Texas teacher jobless after Black Lives Matter mask standoff

An art teacher at a Texas charter school is out of the classroom for refusing to stop wearing homemade Black Lives Matter masks, according to reports.

Lillian White said she got little feedback from colleagues when she first started wearing the masks at Great Hearts Western Hills in San Antonio when she returned in July for in-person training at the K-12 charter school.

She wore another that read “Silence is Violence.”

“For about a week and a half, I was wearing these masks and no one said anything,” White told KENS. “A couple of the other teachers came up and asked for some, if I had any extras and I made some.”

But later that month, White told NBC News she got a text message from school officials on July 31 telling her not to wear the masks due to the “current political climate” and because parents would soon be on campus.

School officials later asked White, who refused to comply with the directive, to change her masks four times, sending her home each time before she was eventually fired on Sept. 5, she said.

But the school’s superintendent insists White actually quit her job by not complying with its dress code, saying administrators worked with her for weeks to come up with a solution.

“When at last she wrote to the administration that she would not comply with the dress code, the school was advised by counsel that she had effectively resigned her position by stating that intention and the school so informed her,” Great Hearts Texas Superintendent Daniel Scoggin told NBC News.

Scoggin told KENS last week the school had previously enacted a policy banning all face coverings with external messages.

“Great Hearts was founded and exists today to serve the innate dignity and worth of every human being,” Scoggin said in a statement. “We stand with the Black community and all who are suffering. Great Hearts deplores bigotry and its crushing effects on all those subjected to it.”

White, meanwhile, insists she was fired, but admitted that she never considered adhering to the dress code as it pertained to masks.

“While I regret not being able to stay with [my students], I do not regret standing up for this decision,” White said. “They should see that there are going to be consequences to the decisions you make. But regardless of how strenuous it can be on you, it’s worth it if you know it’s right.”