Churchill Students Solve Backpack-Flyer Problem
I'm a little behind in reading the news, so I nearly missed this one in the Churchill High School Observer.
OK, you know that PFOX is doing this, using the schools to try to lure gay teens to contact them. But we don't usually hear it from the students' point of view.
By the way, does it seem to anybody else that school newspapers are like a gazillion times better now than they used to be? Is it just the computer technology, or are kids smarter than we were?
Never mind, we know it's not that...
A little more.
Nice classy move, Chloe. PFOX was able to write the message in such a way that nearly zero accurate information was communicated. This kid appreciated that fact, very good.
Skipping down a little ways:
Yes, the courts can only go so far in helping groups like PFOX spread their propaganda. The students know what it is, they don't need no stinkin' judge to tell them what to do.
Special receptacles for PFOX flyers, that is beautiful. I wish I had a picture of that one.
During homeroom, Feb. 1 a letter was distributed from Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) about their organization’s message and mission. As a result of these letters, the Gay Straight Alliance formed a protest to show their disapproval of the letters.
PFOX is an organization that supports families with ex-homosexual members and supports rehabilitation therapies which they say can help members to regain their heterosexuality.
According to the letter passed out to students, “PFOX seeks to eliminate prejudice and discrimination against former homosexuals” and “conducts community-building activities that support the individual’s right to all information and self-determination.”
The flyer included PFOX’s message, what the organization could provide for students and a disclaimer from MCPS.
“We believe children have a right to all information about sexuality,” PFOX Executive Director Regina Griggs said. “None of the resources come from any religious association. We deal with scientific facts.” PFOX letter stirs student emotions
OK, you know that PFOX is doing this, using the schools to try to lure gay teens to contact them. But we don't usually hear it from the students' point of view.
By the way, does it seem to anybody else that school newspapers are like a gazillion times better now than they used to be? Is it just the computer technology, or are kids smarter than we were?
Never mind, we know it's not that...
A little more.
The flyer and PFOX’s message prompted protest from some members of the CHS community.
“I thought the PFOX letter was very well written and put up a great façade,” GSA president, senior Chloe Richard said. “Most students didn’t understand why [we] were protesting the letter because it was so well written. It was a good fake out, and it really masked the reality of the organization very well.”
PFOX was able to distribute these letters due to a 4th District Court ruling granting non-profit organizations the right to distribute letters in school. It was ruled that since the letter did not make any religious references, it was suitable to be given out to students.
Nice classy move, Chloe. PFOX was able to write the message in such a way that nearly zero accurate information was communicated. This kid appreciated that fact, very good.
Skipping down a little ways:
In response to the flyers, the GSA organized a protest, allowing students the option of discarding their letters in recycling bins around school and student distributed trash bags labeled “PFOX.” The protest, which was officially held after homeroom Feb. 1 in the Bulldog lobby, was viewed as a success by many.
“They got their message across but did not disturb class time at all,” GSA sponsor Arthur Bescher said. “The aim was for students around the school to understand that the PFOX group and its ideas are viewed as dangerous and harmful, and I know that students all across the building heard that message.”
The administration was also supportive in helping the protest run smoothly and effectively. Trash cans were placed in the center of the lobby, and security guards and administrators stood by protestors to ensure safety.
“[The protest] was wonderfully planned out, wonderfully executed, and wonderfully received, with great respect from the administration, especially Dr. Benz,” Richard said. “Having her be there by the trash cans with us was incredible, and a great symbol of the support we had from the school. The protest couldn’t have gone any better.”
Yes, the courts can only go so far in helping groups like PFOX spread their propaganda. The students know what it is, they don't need no stinkin' judge to tell them what to do.
Special receptacles for PFOX flyers, that is beautiful. I wish I had a picture of that one.
posted by JimK at 8:41 PM
10 Comments:
A few brief observations on this temper tantrum...
First, while it is understood that written communication, that is items communicated under the authority of schools, should rightfully be taken home for review by parents, it is less clear what importance other material should be given. Still, it is interesting that the GSA finds themselves so threatened by the message of the PFOX "informational" flier that they have to attempt to silence it.
Second, most if not all students do not vote or pay property taxes, and they are not allowed a decisive voice in their own education. This is as it should be because they are still children. I know, I know...this is not a "nice" thing to say aloud since it would seem there is no shortage of adults willing to indulge the passions of youth...pity. This exercise reinforces the immature and childish impulses of youth, youth that know so much, yet have so much more to learn. How much better it would be for them to take the flier home and have it as the centerpiece of discussion.
And finally...it would appear that faculty, administration and staff were pressed into service of this protest,
“They got their message across but did not disturb class time at all,” GSA sponsor Arthur Bescher said. “The aim was for students around the school to understand that the PFOX group and its ideas are viewed as dangerous and harmful, and I know that students all across the building heard that message.”
The administration was also supportive in helping the protest run smoothly and effectively. Trash cans were placed in the center of the lobby, and security guards and administrators stood by protestors to ensure safety.
“[The protest] was wonderfully planned out, wonderfully executed, and wonderfully received, with great respect from the administration, especially Dr. Benz,” Richard said. “Having her be there by the trash cans with us was incredible, and a great symbol of the support we had from the school. The protest couldn’t have gone any better.”
and the underlying message of all of this is a not so suble disrespect for parents of those students that agree either in part or whole with the PFOX message.
Oh, and one final thing...this encourages protest in an educational setting where that is inappropriate. What if the Christian Student Association of a school wanted to put on a similar protest with the object being flier distributed by the GSA? Would the school staff be similarly supportive?
Orin
The message promulgated by PFOX is opposite the content of the health curriculum, and is opposite the values of our community.
If a Christian group wanted to put up a trash can for GSA's materials, I suppose they would be allowed, but no, they would not have the community support that the GSA has.
--Might not be that way in Colorado, but in Potomac, yeah.
JimK
What if the high school students decided to carry out similar recycling demonstrations on each of the quarterly "flier" days as a protest against the 4th circuit court's decision that their back-packs are an open forum? Would that be OK?
Most students are not adults, true. They do not pay taxes on much of their income, if they have any. If they own property, of course it is taxed, and they pay a great deal of retail tax. Nonetheless, they retain certain first amendment rights. Schools have a tricky dance in negotiating the fine lines between the students' rights of expression and the schools' need to keep order, keep on topic, and remain schools not open fora.
Our high school principals in Montgomery County understand that while they have schools full of mostly children, every spring they graduate groups of mostly adults. It is their job to help get those graduates prepared for adulthood. The Churchill administration's support for the recycling demonstration looks like pretty good education to me. People with differing goals worked together to allow an action which made a definite statement (the goal of one group) while allowing the school day to progress unhindered (the goal of the other group). The protest was civil for several definitions of civil.
Based on the informatiomn given in the artical, we simply do not know if parents were left out of the loop on this one. Several of my friends have children in GSAs in schools here and in our neighboring county. Those parents would have been fully informaed and supportive of such a protest. I suspect that it is the parents who have taught their students the truth about PFOX.
Orin, if the county thinks anything is really important- they should go right to the parents. Virtually nothing ever came out of my daughter's backpack- she trashed everything and with junk like PFOX, that is where it belongs.
Gosh, Orin- kids in high school are 18 and 19- old enough to die in Iraq for a war made up by lying old men- but not old enough to decide what is trash?
I met Chloe at the conference last weekend. She's very poised and articulate: a real leader. This protest sounds to me as though it were non-disruptive and non-violent.
I suspect the school administration, rather than supporting the protest, allowed it. I'm sure that if a club or group of students wanted to hold a similar protest to PFLAG materials that were given freely to them, the school would have allowed that as well. The supreme court ruled in Tinker that high school students have free speech rights as long as the speech does not disrupt the school's mission of education or present a safety or harassment problem (even if the administrators disagree with the content of the speech). Now, if students were pulling approved GSA posters from the wall, I would consider that disruptive.
Orin, I don't find it appealing that you oppose students who belong to a still marginalized group expressing and defending themselves. LGBT youth need all the support we can give them.
Robert
Orin said A few brief observations on this temper tantrum...
Oh for goodness sake Orin. Quit acting like such a drama queen. What "temper tantrum" are you talking about and who threw it? (See below for the answer.)
This was a well planned, successful, and peaceful demonstration intended to let people know that there are plenty of MCPS families that disagree with PFOX's goals and methods. It was conducted by MCPS students who care enough about the environment to recycle PFOX's "fake out" letters. That's a twofer IMHO.
Still, it is interesting that the GSA finds themselves so threatened by the message of the PFOX "informational" flier ...
You think Churchill students felt "threatened" by PFOX's fliers? What did you base your assumption on, a wild guess? You sure didn't get it from the Observer or Jim's blog.
Churchill High School students wanted to show their "disapproval for the letters" that anti-GLBT groups like the Family blah blah spawned PFOX were allowed to put in their backpacks by a fourth circuit court ruling. Churchill's Gay Straight Alliance has already experienced harassment by anti-GLBT students at their school. It was anti-GLBT students who threw the "temper tantrum" when they vandalized (defaced and repeatedly tore down) the SGA's approved posters back in 2005. That tantrum was thrown just a couple of months after Churchill students and alumni organized another successful and peaceful demonstration in support of LGBT students at the MCPS Board of Education.
IMHO the future leaders at Churchill found another successful and peaceful way to voice their disapproval of both the court ruling that has turned their privately owned backpacks into public forums and the anti-GLBT group's "fake out" letter. God bless 'em.
Orin
PFOX's website, blog and emails contain information that indicates that they think that homosexuality is sinful and "intrinsically disordered." It seems natural to me that LGBT-affirmative groups such as GSAs would be displeased about, and perhaps protest, PFOX's efforts to reach their fellow students. In the same way, it would seem natural to me for one of the hypothetical, PFOX-encouraged GTSs (Gay-to_straight Clubs--to my knowledge none such exist) to oppose materials from TTF, which is doubtful of the facility of reparative therapy.
This is not a temper tantrum, nor is it immature action. It seems the natural outcome of differing opinions.
Robert
Robert writes,
Orin, I don't find it appealing that you oppose students who belong to a still marginalized group expressing and defending themselves. LGBT youth need all the support we can give them.
Well, I regret that is the impression I left because that was not what I intended. I think K thru 12 education ought not to allow any protests...liberal, conservative or otherwise. What, everyone gasps...you want to protest, take it off school grounds. School is for the learning of reading, writing, and math (with history and civics); it is not for "consciousness raising".
Little wonder that though I love to learn and teach, I choose not to work in public education.
Orin,
You're kidding, right? You think this is the focus of education in public school? My ex, who works 70 hour weeks teaching English in the local high school would be deeply offended by your comments.
Orin said,
"I think K thru 12 education ought not to allow any protests...liberal, conservative or otherwise."
I'm ambivalent about youth protests. As a teacher, I want two things: I want the students to learn what we're teaching them; and I want to encourage them to think on their own.
If the students did their protest during lunch or after school, I don't have problem with that at all.
I think we need to encourage our students to work hard and learn from us, but we also should encourage them to think for themselves and express what they think. Schools have to balance this. School walls, display cases, school newspapers, plays, etc. are all great vehicles for student expression.
I guess I would say, if the protest weren't disruptive, I would support it. I support the "Meet at the flag" day the Fellowship for Christian Athletes does every year, since it is respectful, non-violent, and before school starts.
rrjr
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