Over 100 students, alumni of Columbus Bishop Watterson, and community, labor supporters, packed the meeting room of the local Unitarian Church last Saturday, rallying to support beloved 19 year Watterson teacher, Carla Hale, who was fired by the Catholic Diocese for “violating the morality clause.”
Carla had just lost her mother and had returned to work, as a teacher at Bishop Watterson High School, after the funeral. However, instead of the condolences she received from students, staff and other teachers, the administration of that Catholic facility called her in and fired her. The diocese had, they stated, received an “anonymous letter” pointing out that her mother’s obituary stated that she was survived by Carla “& her partner.”
“That is really a disgusting double-standard,” said Bill Clarson, who, with his wife Jane, were just leaving the Unitarian Church. “When you see how they’ve treated the priests who’d molested children, just moving them and covering up, for them to fire a wonderful teacher, who’d done nothing wrong is just plain wrong!”