Also, continuity of instruction is a consideration, but certainly not reason enough for a policy like this. I would guess that the same districts that had these policies regularly promoted male teachers into administrative positions in the middle of school years. If continuity was really such a concern, there would be a policy against that too, wouldn’t there?

Besides, if you do a cursory survey of your acquaintances who are teachers or who are the kids of teachers, you will find a statistically significant percentage were May/June/July babies, indicating that female teachers already do what they can not to interrupt instruction with reproduction.

She did quit on 17 June 1977, five days before our oldest child was born.

15 June 1962:

Among many items considered was a letter from the General Superintendency of the Sunday School relating to retaining six young women in the employ of Sunday School board since they have been married.

I said that the policy restricting the employment of married women has not been followed as it should be. I reviewed practices which involve the office of the First Presidency as well as other departments; I referred also to special employment problems arising in the Genealogical Society. I stated that the rule is honored more in the breech than in the observance, and mentioned the change of practice over the practices of many years ago.

The advisability of revising the regulation was carefully considered and it was decided that women will be hired and retained after marriage if they are capable and do their work well, but that it will be expected that they will not deliberately postpone responsibilities of parenthood.

In other words, kew, although I don’t know for certain whether the rule extended as far as BYU, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that your professor’s claim and your memories of that claim are accurate. (To be clear, I can’t definitely say that it is so, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that it is so.)

I suspect that the two justifications argued by the school boards in those cases (continuity of instruction and health/physical ability of the expectant mother to continue in her duties) were what motivated most school boards in similar policies. In those days when culture was not altogether saturated in sex, it seems unlikely that a schoolteacher would have been forced out (either on leave or permanently) for the reason suggested by ESO. Especially in grade schools. Well might we ask of the children of those days: What did you know? And when did you know it?

Speaking for the only person I can, the answers are “Not much” and “Not in grade school.”