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Support GayOKC.com! Donate here!		 Prinicipal Davis does the right thing

The following is an email from Joe Quigley
(Posted 1-29-02)

When someone does the right thing, especially when his history on an "issue" makes it obvious that it may not be easy, and when someone does the right thing because he knows it is the right thing and it may take a set of brass ones to do it, I THINK IT IS IMPORTANT TO THANK THAT PERSON, AND ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT WAS DONE.
    Today (01/29/02) at the faculty meeting of NWClassen, "ANTI-GAY VANDALISM" was LISTED as number six on the agenda.
    It was not generic.
    IT WAS SPECIFIC.
    Mr. Davis explained the nature of the vandalism to my BROTHERHOOD WEEK poster, and recounted both the investigation and the conclusion that it was an "inside job".
    He acknowledged that I had brought the matter to him, and he made a reference to the documents I had cited in my suggested remarks without going into details as my e-mails tend to do.
    His point was that we may agree or disagree about something, but there are proper ways to handle disagreement, and that NWClassen had a discipline plan, and according to that EVERYONE was to be treated right regardless of our own feelings (when it came to Sexual Orientation), religious or political.
    To his credit, and I do not think he may have understood the gravity of his proper choice of phrase, he used the term "SEXUAL ORIENTATION", avoiding the more inflamatory "Preference".
   THIS WAS A VERY GOOD THING INDEED.
His final admonition to the faculty was that if any of us is aware of anti-Gay (and here let me note that within this term are included all GLBT's) vandalism, words or treatment of anyone by anyone at NWClassen, we are to bring it to him.
    TWO THINGS MUST NOW COME AS A RESULT OF THIS.
    FIRST, We need to call, or e-mail this man and let him know he "did good". I have already told him that in person, but thinking of all my past e-mails, all based on true events and documentation and, therefore, appropriately harsh, some growth has happened here, and he may be the first administrator in the district to go on record in this regard.
    We owe him his "props".
THE SECOND THING THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE IS THAT THE DISTRICT MUST NOW REWRITE ITS ANTI-DISCRIMINATION POLICIES AND STATEMENTS TO INCLUDE 'SEXUAL ORIENTATION' SO THAT OTHER ADMINISTRATORS (and teachers) WILL HAVE THE GUIDANCE AND THE ASSURANCE THAT IN INCLUDING IT  THEY HAVE THE FULL BACKING OF THE DISTRICT, THAT THIS IS DISTRICT WIDE, AND NOT UNIQUE TO NWCLASSEN. AND THE DISTRICT MUST OFFER INSERVICES TO TEACHERS SO THEY CAN BOTH HAVE THE FACTS, AND ALSO SOME UNDERSTANDING OF WHY AND HOW THEY SHOULD ACKNOWLEDGE THE EXISTENCE AND NEEDS OF OUR GLBT STUDENTS IN A POSITIVE WAY, AND HOW TO DEAL WITH ANTI-GAY WORDS AND DEEDS ESPECIALLY THOSE DIRECTED AT THE STUDENTS.
    Sometimes administrators are more comfortable doing the right thing if they know it is the right thing, or if in the face of unfriendly reactions (as are possible here in the Buckle of the Bible Belt) they know they have district backing, and really have no choice in the matter.
     There has been progress at NWClassen which now needs to be emulated by the district at large.

Joe Quigley
PS If you feel more comfortable sending an e-mail, the principal's address is wdavis@okcps.k12.ok.us
school phone is 942-5551

 

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