The School Saga Continues

February 14, 2012 at 8:39 am (Uncategorized)

First, let me wish Erinyes a Happy Valentine’s Day.

Okay, the school at this point has become the Keystone Cops. I sent the letter below last week to Ms. Vice Principal after meeting with her in her office.

This letter is a follow up to our telephone conversation of February 6, 2012 regarding my son, _________, and the incident of vituperative and vulgar anti-homosexual harassment which occurred last week in his World History class.  It is also to follow up our conversation of February 7, 2012 I appreciate the time and effort you, Mrs. Guidance Counselor and Mrs. Life Skills Counselor have spent in handling this matter. As you know, this is not the first incident in which ______has been targeted for being gay. It has been a very difficult year for him and it has affected his attendance and grades.  Worse, _____ has suffered bouts of depression and self-doubt that have culminated in ongoing thoughts of suicide.  All of this was relayed to Mrs. Guidance Counselor and Mr. Vice Principal in Mrs. Guidance Counselor’s office on Thursday, February 2, 2012, in the presence of my fiancé, Erinyes, and myself.

I was, quite frankly, stunned during our conversation in your office. To indicate that this incident was a “vulgar conversation that got out of hand” belittles ______ feelings and implies a “boys will be boys” attitude. I can almost guarantee that had these boys said the exact same thing to a female student, heads would roll.  I received the impression that the school is embarrassed by my letter to the editor as I was challenged on the veracity of the letter. I wrote what I feel to be true based upon my son’s experiences.

Further, to imply that _____absence the following day hindered the investigation is difficult to imagine. _____had written his statement. All that was required was interviewing the witnesses and the aggressors. His presence was not needed. Why this was not done immediately in order to preserve an accurate account of the incident is unknown to me. Eyewitness testimony can change over time which is why it is less reliable the longer it is removed from the incident

 I understand that two of the aggressors claimed that they were only joking and that _____ didn’t object. As I said, ______believed the question that he was asked was, “Are you OK?” not “Are you gay?” ______ was genuinely afraid when he called me immediately following the incident and he had been crying. He gave me a complete report of what happened and what was said to him immediately after it occurred.

 It is not for you or anyone else to attempt to reassure me that these students are not capable of violence.  More to the point, this is not about the aggressors.  This is about my son’s safety and emotional and physical well-being, both of which have been immeasurably harmed by these incidents at your school. He has stated to me that he has lost faith in the administration.

Regarding the substitute teacher of the class, I would like to know what, if any, action will be taken.  I am appalled that he chose not to intervene in this incident, and question the quality of teachers that are allowed a position of responsibility for which they are obviously ill-equipped.  All of this brings me to comment on your position as outlined to me today.

You need to know that, under no circumstances, and contrary to what you stated, has _____ adopted a stance of stereotyping the aggressors in this incident.  Your assertion is a preposterous attempt to downplay the incident.  Further, for you to state that it had nothing to with ______ being gay, when the aggressors asked him if he liked being “fucked in the ass”, if he “swallowed cum”, was he a “top or a bottom” and why he “didn’t like pussy”, beggars belief.

Further, for a substitute teacher to state that he didn’t know what to do, (an admission that he was fully aware of the incident), makes me wonder if the Monroe County School District is in the habit of hiring the most incompetent teachers, subs or otherwise, who seem bereft of the intelligence required to attain a teaching degree in other parts of the country.  This substitute teacher had numerous options:  Tell the kids to stop or go to the principal’s office; tell ______to go to the office as an alternative; call on his cell phone for assistance in the form of the high school police officer.  To sit and do nothing is completely unacceptable.

Last, as far as I am aware, there is no set number of times such harassment should occur before school officials deem it harassment.  In fact, there have been many other “isolated incidences” where _____has been subjected to the slur of “faggot” and similar gay-related insults.  This time it was not one student, but SIX.  Your own brochure entitled “Every Student’s Guide to Knowing What Harassment is All About” states quite clearly: “HARASSMENT IS ANY FORM OF UNWELCOME BEHAVIOR THAT IS DIRECTED AT YOU”.  Nowhere does it state that such unwelcome behavior must occur multiple times before it is harassment.   Further, for you to imply that somehow _____ is stereotyping his aggressors by stating he was afraid of them is political correctness run amok.  He was being verbally assaulted in an ugly manner by several other students, at least one of whom is of a much larger build than he.   The fact that they appeared to be minorities is of no consequence, especially when the student being harassed is a member of a minority himself, to wit THE GAY COMMUNITY.

We fully expect ______ to henceforth be accorded the respect due every member of the “One Human Family” that is supposed to exist in Key West, and for the school district to do all in its power to ensure that this kind of vile behavior ceases immediately

Sounds good, right? I didn’t call her a  bitch or anything. I guess she didn’t like what we had to say so she called my son down to the office yesterday. In front of her was the letter. She then dictated a statement for my son to write in which he stated that he was no longer being bullied. She did this without my knowledge or consent. So I did what any reasonable person would do. I sent her an email tellling her that I didn’t appreciate her doing that and I wanted a copy of the statement.

At 7:30 and 7:45 this morning, the principal of the school calls my cell phone and asks me to call her. I don’t think I will. I’m pretty much done with the administration at that school and they can all collectively kiss my ass.