After three years of teaching at South East High School in Los Angeles, Henry Zahid, an openly transgender teacher who uses they/he pronouns, suddenly had to fight to keep their job.
Zahid, who supported students as an adviser for the school’s Gay Straight Alliance, came out as trans in their second year of teaching.
“I knew that if I could be my authentic self, it would help my students to see trans adults are out there,” Zahid told LA Public Press.
Despite resounding support from students and colleagues, he received a notice in February of this year that he was fired from his teaching position.
As part of the school district’s iCAAP (Intern and Credential Assistance and Advancement) program, Zahid was teaching as a “teacher candidate” in a probationary period.
During this time, the school principal can legally terminate an iCAAP teacher’s contract through a process called non-reelection.
According to LA Public Press, what this means is that administrators can choose not to renew a teacher’s contract for the next year, with no appeal process. Some reasons that can warrant non-reelection include “immoral or unprofessional conduct, conviction of a felony, or substance abuse issues,” per the California Education Code.
Zahid stressed that none of these reasons applied to them.
Still, they lost their job, and the circumstances under which they were terminated made it even more difficult to secure another teaching job at a different school.
Zahid concluded to LA Public Press: “I do personally feel that my principal did use the non-reelection to hide behind discrimination and bias.”
Despite the painful job loss, Zahid prevailed. After two emotional addresses to the school district board, an investigation by the Equal Opportunity Section, and over 2,000 letters of support from community members, Zahid has been reinstated.
But the fight required support from a host of different community organizations.
United Teachers of Los Angeles, for instance, is the labor union that represents public school teachers in L.A. The group has been active in ongoing protests and demonstrations across the city this year, calling for support of marginalized teachers and students who face threats under the Trump administration.
As part of their efforts to support LGBTQ+ educators, UTLA provided Zahid a platform to speak at their monthly board meetings, advocated on his behalf on social media, and helped mobilize other group efforts to reinstate Zahid.
“Last month, I spoke at the school board meeting about the biased non-reelection that I received from my principal,” Zahid said in a video shared by UTLA. “Today, I spoke again about being misgendered and the blatant disregard for my identity and how our district policies for protecting LGBTQ educators are being ignored.”
Amplifying Zahid’s call to action, UTLA offered pre-written email templates for supporters to send to school board members, calling for Zahid’s reinstatement.
The Educator Defense Network, an organization that supports activist teachers, also launched a letter-writing campaign on social media, culminating in over 2,000 community members advocating for Zahid.
“We are grateful to have met Henry Zahid, a trans immigrant educator who shows why diverse representation in schools matters. As a role model, Henry helps students see themselves as powerful and successful,” Educator Defense Network wrote in a social media post.
“It’s devastating to learn that Henry's principal used the non-reelect process to cut off not just his future, but the future of his students who rely on him as an advocate and mentor,” the group continued. “We are fighting for Henry and his students, urging the LAUSD board to rescind his non-reelect notice and hold the principal accountable for transphobia in our schools.”
Even a group of students and teachers under the 13,000-member umbrella of #StudentsDeserve called for community members to support Zahid’s reinstatement.
“Our demands are very clear,” #StudentsDeserve wrote in a recent social media post. “LA Schools superintendent and school board members, the time is now to be bold and take action to protect Black, undocumented, and LGBTQ students.”
While an internal investigation found that Zahid’s non-reelection was “based on legitimate professional conduct concerns and was not retaliation,” according to LA Public Press, the non-reelection was recently rescinded by the school board.
Although he has yet to receive an explanation for how this decision was made, Zahid’s future employment as a teacher has been secured.
“This literally would not have been possible without the community,” Zahid told LA Public Media. “I do really wanna thank every single person who has shown their support for me, who has come out to the board meetings, who has spoken up.”
In a video for UTLA, he added: “The truth is, this fight cannot be one alone. It shouldn't have to be. Each and every single one of us needs to speak up when we see people and systems discriminate against our fellow educators.”
Header image courtesy of UTLA
