Transgender teaching sub won’t return in NJ

Lily McBeth, a substitute teacher from Little Egg Harbor Township, became a national symbol of acceptance for transgender Americans in 2006 when the Eagleswood and Pinelands Regional school districts kept her on the job despite protests from some parents.

But McBeth said the number of teaching assignments she got from both school districts dwindled from 10 to 20 calls when she was William McBeth to just one or two calls per semester. McBeth sent a letter to Eagleswood Township officials stating that she will not return in the fall and she plans to send a similar notice to the Pinelands Regional School District.

“I’m trying to get out with grace and dignity,” McBeth, 74, said in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s just a shame the school district - they had an opportunity … to teach the students and the staff something about tolerance and diversity, and they look good for putting me back on the list. But what they did with me once I got on the list was hang me out to dry.”

McBeth added that she wants to keep her decision to leave “calm and peaceful.”

“I’m not interested in stirring up a hornet’s nest,” she said.

McBeth, who grew up in Atlantic City, had gender-reassignment surgery in 2005.

Detlef Kern, superintendent of Pinelands Regional, declined to comment when reached by phone Wednesday.

See Transgender teaching sub won’t return

Press of Atlantic City

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