district does not “condone harassment or discrimination of any kind toward anyone.”
Board President Raul Gonzalez explained the process for considering policy changes.
“Any review of MISD’s anti-discrimination policy would be handled through the normal processes of our policy review committee,” he said in a statement before hearing from the public. “Committee assignments will be made when our new board is in place after the May election. Any recommendations from the policy review committee will be discussed in regularly scheduled board meetings.”
Bailey’s supporters got one wish on Tuesday: Her contract, which was up for renewal along with other employees, was renewed for the next school year shortly after 11 p.m.
But her investigation is still pending.