Louis Van Amstel is grateful for his family this holiday season, and he is not going to let bullies stand in their way.
The Dancing With the Stars alum, 47, revealed that his 11-year-old son, Daniel, had a troubling experience involving a substitute teacher at his elementary school ahead of Thanksgiving. When the fifth grader said in class that he “is thankful that he’s finally being adopted by his two dads,” the educator allegedly had a homophobic response that led to her firing, according to Van Amstel.
“The substitute teacher was giving her very clear opinion about two men is wrong, homosexuality is wrong and, yeah, so you can imagine that set us off,” he said in a recent Instagram video. “We are not letting this go. I am so proud of Daniel’s school. Not only did they let go of the teacher, they said this woman is never going to teach in this school ever again.”
The professional dancer told his Instagram followers that Daniel did not want to get the teacher in trouble. However, three girls in his class asked the woman to stop her rant, which reportedly lasted 10 minutes.
“When she didn’t they went to the principles [sic] office to complain,” he continued in the caption of the post. “I’m proud of the three girls and school for standing up for our family against this bully. Im disgusted that the bully is the teacher in a public school. #equalrights #allfamilies #allfamiliesmatter.”
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the incident took place at Deerfield Elementary School in Cedar Hills, Utah, and resulted in the teacher being escorted out of the building.
“We are concerned about any reports of inappropriate behavior and take these matters very seriously,” the school district’s staffing company, Kelly Services, said in a statement to the newspaper. “We conduct business based on the highest standards of integrity, quality and professional excellence. We’re looking into this situation.”
Van Amstel told the Tribune that Daniel “was so fearful” to speak up because he was worried that the choreographer and his husband, Joshua Lancaster, would no longer “want to adopt him.” The couple, who married in January 2017, are set to finalize the process during a court hearing on December 19.
“This situation really hurt him,” the Netherlands native told the paper. “This person really hurt us.”
