Teacher Sues School District Over Her Fear… Of Kids

A Cincinnati-area school teacher is suing her school district, arguing that it has been insensitive towards her fear of children.

Maria C. Waltherr-Willard, 61, of Greenhills, OH, claims that the school district moved her from teaching high school French and Spanish into a job at a middle school, despite her “pedophobia” – extreme anxiety and fear around young children.

Waltherr-Willard claims that she was pressured to resign, while the school district’s lawyers say she would have remained employed if she hadn’t quit in protest. She left teaching in March 2012 and filed a complaint about her dismissal with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. When that claim was dismissed by the district, she filed her lawsuit.

Medical documents report the teacher “experiences stress, anxiety, chest pains, vomiting, nightmares and higher than healthy blood pressure when she’s around young children.”