When Christina Castillo-Comer was brought before management and asked questions about an email she wrote, she had one important question of her own.
"I said, 'Am I being fired for evolution?' and they said 'No, it’s for a conglomerate of things,'" she said.
Castillo-Comer had forwarded an email. It was literally an FYI about an author speaking in Austin. The author wrote a book critical of Creationism. Another state education employee not on the forward list got hold of it and took it to the TEA.
"They said to me 'You have until tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. to give us your resignation or you will be terminated,'" she said.
TEA officials say other matters of misconduct contributed to the termination.
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Speaking out
Former State Science Director Christine Castillo-Comer talks about losing her position.
 
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In an internal memo TEA supervisors wrote that Castillo-Comer should remain neutral on issues like evolution and that her email indicated a bias on behalf of the TEA. Castillo-Comer and many state educators disagree. She says teachers from across the state have emailed her support and tell her they have been pressured not to teach evolution.
"It's not just a good idea, it's the law. Teachers have to teach it. It's in the biology standards," said Castillo-Comer.
Castillo-Comer says even more absurd were her final hours at the agency. After agreeing to resign she says she was escorted to a vacated floor where her desk was, collected her things and that a paneled truck was waiting to take her home.
"I was mortified. I was embarrassed. I have never been fired from a job in my life," she said.
Unemployable is how Castillo-Comer describes herself now.
Castillo-Comer has not decided whether she will file a lawsuit against the state.
