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"I'm disgusted that the bully is the teacher in a public school," says the former DWTS pro.
Louis van Amstel is praising three of his son's classmates for standing up to a teacher bullying the boy for having two dads.
The former "Dancing with the Stars" professional took to his Instagram page to share a story that was "too important and hits too close to home not to write about."
In a video, he claimed his 11-year-old son's substitute teacher asked the class in the days leading up to Thanksgiving to share what they're thankful for this year. "Well [our son] — and I got choked up when he said it — he is thankful that he's finally being adopted by his two dads," said van Amstel. Louis and husband Josh Lancaster are in the final stages of the adoption process and asked that the child be referred to as simply D.M.
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"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 continued. "We are not letting this go. I am so proud of [his] school, not only did they let go of the teacher, they said this woman is never going to teach in this school ever again. [D.M.] didn't even want to say anything to get the teacher in trouble."
According to van Amstel, "three girls asked her multiple times to stop" and "when she didn't, they went to the [principal's] office to complain." He said he's "proud of the three girls and school for standing up for our family against this bully." The teacher was then escorted out of the building.
In an account van Amstel shared to the Salt Lake City Tribune, he said D.M. didn't speak up himself because he had been through two failed adoptions before and thought complaining would compromise his fathers' decision. "He was so fearful that this could make us think that we don't want to adopt him," he told the publication. "That's definitely not going to happen. But this situation really hurt him. This person really hurt us."
A spokesperson for the Alpine School District told the Tribune that "appropriate action has been taken." Meanwhile, Kelley Services -- the staffing company the school uses for subs -- told PEOPLE, "We conducted an investigation and made the decision to end the employee's relationship with Kelly Services."
The van Amstels will appear in court on the 19th of this month to finalize the adoption.
