Discrimination continues in Santa Fe: trans teacher Carla Rivero cannot return to the classroom.
Carla Rivero, a transgender teacher, was removed from her teaching position at the school where she had been the principal since April. This followed a prank her students played on her and filmed with their phone.
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In 2023, when Carla Rivero celebrated 28 years as a teacher, she fulfilled her dream of leading a school . Eight months later, a joke was used as an excuse to remove her not only from her position but also from what she loves most in life: teaching.
Carla Rivero had just finished her lesson with her sixth-grade students at the República del Paraguay school in Villa Gobernador Gálvez, Santa Fe. One of her students asked for her phone to film a video of a game and invited her to participate. The teacher performed the choreography the children had taught her, took the phone, put it away, and ended the lesson. Two weeks later, she was subjected to disciplinary proceedings because of the video and suspended from teaching the children.
She asked the school administration if they were aware of the reason for the summons, and they replied that they knew nothing. However, when she arrived at the ministry, she discovered that the complaint against her regarding this video had originated from the same school administration.
“When I was summoned to the Ministry on December 6, I really didn’t know why my section supervisor was calling me. At that moment I found out that they were starting a disciplinary process against me,” Carla Rivero told Agencia Presentes .
At the Ministry, the teacher was informed that disciplinary proceedings were being initiated against her and that she was being transferred to the secondary school teachers' ranking board. "I didn't receive notification from the school administration—which was the proper procedure—to exercise my right to defense and submit my statement. Nor did I have the opportunity to be accompanied by a lawyer during that initial direct interaction with the supervisor," she recounted a month after the incident.
Carla was unable to say goodbye to her students with whom she had been going through an entire educational process.
An act of discrimination
This isn't the first time Carla has faced discrimination. It happened to her especially in the 1990s, before the Gender Identity Law was in place.
She quickly recognized the clear discrimination in the actions of fellow teachers, parents, and Ministry staff. “They wanted to get me out of the classroom,” she says.
Marcos Peiretti, the lawyer representing the teacher, agrees. He explains that since taking the case, they have been trying to access the case file, but bureaucratic hurdles have prevented them from doing so. “The delay doesn't affect the substance of Carla's legal defense, but it does cause immediate harm. Because Carla has been temporarily removed from the classroom and prohibited from being around children or teenagers ,” the lawyer adds.
Furthermore, he clarified that prior to the start of the disciplinary proceedings against the teacher, there had been no prior warning or sanction of any kind, and that the school had not listened to Carla. “All of this, along with the reasons we only know preliminarily, leads us (the members of Carla's legal team, which also includes Gustavo Feldman and Liza Feldman) to believe that the decision was hasty and somewhat arbitrary,” Peiretti explained.
“The school completely disregarded Carla’s perspective before making this decision. A teacher with over 30 years of experience, no disciplinary sanctions, who has established herself within a complex educational community, who has earned the support of parents who initially resisted her simply for being trans (what kind of transvestite pedagogy has managed to gain their support today?), and then, in that context, they remove her from the classroom as if she posed some danger to the children. And they are fully aware of the distress this causes her,” the lawyer concluded.
The procedure
The lawyer representing Carla made it clear that the investigation originated within the school itself. “Of course, a serious investigation must take place to reach a fair conclusion. But what we don't believe is fair is that, in the meantime, Carla is being removed from the classroom and forced to perform administrative tasks,” he explained.
That's where the discriminatory maneuver lies. "We see, between the haste, the bias, and the bureaucracy, the perfect combination to downplay the discomfort that some feel about a trans woman teaching and being loved by her students," says the lawyer.
“Our work will focus on getting Carla back into the classroom, clearing up the mystery, and ensuring that, along with restoring this teacher's dignity, a clear message is sent to the entire educational community.”
The lawyer also told Presentes that the new authorities at the Provincial Gender Secretariat showed their commitment to Carla from the very beginning. “The new authorities at the Ministry of Education have also committed to addressing this matter with speed and seriousness, so that if an injustice is occurring, it will be corrected.”
Carla, the beloved teacher
“Keep your spirits up, you touched the hearts of many generations”; “I wanted to thank you for being who you are, you were always the best teacher, Carlita,” were just two of the dozens of messages Carla received from her former students. Even the kids, upon learning of the situation that arose from the video, posted another one explaining that it had been a joke, that the teacher had been tricked, and that they hadn't imagined it would have this consequence.
“As soon as I made the situation public, social media exploded with messages, videos, and calls from students, alumni, parents, organizations, officials, and individuals. My cell phone wouldn't stop ringing; that's when I realized I wasn't alone and that I hadn't done things so badly in these almost 30 years. My social media feeds were flooded with positive and encouraging messages,” the teacher told Presentes .
On December 21, she was summoned back to the Ministry. There, she was informed that her transfer from her position was being processed by the Secondary Ranking Board and that they refused to allow her to submit a written explanation. “They ignored my explanations at all times,” she says.
That same day, he started working at the board, which performs administrative tasks that require specific training. "They welcomed me cordially, but they never told me about the work I would be doing in that department."
“A trans person in a classroom is a disruptive political body”
The situation she experienced in December was déjà vu for Carla. It happened to her seven years ago in Corrientes. “That time they didn’t go that far, even though the principal of the school where I worked called a meeting with the parents of my students and told them: 'The third-grade teacher isn’t a lady, she’s a man,'” she recalls.
On that occasion, thanks to the mother of a student who recorded that conversation, she reported the principal to Inadi.
“That happened in 2016, and it didn't surprise me. But for persecution, harassment, and discrimination to occur in Rosario is striking, especially since it's a province that's a pioneer in LGBTQ+ rights,” she reflects. “The causes of what happened have to do with personal interests clashing within the school, with various arbitrary situations, mistreatment, a parent-teacher association where strange things have happened, etc. I was the school's principal for a few months, and I know perfectly well what goes on there,” she adds.
“The first objective is to prevent me from accessing leadership positions, and the second is to remove me from the system. There is no other explanation after the countless displays of affection from the hundreds of students who passed through my classrooms. A trans person in a classroom is a disruptive political force, and that still bothers many teachers.”
What happened at the República del Paraguay school is also linked to the current political context. “I don’t consider it a coincidence that after the new national government won, several cases similar to mine came to light in two weeks. This is a lesson in how to punish and persecute. The regrettable thing is that the school is being used as a repressive apparatus of the State.”
“I would never blame a student for what happened to me. I take responsibility for lending my cell phone. But there, at the beginning of an investigation, is an act of complicity between the school administration and the supervisors. All I demand is the immediate reinstatement of my position because the whole process was a farce, sloppy, and violated my labor rights.”
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