OH Teacher, Scared of Kids, Sues District

A former high school teacher is suing an Ohio school district, accusing them of discriminating against a very rare fear that she has.

FOX News Radio’s Chris Hoenig has the story:

Audio clip:

Maria Waltherr-Willard retired after 35 years teaching high school foreign languages, forced, she says, by the extreme anxiety of being moved to Mariemont, Ohio’s junior high. Waltherr-Willard is pedophobic – she’s scared of little children.

The district says there just wasn’t a position for her at the high school anymore, but Waltherr-Willard says they’re violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. Former teacher Carolyn Lunt doesn’t buy the diagnosis.

(Lunt) “I cannot see that there would be that much difference between high school and middle school, having taught all ages.”

Waltherr-Willard says she had a deal with the district to stay in the high school after a move to an elementary school triggered her anxiety in 1997.

Chris Hoenig, FOX News Radio.