Seeking Truth in Today's Troubled World

In January 2023, Jessica Tapia, a physical education teacher at Jurupa Valley High School in California, was terminated after refusing to comply with the Jurupa Unified School District’s policies regarding transgender and gender-nonconforming students. These policies required teachers to use students’ preferred pronouns, allow them to use facilities corresponding to their gender identity, and withhold information about a student’s gender identity from their parents without the student’s consent. Tapia, citing her Christian beliefs, requested religious accommodations to abstain from these directives, which the district denied, leading to her dismissal.  

Following her termination, Tapia filed a lawsuit against the district in May 2023, alleging violations of her First Amendment rights and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on religion. In May 2024, the district agreed to a $360,000 settlement, comprising $285,000 to Tapia and $75,000 for her attorneys’ fees. The settlement did not include any admission of wrongdoing by the district.  

This case underscores the tension between educational policies aimed at inclusivity and the protection of individual religious convictions. It also highlights the challenges faced by educators who find their personal beliefs at odds with institutional directives. 

By any reasonable measure, the firing of Jessica Tapia and her subsequent vindication through legal settlement and policy shifts is not simply an isolated case but part of a broader pattern—one where ideological dogma has sought to replace professional duty and moral clarity. The celebration of her story, and the recognition of her stand through President Trump’s executive order, highlights an ongoing struggle: the battle between those who see education as a vessel for ideological reprogramming and those who understand it as a means of conveying knowledge and cultivating critical thought. 

For years, the education system has been shifting away from its primary function—educating students in math, science, history, and literature—and toward a quasi-religious indoctrination under the guise of progressivism. The forced adherence to gender ideology, critical race theory, and other radical dogmas is not merely an overreach; it is an outright attack on both freedom of speech and the moral integrity of those who dissent. The fundamental issue at hand is not merely one of policy, but of power—who controls the narrative, and at what cost to truth and liberty? 

The Issue of Power and Control 

One of the most troubling aspects of this case is the idea that a school district could force a teacher to violate her conscience under the threat of termination. Tapia’s refusal to comply with the district’s gender policy was framed as an act of defiance, but in reality, it was an assertion of moral autonomy against coercive institutional power. To suggest that a teacher’s private faith disqualifies her from public service is to set a dangerous precedent—that belief in objective reality and biological facts is now an obstacle to employment. 

But what is even more revealing is the reaction of the teachers’ unions. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) did not express any concern over the possibility that teachers might be compelled to mislead parents or engage in behavior that could be construed as medical intervention without proper licensing. Instead, their reaction was to condemn the executive order, as if stopping indoctrination were the real threat. The core of their argument is not about protecting teachers—it is about protecting a political agenda. 

Teachers’ Unions: Protecting Teachers or an Ideology? 

The role of teachers’ unions in this affair is particularly instructive. Ostensibly created to protect the rights and welfare of teachers, unions have increasingly acted as enforcers of leftist orthodoxy rather than as advocates for their members. If the AFT and similar organizations were genuinely concerned about teachers, they would have stood by Tapia, or at the very least acknowledged her right to her convictions. Instead, they have demonstrated once again that their loyalty lies not with educators, but with an ideological movement that sees dissent as heresy. 

The irony is striking: unions that purport to champion workers’ rights now actively work to suppress them when those rights conflict with their preferred worldview. What does it say about these organizations that they did not object to a teacher being fired for her beliefs, but instead objected to an executive order that protects those beliefs? 

Trump’s recent executive order banning instruction of gender ideology and critical race theory (CRT) in U.S. public schools represents more than a policy shift; it is a signal that the coercive practices of educational bureaucracies will no longer go unchecked. The reality is that many educators, parents, and students have been forced to accept policies that run counter to their deeply held convictions. The fact that teachers were previously threatened for refusing to participate in gender ideology policies—practices that would have been unthinkable just a decade ago—shows how rapidly radical ideas can be normalized when dissent is systematically crushed. 

If anything, this moment serves as a reminder that the pushback against ideological overreach is not just necessary but long overdue. The public education system exists to serve students and parents, not to advance political agendas under the guise of inclusion. If unions and bureaucrats are more committed to protecting dogma than defending teachers, then perhaps it is time for more educators to reconsider their allegiance to such institutions. 

Jessica Tapia’s story is not just a personal victory; it is a broader victory for those who still believe that truth matters more than ideology, that education should be about learning rather than indoctrination, and that moral courage should be celebrated rather than punished. The tide may be turning, but the fight is far from over. 

In Christ’s service,

~JH