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Joe Quigley - Davis unethical? (the prequel)


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The following are emails from Joe Quigley
(Posted 10-24-02)

(10-23-02) This is the prequel I mentioned in my last email about possible unethical behavior on the part of the principal. I call it a prequel because the events began before his editing trick even though they continue.

At the September meeting at which my area union representative was present we settled on the compromise that rather than fight over a Gay and Lesbian History month display, an announcement would be made that any student wanting information about what a GSA is could come see me for that information. Once they got it, the students would have to follow established procedures for forming a club if they decided that they wanted to form one.
  I wrote the following announcement presenting the draft to the principal for his approval.

October is Gay and Lesbian History Month. What better time to get facts and dispel stereotypes. What better time to form a Gay/Straight Alliance.
A Gay/Straight Alliance is a student organized and led club whose purpose is to help create a safe and accepting environment for all students regardless of sexual orientation by addressing issues of harassment, discrimination and bias based on misinformation.
Any student wishing to organize a GSA, or just wanting information about GSA's should see Mr. Quigley.

   The master of roadblocks and obfuscation came to me and showed me the results of his edited version claiming he had done it to remove some awkward language.
Besides removing the three introductory sentences which, I have to admit I found a little awkward myself, he had removed the words "sexual orientation" so that the sentence: A Gay/Straight Alliance is a student organized and led club whose purpose is to help create a safe and accepting environment for all students regardless of sexual orientation by addressing issues of harassment, discrimination and bias based on misinformation.
Now read:
A Gay/Straight Alliance is a student organized and led club whose purpose is to help create a safe and accepting environment for all students by addressing issues of harassment, discrimination and bias based on misinformation.
He obviously found the words"sexual orientation" to be awkward, even though I had taken the wording for that sentence directly from the Student Pride (GLSEN) web page.
He added a reference to the American Federation of Teachers which was totally irrelevant to the announcement which made  the motivation for this addition highly suspect (my suspicion being that he was, as a former member of the rival Oklahoma Education Association, attempting to put AFT in what he considered an embarrassing position, or preparing to claim that the AFT was not as supportive of the compromise as they seemed to be at our September meeting). AFT rightfully objected to this inclusion.
   Further, he informed me that he had called the Superintendent to get his opinion and input on the announcement. This is very out of the ordinary. Special treatment if you will.
     By October 16, I was tired of the stall, and I called the union complaining about the principal's stalling on the GSA announcement. I also wrote a complaint to the principal:

We are half way through the month of October, and the announcement about the availability of information on what a Gay/Straight Alliance is and how to form one has yet to be made.
The making of such an announcement was agreed on at our last meeting.

The only response was a handwritten note first on the bottom of a xeroxed copy of the memo and later on on the memo itself that I was not to put anything in the principal's in-box but was to speak to him personally about my concerns.
    His previous about faces, denials and rewritings of events makes me reluctant to do so.
     The union delivered this letter to him on 10/21/02 the Monday we returned from Fall Break:

Dear Mr. Davis
   I would like for you to reconsider your decision that any announcement about the formation of a GSA Club would need to have student names in said announcement. You have indicated to me that this is the way all club and/or group formations are started. Mr. Joseph Quigley has informed me that a religious group did not have to follow this procedure. Since this is a sensitive matter to many students, perhaps student names could be withheld from the announcement.
Thank you in advance for your recommendation and prompt response

signature

The union rep then informed me of Davis's oral response.
Davis claims that as the Youth for Christ group had existed on campus since before he was there, they were not starting a group, but merely asking someone to take over as sponsor as they did not have one. (But these were still off campus people, and not students asking).
   Further, upon checking with another teacher , our recollection was that these people came to the faculty meeting pointing out that such groups were already on other campuses thanks to the district's cooperation, that they would like to get one started at NWClassen, and the hope was that there would be a chapter on every secondary school campus in the district.
   This does not sound very student initiated to me either way.
   

On 10/23/02 the principal sent a copy of his response to my classroom by way of an office aide (not being able to resist, I have put some comments in parentheses and in smaller print).

Dear [union rep]

   This letter is in response to your request for reconsideration of my decision regarding the announcement of a GSA club. My original announcement that contained no reference to students was called into Dr. Bill Weitzel (May I point out here that this is a unique procedure as other memos submitted by teachers are not called into the superintendent). He suggested that students' names should be listed, as has been the policy for other school club organizations. (This is only a "suggestion", and when other clubs have announcements made it is rare that students' names are mentioned. As of now I am only famliar with a prayer group- one organization of many on campus- to which students' names  are attached).
  Mr. Quigley's assertion that a religious group did not have to follow this procedure is false. I am assuming that he is referring to the Impact Club that has a meeting every Wednesday in the Little Theater. That goup has been in existence since before I came to Northwest Classen and has a constitution, bylaws and student officers (this is the group to which the off campus agent is connected who stood outside the cafeteria distributing leaflets at the beginning of the year. He was neither a student nor  faculty member. If this is a student led club, students should have been doing this). The only other religious group that comes to mind is the Youth for Christ which has tried for several years to get itself organized and some students appealed to the Oklahoma Chapter to help it find a sponsor. A representative of that group informed the teachers at a faculty meeting and to my knowledge no one came forward to sponsor the group (this is  misrepresntation of the presentation as the represenatative said "WE" would like to start a chapter at NWClassen and that "We" have been welcomed by the district and would like to see  chapter formed on every secondary school campus. They list the district campuses where they have a presence on their brochure, and came asking for someone to be the sponsor. This sponsor request should have come from the students if we are going to be consistent.. This goes far beyond unnamed students requesting help from this group for the NWC campus). It has no constitution, bylaws, Officers or meetings (But they were allowed to attempt the formulation of the club. This is not sudent organized)
  I intend to abide by the directive of August 21, 2001, signed by both Mr. Joseph Quigley and myself regarding all issues set forth. I further expect Mr. Quigley to abide by the same directive.

Signature
The following is the directive to which he refers, and as he had attempted to do before, he is applying this specific memo generically beyond its scope. It dealt with the resolution of the grievance, and was a restating of the original agreement as he had tried to apply another memo in a very generic way, and was found to have not passed a copy of Paragraph J to all faculty and staff as the copy only I had received, addressed as it was, gave the impression to the easily fooled that he had.
   It states:
   In a written directive dated September 19, 2000, you were directed that matters taught by you and discussed in the classroom during classtime shall directly relate to the curriculum being taught. You are to continue to follow that directive throughout the current school year and for future years while at NWClassen High School.
     In addition, a new provision has been added to the Faculty Handbook regarding the posting of materials in classrooms and hallways. 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 other terms in the faculty handbook.
     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 (but remember he removed the statement from my room that made it clear no one, including GLBT Kids, should be sexually harassed).
     I have previously discussed with you the fact that students may form a Gay/Straight Alliance club or any 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 believe this last paragraph is that to which he referred in his letter, but there are two problems with this.
In light of his homophobic attitudes and actions, his reluctance to allow any GLBT positive information, his refusal to allow the acknowledgement of Gay and Lesbian History month unless it is a minimal reference edited by him, his rewriting the announcement so as to expunge the words "sexual orientation" and his not really knowing at that time, or since for that matter, what a GSA really is he might not be the best one for students to approach, and
how can we have students go to him for the information he does not have, if he will only make an announcement if Students' names are included.
    The pupose of the announcement was to let the students know there was a possibilty of having a GSA and to get information about it. The principal has shown by his actions that he edits information and, thereby limits and prevents  it.
    Today, for example, I went by the bulletin board again to take a closer look at and take some pictures of  his editing job of the Gay History Month origin submission and found the additional edit where the paragraph that ended with the sentence:

October was chosen because it built around already existing traditions like Coming Out Day (October 11) and the anniversaries of the first two Gay and Lesbian marches on Washington in 1979 and 1987.
Now read
October was chosen because it built around the anniversaries of the first two Gay and Lesbian marches on Washington in 1979 and 1987.

The man who erases the important reference to Coming Out Day, and, therefore, denies the knowledge of its existence to our students, especially the GLBT ones, and, therefore,  a part of our history does not seem to be the best person to go to for information on a GSA. He had basically done what the first paragraph of the origin story stated as one of the motivations for Gay and Lesbian History Month. We have for too long been denied our history and the acknowledgement of our inclusion and contributions to history in general.
   Obviously, just as with the purpose and genesis of Paragraph J, his intention here is to control, if not censor things GLBT related.

As to my memo of  10/23/02 regarding his editing of my submission for posting (the editing of which is not covered by paragraph J or any other policy),

The version of the origin of Gay and Lesbian History Month that you posted on the Community Board to which you added the words "compiled by Mr. Joseph Quigley" is not the version submitted by me, nor that as represented by you on 10/21/02 as that which "I have had this since October 15".
Please post the version I submitted, or add the words "edited by Mr. Weldon Davis" in order to rectify this misrepresentation.
It was incumbent on you to have notified me of your editing prior to the posting.
You have attributed this compilation falsely to me.

I received this handwritten note at its bottom.
Please don't leave notes in my mail tray--see me in person if you have issues to discuss.
I do not see this as something to discuss, rather for him to rectify

I am not sure exactly what the principal told Dr. Weitzel, but the "suggestion" of Weitzel could only come about if a) the principal misrepresented the purpose of the proposed announcement as forming a club instead of the truth that it was to let students know information was available,and Dr. Weitzel's suggestion would most likely not have been made had he  been told the truth, b) Dr. weitzel does not know what is going on in his district as outside agents tell us they have been invited by the district and he does not even know they are there, or what they are doing, c) the principal is encouraged by the tacit approval of his actions thus far to comfortably misrepresent things to the superintendent who, in spite of receiving everyone of these emails has done nothing beyond co-hire a mediator whose work, now that she has been physically incapacited, is so easily ignored or rewritten by the principal, or d) Dr. Weitzel is unfamiliair with, or simply chooses to ignore the Equal Access Act.
  My suspicion is things were misrepresented by the man who first had the G/L History month diplay request referred to the Soc. Studies department so it would look as if it was their fault if nothing was done, and then the Faculty Advisory Committee which he attempted to use the same way.
Now, in spite of the principal's "eagerness" to do the right thing, it appears the superintendent is the bad guy.
I can only say "hmmmmmm".

Just thought you might want to keep up to date.
Joe Quigley

 

 

I am sure we are all tired of, but pretty used to the old arguments usually employed by people like my principal that if we present positive information about Gay and Lesbian people to students we are recruiting them to some vague life-style, or trying to advocate for sex. After all, the repressed see sex in everything and everywhere. Sometimes to condemn what they laciviously like to think we are all about, they need to get into details, real or imagined, but it does give them the excuse to talk about sex, the acts and the various body parts and their imagined and drooled over uses.
    We as a people are reduced to an act, called an abomination so we can be dealt with as objects since dealing with us as people makes them uncomfortable and the hate less easy to accept in themselves, and are forbidden from owning our own history and from passing that history on to younger Gay and Lesbian people.
    And so, academic freedom is removed in the name of what's supposedly best for the children, and any means necessary even to the point of lying and misrepresentation is rendered acceptable to them.
   Anything we do is equated with sex, perversion and misleading children either outright or through coercion.
   Today as I was leaving my classroom I picked up off the hall floor a flier that had been handed out by Campus Impact, the so-called "christian" group that holds meetings each Wednesday for the students at which for some reason, even as the district feigns adherence to the Equal Access Act, the participation of off campus agents is not limited to the occasional guest appearance, but instead allows them to be present at every Wednesday "pizza with Jesus" meeting, and to speak.
    The flier advertises four days of music and various competitions to be held at City Church, and whose tickets can be purchased at such places as "Family Christian Stores, The Edge Church, Life Christian Church, City Church or at the door".
    It would be expected that those sponsoring the events would be promoting the "christian life-style", but nowhere on the flier except for the mention of "worship with the Edge Band" is Christianity even remotely mentioned.
     Most of us are familiar with the meaning of the phrase "GET LIT", and that it is a euphemism for getting stoned, high, or inebriated. And I am sure that the average high school student knows what getting lit means.
     The name of the four days of music and activities is, yes, you guessed it,
GET LIT.
     As there is no mention of the "Light of the World", or the light that must not be hidden under the bushel basket, or any other biblically based synbolic usage of light, and as most young people know what the phrase GET LIT advocates, just what exactly is the meaning of this chosen name?
    Where even the most remote connection of positive information about Gay and Lesbian people to some imagined advocacy of abomination can be fabricated, there is an outcry and a swift move to remove and censor.  the Campus Impact group, sanctioned by the school and protected by its principal is allowed to subliminally promote drug use.
     Why isn't the same obsessive censorship applied in this case?
Why isn't an alarm going off or red flag going up about this double entendre distributed by a group attempting to recruit kids to join and entice them to attend.
  Why is it acceptable to equate a reference to Fr. Mychal Judge's being a Gay celibate priest with some sort of acceptance of pedophilia, but the title GET LIT is somehow naively accepted?
    The answer lies in the persons of the people in charge. They accept those like themselves regardless of what they do, but they condemn anyone  who is different on the flimsiest of "reasons".
   There is a double standard here.
Gay and Lesbian people cannot own and celebrate their history and pass it on to the younger generation, but so-called "christians" can entice students into their den by drug innuendo.
    Whitened sepulchres really angered Jesus. I imagine they still do
Joe Quigley

 

 

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