CINCINNATI (January 15, 2013)--Former high school teacher Maria Waltherr-Willard, 61, is suing the Ohio school district where she used to work, claiming its administrators discriminated against her because she has a rare phobia: a fear of young children.

Waltherr-Willard had taught Spanish and French at Mariemont High School in Cincinnati since 1976.

In 2009 she was transferred to the district's middle school.

She said the younger students triggered her phobia, caused her blood pressure to soar and forced her to retire.

Her lawsuit against the district seeks unspecified monetary damages.

An attorney for the school district says that Waltherr-Willard was transferred because the French program at the high school was being turned into an online course and that the middle school needed a Spanish teacher.