Support the van Kuilenburg family

On May 31st 2018 Nicola van Kuilenburg was terminated from her position with the Maryland State Education Association ( the teachers union) because of a so called 'conflict of interest'.  Her employer argued that it is not possible to advocate for her own transgender child James, and LGBT students in general,  as an employee of the Association because teachers who harm kids may be disciplined because of her advocacy. Catalyst for this unfair termination was Nicola's public objection to the use of the slur 'tr*nny' in a school play that her son was set to attend.  This slur has already been removed by the copyright company in an effort to make the play more inclusive and affirming to transgender students, but Frederick County Public Schools initially refused to change the script. It was only after Nicola posted a copy of the school systems justification for the hate speech on her personal Facebook page, and they received emails from other parents and concerned transgender individuals, did they remove the slur.  Although Nicola used her own personal email account and never presented herself as speaking as an employee of MSEA the school employees involved then contacted her supervisors to demand she be terminated. At no point did Nicola ever call for any discipline against the educators involved in making the decision to use the hurtful slur and no discipline was ever taken against them. As a single parent this termination is devastating to the van Kuilenburg family. The Maryland State Education Association challenged her unemployment benefit, claiming she is guilty of Gross Misconduct for acting as a parent. The family therefore has zero income and is using James' tuition money to avoid homelessness. Her own staff union has filed a grievance challenging this wrongful dismissal but that process can take up to a year to reach third party arbitration. In the meantime we hope to keep Nicola, James and Mees in their home until she can find other employment. Please help us!