Catholic school fires teacher because she's a domestic violence victim

A Catholic school in California has fired a teacher who was the victim of domestic violence because they said her presence threatened "the safety of the students, faculty and parents."

Carie Charlesworth told KNSD that she had worked in her school district for 14 years before Holy Trinity School in San Diego decided that her husband's threatening behavior made her too unsafe to have around -- even though he was incarcerated.

"They’ve taken away my ability to care for my kids," she explained to the station in an interview published on Thursday. “It’s not like I can go out and find a teaching job anywhere.”

Charlesworth said that the school learned about her situation after she requested a leave of absence following abuse by her husband in January.

"Basically, we’d had a very bad weekend with him, we’d called the sheriff’s department three times on Sunday with him," she recalled.

After her husband showed up in the Holy Trinity's parking lot, the school went into lockdown. The next day, parents were notified that Charlesworth and her four children, who also attended the school, had been put "on an indefinite leave."

"And that’s what it felt like, the kids and I were being punished for something we didn’t even do," she said.

In April, Charlesworth received a letter from the San Diego Diocese, notifying her that "we simply cannot allow you to return to work." She was also told that she would not be allowed to teach at any diocesan school in the district.

"I mean, that’s why women of domestic violence don’t come forward, because they’re afraid of the way people are going to see them, view them, perceive them, treat them," Charlesworth lamented to KNSD.

Watch this video from KNSD, broadcast June 13, 2013.

View more videos at: https://nbcsandiego.com.