School stands by teachers who made homophobic remarks toward student, refuses diversity training

[Bjorn Against]

Remember back to the days in which you were in high school. For many of us those years were very difficult, we were in that awkward stage between childhood and becoming an adult and we had not yet grown comfortable with who we were. Whether we were ever bullied or not we all knew that those who were different were torn down and harassed by many of their fellow students, and so we were all very self conscious because we did not want to be the victims of those bullies. Those who were bullied no doubt remember what it was like to face harassment from your fellow students, but think about what it would be like to be bullied by a teacher.

Imagine what it would be like to have a couple of homophobic teachers who believed that you were gay and would stand in front of the classroom and make jokes about your sexuality. You may or may not actually be gay but when a homophobic person believes that you are gay they are going to treat you the same way they treat all gays. Think about what it would be like if your teachers told your entire class that you were gay and the bullies heard every word of it. After leaving the classroom these bullies would go a step beyond what the teachers said and start threatening violence against you, not only would you have to deal with losing friends but you also had to deal with the death threats that you received.

The thought of teachers doing something like this to their students seems unfathomable. You would think that any teacher who would make jokes about a student's sexuality in front of the entire classroom would be fired immediately, and you would think that the school would take action to try and protect students from the homophobic attacks that began occurring as a result of the harassment of those teachers.

In Minnesota's largest school district it seems this is not the case however, it appears that even after being sued and having to pay out a $25,000 settlement the Anoka-Hennepin school district is still fine with having teachers who publicly make homophobic jokes about their students.

Alex Merritt recently won a lawsuit against the district after two of his teachers made repeated jokes about his sexuality in front of the classroom. Merritt is not actually gay but two teachers perceived him as being gay and they made remarks in front of the classroom such as “he enjoys wearing women's clothing” and “he has a thing for older men”. On at least one occasion they suggested there may be sexual activity between Merritt and another unnamed student who was perceived as being gay when they said "Would you like to have go with you so he can sit in the stall next to you and stomp his foot?" The harassment and death threats Merritt received because of his perceived sexual orientation forced him to leave the school and travel twenty-five miles every day so he could attend a new school.

It is hard to believe a school district would stand by teachers who made comments like this in front of the class especially after those comments result in a lawsuit, but not only are Diane Cleveland and Walter Filson still teaching in the district but it appears there was very little disciplinary action taken against them.

Here is what the Minneapolis Star Tribune had to say about the consequences the teacher's faced for their actions:

The district reacted in January 2008 to the allegations by briefly reassigning Cleveland, 39, a social studies teacher, and placing her on two-day unpaid suspension.

Her reassignment included working on a "social studies curriculum development and reflecting on equality and diversity in the classroom," according to the Department of Human Rights. However, the department said, Cleveland completed only one day of the assignment, calling in sick the remainder of the week. When a new semester started on Jan. 22, 2008, she was back in her classroom, according to the department's report.

It is not known what, if any, disciplinary was taken regarding Filson, 56, a law enforcement teacher.

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There is no evidence that Filson received any disciplinary action, and Cleveland called in sick for work when she was supposed to be developing a curriculum on equality and diversity so the district did not make her complete the curriculum. I don't think you can even call this a slap on the wrist yet the district believes the disciplinary action was adequate. One of their students was forced to go to a different school because he received constant harassment and even death threats and they want us to believe that a two day suspension is enough to send the teachers a lesson.

It gets worse however. Not only is the school district allowing these teachers to get away with making homophobic jokes about their students in front of the classroom, but they are refusing to provide any diversity training to their staff.

Despite complaints, and a resulting investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, the district recently rejected a local gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) advocacy group's offer to help train staff in the district's recently revised policy on discussing sexual orientation. Until February district policy directed staff members to refrain from discussing homosexuality "as a normal, valid lifestyle" in health education classes.

"There are so many advocacy groups out there that you could have one for every social concern there is," said Michelle Langenfeld, associate superintendent of the district, which is the state's largest with more than 40,000 students. "What we've tried to do is create policy around a neutral stance, focusing on respect, appreciation of diversity, responsibility, integrity and compassion."

OutFront Minnesota, the group that offered to help, doesn't see it that way.

"When they say, 'We don't need to train our staff on how to deal with GLBT students,'" said Phil Duran, the group's legal director, "I'm thinking they've got a problem."

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According to Merritt other students have faced the same harassment that he has, while he is not gay himself he faced major emotional problems as a result of the homophobic attacks on him and he knows of at least one other student in the class who is gay and has to listen to these words coming out of the mouths of his teachers.

Merritt was right to sue the school district for the harassment he faced, but by refusing to take serious disciplinary action against the teachers or providing diversity training the district has shown they have not learned their lesson. If they don't make major changes another lawsuit seems very likely, and unfortunately it is the students who will end up suffering as a result of the funds the district loses by protecting homophobic teachers.

Please contact the school district here and let them know what you think about their refusal to provide diversity training and their commitment to keeping homophobic teachers in the classroom.

[dflprincess]

1. I'd like to know where Education Minnesota stands on this

I can't believe they could defend it.

It's bad enough when kids are bullied and harassed by other kids but teachers who do it should be tossed out of the school. These two have no business in a classroom.

[Minnesota Raindog]

2. Michele Bachmann graduated from Anoka High School

'Nuff said.