Lake Zurich teacher fired for showing AIDS video back on job

Last time I heard, the Archdiocese of Chicago had an age-appropriate curriculum on AIDS prevention education. I wonder if the director of St. Francis de Sales school is aware of it.
-Brenda



Lake Zurich teacher fired for showing AIDS video back on job

Daily Herald
8/21/2009

By Bob Susnjara

CHICAGO -- A teacher has regained his job about four months after he was fired for showing an educational AIDS prevention video to his eighth-grade science class at a Lake Zurich Catholic school.

Patrick Szady, 60, of Lake in the Hills, is working again for St. Francis de Sales Parish's elementary school. He had been at St. Francis for about 32 years when he was suddenly ousted in April.

Numerous parents and former students rallied for Szady and demanded his return, saying he's a kind, enthusiastic instructor who was committed to St. Francis de Sales. They even held a party in his honor at the Hawthorn Woods village barn and a picnic in Lake Zurich.

Public pressure didn't drive the decision to return Szady to the classroom, said Sister Mary Paul McCaughey, the Archdiocese of Chicago's superintendent of Catholic schools.

"He's been reinstated by the archdiocese," McCaughey said. "We just felt it was the best thing for everyone involved."

Szady was sacked toward the end of the last school year after showing the video "Time Out: The Truth About HIV, AIDS and You", which features entertainer Arsenio Hall and former basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Szady said he had used the video in class during several previous years, but did not know why it suddenly cost him his job.

McCaughey said Szady has agreed to be in accordance with Catholic school teachings and will no longer show the AIDS-prevention video to St. Francis students. She said the video's content isn't the issue.

"Educationally," McCaughey said, "it's too long and it's dated."

Szady said he appreciated the parents and former students who stepped up publicly on his behalf after he was fired. His backers even sent a letter to Cardinal Francis George seeking consideration of his reinstatement.

"I'm thrilled it turned out the way it did," Szady said. "I'm glad to be back at work."

Classes at St. Francis resume with a half day for grades one through eight on Tuesday, Aug. 25. Szady teaches science to pupils in grades six through eight.