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“I do not believe my health will improve while daily living with the stressors continually imposed here, especially without hope for meaningful imminent change.”

A Great Barrington middle school teacher, who filed a federal lawsuit last month after police searched her classroom for an LGBTQ+ memoir, has resigned from her job, saying the school district is “not a safe place for [her] to teach.”

Arantzazú Zuzene Galdós-Shapiro submitted her resignation letter, which was obtained by The Berkshire Eagle, June 10. Her resignation was effective June 14, according to a Great Barrington personnel report. 

Galdós-Shapiro, who identifies as a queer Mexican-American, filed a complaint against the town of Great Barrington, the Berkshire Hills Regional School District and its superintendent, and two town police officials on May 14. The suit alleges the defendants violated several of Galdós-Shapiro’s constitutional rights when a plainclothes police officer searched her classroom for the book “Gender Queer: A Memoir.”

“I am in need of taking care of my health, which has greatly suffered as a result of these conditions and the violations of my rights,” Galdós-Shapiro wrote in her resignation letter. “I do not believe my health will improve while daily living with the stressors continually imposed here, especially without hope for meaningful imminent change.”

School officials apologized after police searched classroom

Before her resignation, Galdós-Shapiro was an English Language Arts teacher at Du Bois Regional Middle School. Galdós-Shapiro has been on an extended leave from teaching since her classroom was searched in December of last year.

The search was prompted by a complaint to Great Barrington police that raised concerns about inappropriate illustrations in the book. Police officials sent a plainclothes officer to the school, who was ultimately unable to find the memoir in Galdós-Shapiro’s classroom. 

The search prompted backlash from the community, leading to the district’s superintendent and other school officials to apologize for how they handled the incident. Governor Maura Healey also commented on the situation, saying that “book banning has no place in Massachusetts.”

“Gender Queer” has become a target for book banning efforts across the nation; the Associated Press reported it is the most frequently challenged book in the country in 2021 and 2022.

The book, written by Maia Kobabe, is a graphic memoir that describes the author and cartoonist’s journey of navigating sexual and gender identity. It is not banned by the district but is not part of the school’s curriculum, W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School Principal Miles Wheat previously told Boston.com.

Galdós-Shapiro did have the book in her classroom as part of a classroom collection, and students were able to check it out from her. Only one student had done so, according to the lawsuit.

Teacher was “in fear” and felt threatened after the search, lawsuit says

Galdós-Shapiro claims in the lawsuit that a “disgruntled” janitor was the one who informed police that there was inappropriate content in “Gender Queer.” The janitor has previously been disciplined by the district for making homophobic and racist remarks, according to the court filing.

The janitor also allegedly reported to the police that Galdós-Shapiro allowed students to sit on her lap and told them to keep certain conversations from their parents, the complaint reads. Great Barrington police dismissed these allegations as “not worth investigating” due to lack of credibility before her classroom was searched, according to court documents. 

Police did not disclose the name of the person who prompted the search, “despite Ms. Galdós-Shapiro, faculty and students being in fear, feeling threatened, and deeply worried about their safety at school,” the lawsuit reads. 

“The unwarranted criminal investigation and interrogation that they inflicted on Ms. Galdós-Shapiro and the resulting aftermath, including Defendants’ decision to publish the baseless, false, and defamatory allegations against Ms. Galdós-Shapiro — including the allegation that she was, essentially, a pedophile— left her devastated and profoundly shaken, ill, distressed, and fearful, her reputation publicly destroyed,” the court filing continues.

“Seeking a better future elsewhere”

In her resignation letter, Galdós-Shapiro says her realization that the school district was not “safe” for her was “very painful,” but that she “will be seeking a better future elsewhere.” She has taught at the school for six years, according to the letter. 

“I wish the district luck in its much needed growth so that current and future educators and students, especially those of or advocating for marginalized communities, receive better, and do not experience what I have been forced to experience,” Galdós-Shapiro wrote.