Katie Rinderle, a teacher at Due West Elementary School in Cobb County, Georgia, was fired after reading the book My Shadow Is Purple to fifth graders, becoming the first known public school teacher to be fired under Georgia’s trio of censorship laws passed in 2022.

During a hearing in August, a tribunal recommended against Rinderle’s termination, but Cobb County’s school board rejected that recommendation, agreeing to Rinderle’s firing in a 43 vote.

Craig Goodmark, a Georgia education attorney representing Rinderle, says the firing comes despite the fact that no one in the school district has explained to Rinderle what “divisive concepts” were espoused by My Shadow Is Purple, described by its publisher as a “heartwarming and inspiring book about being true to yourself."

"Nobody knows what’s divisive,” Goodmark says. "Nobody knows what’s controversial.”

“I think the message that the district is sending to students is incredibly harmful,” Rinderle says. “They’re sending the message that there’s only a select group of students that are worthy of being affirmed. … Students deserve better."