A second-grade teacher in Smithville, Ohio, was fired from his job in December because he wrote on his Facebook page that he was against dairy farming.
According to local affiliate Fox8, Keith Allison is a vegan and animal rights advocate who often openly posts his views regarding those issues to his Facebook page. In August, Allison took pictures of a local dairy farm showing what he described as crates that were being used to house baby calves after they were separated from their mothers at birth.
“As someone who grew up feeling parental love and support, and now as a parent who gives love and support, I reject the claim that separating babies from loving mothers to raise them isolated in boxes can ever be considered humane,” he wrote in his post.
After somehow learning about Allison’s post, the owners of the farm called the school’s superintendent to say they were “upset” and “frightened” by Allison’s post. As a result of his post and the farmers’ complaint, the school pulled Allison’s one-year contract after it came up for renewal.
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“I was informed by my superintendent that the family that owns this farm had called and complained about it and expressed that they were upset and frightened about the post,” he said. “The fact that their family’s farm was in the picture, I guess, is where their complaint was coming from and from what I was told, they were fearful, afraid that someone might come and break their calf crates or free their cows and their children were not safe to be out in their yards.”