School board OKs teacher's return as a woman

Lily McBeth previously taught in N.J. district as a man

Video: Education

Hot classes explore trash, death, Yankee Stadium?
TODAY’s Jenna Wolfe takes a look at some of the interesting — albeit strange — classes some universities are offering.

Victim's dad takes on the choking game

School punishment questioned in New Mexico

Visit colleges on a budget

Teachers busted for classroom 'fight club'

Breaking news alerts (about 1 per day)
Click here to sign up or text NEWS to MSNBC (67622).

Find more alerts at alerts.msnbc.com

NBC Field Notes

NBC News correspondents and producers across the U.S. shed light on the news of the day.

Photo features

Reuters	The Week in Pictures Snow and ice abound, Haiti goes on, State of the Union view, Machu Picchu flooding, a firefighter’s reprieve in Nigeria and more news and feature images from around the world.
Getty Images	PhotoBlog View and discuss the pictures and issues that caught our eyes.

updated 7:42 a.m. ET Feb. 28, 2006

EAGLESWOOD TOWNSHIP, N.J. - A New Jersey school board will allow Lily McBeth to return to the school where she taught for five years as a man.

To students at Eagleswood Elementary School, she used to be Mr. McBeth. The retired sales executive was married for 33 years and had three children before having sex-change surgery last year. She re-applied for her job as a substitute teacher under her new name.

Some parents object to McBeth's return to the school. One father predicts it will be "chaos" when the students learn of her gender-changing surgery. But a school board attorney says she is a good teacher who's gotten favorable reviews in the past.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

McBeth calls the school board's decision "magnificent" and "democracy in action."

Click for live vote

What do you think of the decision?