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The following are 2 emails from Joe Quigley
(Posted 2-2-03)

1-31-02 There are by law 180 school days in an academic year. By tradition there are only four in Brotherhood week. Doing the math, that leaves 176 days when the happy heteros can pretend the world is theirs, lord it over anyone who is different, and pretend that the rest of us should be grateful that they occasionally throw us a crumb and tolerate us to occupy some assigned place on their world no matter how small, demeaning and cramped.
     On January 28, 2003 I had a meeting with the principal yet again. This time according to a memo that I received and passed on in my emails he was concerned that I had put up a poster for Brotherhood week which he decided was for Black History Month, and, so, violated the restrictive paragraph J, and was a disappointing thing for me to do as I had asked permission for a Black History Month display and jumped the gun by putting one up before permission was granted. This was far from the truth, but it was a good excuse for a meeting, and another chance to twist the facts to make it appear I was insubordinate, unprofessional and ineffective as a treacher. The result in the extreme would be termination, in the least a plan for improvement which would mean he owned me, or grounds to have me transferred in disgrace to another school where the false charges would preceed me resulting in some very negative treatment upon arrival. If you can't disprove the truth, assassinate the person.
     I went to the meeting prepared to point out his misconception, and prepared to be denied permission for a Black History Month in lieu of having to stand in the corner and go to my room without supper. I made sure the man who was the union representative was the same who had been in the last meeting in October.
    I wasn't ready for the example of non-sequitor to which we were subjected,
To understand the fishing expedition you need to know that the district has "Pass Objectives". These are those things that a student must learn at various stages of his or her academic life.They are divided according to grade and to some extent ability.
Although attempting to be exact, they are so to varying degrees, and although they are listed, there is no requirement as to how they are to be taught. Some teachers approach them with imagination, some in a rote fashion, some mechanically and some with unevenness. They are also successful to varying degrees. But they are what we are expected to impart in the appropriate year.
    I will not deny, nor will I pretend that I had a fortunate education. It was a small school with an international faculty. I was taught Latin and geometry from a man from what was then Yugoslavia, History from a man from Huesca, Spain. I was introduced to people from Guatamala and Costa rica before people cared they existed, knew a man killed in Nicaragua who became a local hero, Hob-nobbed with Cardinal Silva from Chile and learned so much because no one allowed that there was a limit. I was taught to teach by these people, and that is how I approach my classes. Enrich the students along with giving them the basics.
    This apparently clashes with the"keep'em dumb and down on the farm"pedagogical philosophy.
    I make no apologies.
The principal pulled out the agreement I had signed as a way to end my 1999 grievance, and asked if I was familiar with it. He emphasized that I had signed it, while glossing over that he had signed it as well. He was particularly interested in the section that said I agreed to teach the curriculum, something that all teachers are expected to do.
     With that he asked me to explain what I was doing showing a particular documentary to my students.
     It was the day after the MLK Holiday. My nephew and his new wife had given me a four CD set of the greatest speeches of the twentieth century for Christmas. It contained the complete "I Have A Dream Speech" which many kids have not heard in its entirety. I pointed out the structure of the speech and how it drew you in. How the repetition of certain phrases had you wondering if he was ending a sentence or beginning the next. How he built to a cadence that pulled you into the moment, and how he subtly had  you recall the presence of Abe Lincoln by saying" five score years ago" instead of a hundred with the same words that Abe used at Gettysberg.
     The kids listened attentively.
I followed that with the showing of the documentary on Emmit Till, the 15 year old black boy who was killed in 1955 for whistling at a white woman, and whose killers were acquitted in Mississippi by an all white jury and who within two months of the verdict sold their story to a magazine for $4,000 confessing to the crime, but whom the federal government refused to retry. The purpose was to give a background to the speech of which they might have had a tenuous understanding, and as the boy was their age and did something they might do, it made the meaning of the speech very relevant. It became more than a bunch of pretty words. They asked and answered questions. This was followed by the documentary on Jasper, Texas where some of the details were similar but the outcome more just.It was all rounded off with LBJ's speech when he signed the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, and a lesson on comparison and contrast which had as its base something they found interesting and wanted to talk about.
      When the principal asked me to show how this was related to the curriculum, besides the analyzing of the structure and meaning of the speech, besides following the objective of making the literature meaningful, besides exposing the kids to the context, besides a good illustration of comparison and contrast, I had also covered seven of the pass objectives in one fell swoop and in a way that the kids took it all in.
       The principal asked me to cite the numbers of these objectives. They are all numbered like 1.2, 13.4 etc. I told him I could not recall the numbers off hand, but I could cite the content of the objectives covered. He ignored this and held that since I could not give the designation number of each, I obviously violated the curriculum by not adhering to the objectives.
    Even the union rep who generally is supposed to sit as an observer had to speak up. What was the purpose of the objectives, after all, to know their number or apply the substance to the class.
    It surprised me.
Ignore that I had found an imaginative and interesting way to educate the kids according to the objectives. Apparently the important thing is to remember what number they were.
    The meeting continued in this vein for quite a while. The "GOTCHA"  approach to administration was in full force.
    The principal who is very adept at throwing stipulations into an agreement after it is made kept insisting that I was not compromising or following agreements. It was like one of those fishing shows you see on those religious channels on Sunday morning after the religious shows go off. Each time it was shown this was not the case, he followed with a "yeah, but".
    Finally I got to point out his shortcomings when it came to compromise. In October as a compromise to not having anything about Gay and Lesbian History Month, he agreed that an announcement could be made letting kids know that if they wanted to  get information about a Gay/Straight Alliance, they could come to me to get it and if they then chose to start such a club, they were to go to the principal to find out the school procedure for starting such a club. The idea was that in this City and specifically the atmosphere at the school, GLBT kids might not know such a club could exist.
     However, after the announcement was drafted by me and modified by him, he decided not to have it made because I did not give him the names of any students that he could put on the announcement as contact people. It was pointed out that if the students needed to know such a club could exist, but didn't as of yet, how could you get a student's name as contact. His insensitivity was illustrated by his not seeing that one of the purposes of the club was to create a safe environment,and that asking a student to put his or her name on the announcement could set them up for potential ridicule and unsafe treatment. Also, it was pointed out that there is a visceral reaction from a Gay man when asked to give names.
     Unless I would give him at least two students' names, he would not let the announcement be made.
This name thing was a stipulation added unilaterally after the October meeting and was very much after the fact. Clearly a move to make it look like the lack of cooperation on my part was the reason the principal could not make the announcement he really wanted to. He was to appear the willing, opened, concerned person while I was the obstructionist. He has an art.
     After much discussion it was agreed at this meeting that the announcement would be made. At first the principal suggested one day. Once in the morning, and then in the afternoon, something that initially sounded acceptable to the union rep until it was pointed out that a one day announcement would be missed by any absent student, and that announcements usually ran for five days, or ten readings. So we left the meeting with the understanding that the announcement would run, once the union and the principal agreed on its wording, for five days.
     It was read on Friday the 31 of January. ONCE in the morning as a dance in the afternoon ruled out afternoon announcements. As I was leaving for the day I happened by the box where the announcements are kept and leafed through them to make sure the announcement was still there. It was, but it had the notations that it was to be read on 1/31, again on 2/3 and then returned to the principal. This is not five days. Most announcements are merely tossed out when they have expired, so this return to the principal puzzled me. That and the fact that after the meeting we had agreed to a five day run, the principal limited it to two days. This is not equal treatment. I made copies of this memo, returned the original to the box and gave a copy to the union.

This ends part one (for your sake). I will pick up again later. There is so much you might like to know.
Joe

 

 

 

2-2-03

PART DEUX

     I keep referring to Paragraph J. I thought it might be a good idea to refresh your memory on what it really contains.
     Read it carefully.
    First note that anything a Teacher might want to hang in a classroom calls for seeking approval PRIOR to its being hung. If anyone wants to hang a picture of Snoopy admonishing that it is cool to be in school, a poster proclaiming that everything they needed to know they had learned from their cats, or a picture of William Shakespeare in an English class, it cannot go up until permission is received.
     Note, also, that toward the end of the paragraph it lists only those things that the principal will even consider for approval, and according to that Snoopy and the cats are tabu.
    Now, he must take this paragraph seriously as he is always having these meetings to complain about Gay and Lesbian positive things, and it would not be very healthy if he decides to exercise discretion when considering exceptions and allows snoopy and cats, but absolutely forbids anything that may be beneficial in the long or short run for Gay and Lesbian Students.
PARAGRAPH J:
        ANYONE WISHING TO POST OR DISPLAY ANY PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS, ADVERTISEMENTS, MEETING ANNOIUNCEMENTS, MOTIVATIONAL SAYINGS, SIGNS, OR POSTERS, OR INFORMATIONAL SIGNS OR POSTERS IN THEIR CLASSROOM SHALL REQUEST AND RECEIVE PERMISSION FROM THE PRINCIPAL OR PRINCIPAL'S DESIGNEE PRIOR TO DISPLAYING ANY SUCH MATERIAL. THE PRINCIPAL WILL ONLY CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THOSE MATERIALS WHICH RELATE TO INSTRUCTION, CURRICULUM, THE COURSE SYLLABUS, EXTRA-CURRICULAR OR CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES, AND THOSE MATERIALS WHICH GENERALLY PROMOTE SCHOOL ACTIVITIES OR RELATE TO THE COURSES BEING TAUGHT.
      Things like Black History Month and Brotherhood week are school activities, and the only objection to my posters is content based. It is the censorship of information because it is unpopular and irrelevant to the majority. Even though the State Standards for the Conduct and Performance of Teachers specifically states that no students can be denied inclusion in school activities based on sexual orientation, and although even the legal department of the district as well as the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education agree that where the word "student" appears in policies and publications of the district it includes Gay and Lesbian Students, their inclusion is denied in Brotherhood week and in Gay and Lesbian History Month solely because of the principal's dislike of the information and political fears.
      The only transparent compromise is to include heterosexuals on the posters, or not mention during Brotherhood week that these people are GLBT and are good role-models for Gay and Lesbian Kids, while not holding anyone else to this unwritten policy of equal inclusion of all groups at all times. Asian displays are only about Asians, African American displays are just about African Americans, Hispanic displays are just about Hispanics, Gay displays must include heterosexuals, or if not, the people included cannot be labeled as Gay or Lesbian so the majority can comfortably assume they are all straight, and the principal does not have to stand up on principle if anyone complains. The students suffer so that the principal can avoid the discomfort of complaints. He allows for a heckler to veto information. Complaints are anticipated and, therefore, the information is censored.
     Imagine where education would be if we did not teach certain things for fear that someone might complain. We would teach nothing.
     The last I will say on this, as it is pretty self-evident if you read the paragraph and compare it to action, is that while he insists I must follow this paragraph to the letter and consistently as I signed the agreement, it would appear that as he not only signed the agreement himself, but as he is so micromanaging in his application to me, he would be held to the provisions as well.
    The Third paragraph says:
     ALL FACULTY ARE BEING PROVIDED A COPY OF THIS NEW PROVISION, AND ALL, INCLUDING YOU, WILL BE EXPECTED TO ABIDE BY THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE NEW PROVISION AND ALL OTHERS [sic] TERMS OF THE FACULTY HANDBOOK.
   It would appear his signature obligates him to applying Paragraph J equally and consistently to all.

There are two other paragraphs in the original agreement that included this version of Paragraph J which the principal, instead of using them for good and to support them with pro-action chooses instead to play the "GOTCHA" game. He brought these up in the meeting.
The first is this:
           YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY EXPRESSED CONCERN ABOUT STUDENTS WHO HAVE BEEN HARASSED BECAUSE OF THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATION. YOU ARE HEREBY DIRECTED TO REPORT TO ME ANY INCIDENTS OF HARASSMENT BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION OF WHICH YOU ARE OR BECOME AWARE.
       In the meeting his tactic was to claim that as I have yet to make such a report, I am either not doing it and, therefore, am violating this provision, or it just isn't happening.
      I teach ninth grade English, not exactly the grounds on which to base one's popularity as a teacher. The students move on from there and for the next three years of their high school careers move on to the more "adult oriented"  teachers , the ones who are closest to their adult lives, be it work or college, and leave the ones who are closest to their childhood behind. In thirty years of teaching (IN THE CLASSROOM WITH STUDENTS) this is the process I have witnessed.
     Also, as their careers at school progress the students join clubs, sports teams and work with the advisors of various clubs and grade levels. These are the teachers they talk to. I am not a "popular" teacher because I do not sponsor a class, coach a sport, moderate a club, or deal with the students in their more mature years. I did not choose the ninth grade, I was assigned it and the role the ninth grade English teacher plays that comes with that assignment.
     If students do not confide in me that is not a surprise. To think that GLBT Students flock to me and speak to no one else because I am Gay is a little bit Ghetto-izing.
    There is a possibility that there is harassment going on which is mentioned to others, but not being made sensitive to it, or not seeing it as harassment because it is not physical, or open, or heterosexual it is not seen for what it is. It may not be that people are willfully not reporting it, it could very well be that they do not recognize it . We have had no in-services in the last 5 years that would make this obvious, and the admonishment given in 1998 that Gay and Lesbian Kids are covered by Title IX, although articulated in all in-services in all secondary schools on the topic of sexual harassment, was removed from my room by the principal because he didn't hear it said. He has this in the closet in his office, but it is my personal property which I have had in my classrooms since it was stated in 1998 as a bit of a trophy as it was part of what I had been dealing with the district about. I also have a trophy given me a few years ago when I helped with the middle school year book. He didn't take that one.
      Any attempt to make this clear to students is denied. I once hung the district's policy on sexual harassment in my classroom and put an accompanying sign next to it that read, "Gay or Straight no student has to put up with sexual harassment, report it", I was directed to take it down because it was not an official sign, and it mentioned "Gay".
      Harassment is also subtle. And it can come in the form of mental and psychological abuse. The creating of an exclusionary atmosphere, the denial of information not only for Gay and Lesbian Students, but for their straight peers because as was so well stated in the flier for Brotherhood week, "Most of the bias is based on ignorance and lack of knowledge", the creating of a climate that only accepts Gay and Lesbian students if they adhere to the stereotypes that the majority find comfortable, but which denies the Gay and Lesbian Students to be fully formed human beings, are to me the encouragement of harassment, if not harassment itself.
     The principal kept insisting that if I was not reporting harassment to him, I was in violation of the agreement and the law, yet he seemed very comfortable ignoring that the law also requires me to prevent it if at all possible.
     I questioned then, and will continue to question why it is that I have to wait for the harassment to happen and be reported to me so I can pass it on when I should be able to take steps that could prevent it. And it has not escaped me that as students will apologize to me when they use the phrases, "that's so Gay", "he's a homo" and the like in my presence, in spite of the censoring of materials, the fact that I am openly Gay, wear my pride rings and try to get the information out there it does have an effect. And, seeing that it does, I find that the students are more mature than the adults as they will grow when given information, but will continue those behaviors they are led to believe by actions and example are acceptable.
      But it is required of me that I wait for the harassment to happen and report it, and that prevention is not my responsibility.
      I have it on tape.
The fifth paragraph reads:
   I HAVE PREVIOUSLY DISCUSSED WITH YOU THE FACT THAT STUDENTS MAY FORM A GAY/STRAIGHT ALLIANCE CLUB OR ANY OTHER CLUB RELATED TO SEXUAL ORIENTATION. THE STUDENTS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN FORMING SUCH A CLUB SHOULD COME TO ME FOR INFORMATION ABOUT ESTABLISHING SUCH A CLUB.
       I have related the story of the announcement that was part of an October compromise, but never made, the present situation where the five days became two, and a while ago, that the GSA he was supporting was so generic as to be irrelevant, and that I do not see him as the best person to explain a GSA to interested students. Insert fox in the hen housee allusion here. So I will not belabor this.
AND FINALLY (at least for now)
      The principal's final admonition was extremely insulting, not just in its content, but in the insensitivity and dismissiveness of it.
      I have been told that I can never again hang anything about sexual orientation. I attempted to explain that I had never hung anything about sexual orientation. I have consistently hung the names and sometimes pictures of Gay and Lesbian People who have had a positive influence on the world in general and America in particular.
Once again the argument centers on reducing us as people to a sexuality term. We are not people we are vaginas, penises and sexual urges. We are things. We are in our entirety nothing more than a sexual orientation. Define us, hold us to that definition, and then dismiss us. That is the sum total of the attitude.
      Every time this man speaks he offers further evidence that the District needs to have in-services for staff. Each time he speaks it is more evidence that the information I attempt to offer should be allowed. Each time he speaks it bolsters the idea that there is a bigotry and an attitude that must be countered with information. No other group of students is reduced to a term. No other group is equated with only one aspect of their make up.
    For him to claim and hold that any positive information about Gay and Lesbian People of value to students is about sexual orientation is applying a label so as to object to that label and not the fact.
It is something we see all the time. Call us names and then object to the name. Define us as predatory perverts and then condemn us for that and not for who we really are. Reduce positive information to sexual orientation and mislead. I do not teach sexual orientation, nor do I put up displays about it. As a matter of fact, when a poster hangs I don't even mention it. The kids discover it.
    I question now as I questioned at the meeting: If I am not receiving special treatment, and if all teachers are equally bound by all policies as the principal insists is the case, as I have been forbidden to hang anything about sexual orientation, should not all others be held to that as well? And, as heterosexuality is a sexual orientation, are all references to heterosexuality also forbidden, or do we give advantage to those who are heterosexual while denying anything for GLBT Students?
     I will abide by this directive lest the principal use it to build a case for insubordination and termination. But, as the good faculty member I am, and not wishing any other teacher to be found guilty of it either, I will bring any heterosexual references to the attention of the principal and the administrators down town. Home-Coming is heterosexual, as are the displays of various couples on posters throughout the school.  Valentines Day is coming up, just think of all those non-curricular posters that teacher will hang and inadvertently violate paragraph J, all those loving couple pictures that violate the rule against hanging anything about sexual orientation, unless I am receiving special treatment, and the principal is choosing to make the unquestionable statement that there is no place for Gay and Lesbian students on our campus, or that they are not to be treated equal to the straight students.
     We are supposed to teach all students according to their needs. Apparently that does not mean the Gay and Lesbian ones. What an odd school policy.
      But as was stated, the law does not say we have to treat these kids decently, so we won't until we are told to by law.
      There are 180 school days and only four of them are for Brotherhood Week. He couldn't even allow four days.

joe quigley

 

 

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