During the heated discourse, Glowacki commented that he objected to his fellow students wearing of purple coloured clothes in honour of the LGBT youths who had committed suicide as he felt that homosexual behaviour was immoral and against his religious beliefs. McDowell gave Glowacki a referral which is entered into the student's permanent record for minor offences but not considered serious enough to warrant suspension from Howell High School.
On Thursday, Howell School District Superintendent Ron Wilson told reporter Jason Carmel Davis from the local newspaper, The Daily Press & Argus, that he had suspended McDowell, head of the Howell Education Association teachers' union, after it was determined that McDowell violated a Glowacki's First Amendment rights and significantly violated a district policy.
Superintendent Ron Wilson
"The student was speaking out on being offended by the Gay and Lesbian lifestyle because it's against his religion. The teacher said that wasn't appropriate," Wilson said.Daniel Glowacki's mother, Sandy Glowacki, told the Daily Press & Argus' Davis:
Howell High School Principal Aaron Moran delivered a letter to her home saying the referral had been taken off his record because Daniel Glowacki committed no wrongdoing.
McDowell who first wrote about the suspension he received on his Facebook page has declined to comment and when asked about the incident while he was attending Monday's Board of Education meeting again declined comment. on the issue.
Another student spoke with Davis telling him that the incident happened last Wednesday — designated as Spirit Day, a Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation event aimed to raise awareness of anti-gay bullying after the recent suicides of Gay teens who had been harassed.
School District officials confirmed with that the Howell Schools had taken part in Spirit Day. Students in support of the day wore purple T-shirts that read "Tyler's Army," for one of those who'd died. Others wore shirts featuring a rainbow, which signifies Gay pride.In his interview with Davis, Daniel Glowacki, who has since been removed from the class and placed in another class at the request of his mother, said he questioned why it was allowed for students to show their support for the Gay community and not allowed for a student to wear her Confederate flag belt buckle.
"I don't really care what people think, but I don't want people to think I'm against Gays. That's just not true," Daniel Glowacki said.His mother told the reporter:
"My son is not a bigot," Sandy Glowacki said. "He has a very diverse group of friends that includes some Gays. If a Gay student was being picked on in class, he'd stick up for them. But I feel his freedom of expression and freedom of speech have been violated along with his character."A parent whose child attends Howell High School commented:
We as parents should be teaching our children that there is diversity in life and though you may not always agree with it, it will be there in front of you. We should be teaching manners on how to handle such situations properly.
Yes, Mr. McDowell was wrong, action has been taken. The school is at fault for not notifying the parents that this "Spirit Day" was going to take place. We have to sign all sorts of permission slips for our students to use the internet, etc. at school, this event should have been no different so parents can make a decision on whether their students should participate.
The student wearing the buckle should get a history lesson on the flag, as it is not a symbol from a Kid Rock concert. It's the symbol of the confederacy, oh btw the north had their own flags as well. Not seeing too many belt buckles for that are we? Its too bad narrow minded radical groups have screwed up the true meaning of the confederate flag!Another stated:
Mr. Glowacki was simply drawing a comparison between Gay rights expression and the right of the other student to wear the confederate symbol. He wasn't wearing any type of emblem that made any derogatory comments about the Gay/Lesbian lifestyle. He expressed his opinion regarding the morality of that lifestyle when confronted by the teacher.
As for those terrible Christian conservative values of peace, service to humanity, and morality. You have every right to reject those values, but I would check out the history of our country when commenting on how we have all of a sudden embraced Christianity. It's pretty evident from the words of our founding fathers that Christianity was extremely important. It is certainly different today, and far from assertions that we are all caught up in Christian conservative beliefs. On the contrary, those beliefs have been, and continue to be, under assault throughout our society.
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2 comments:
As my own article on this shows I was initially in favour of the teacher. Bt, as you'll see from the update at the foot, I changed my support to neutral.
There was good intent on the teacher's part, but my view is that he mishandled it during the incident. After the incident he heaped hot coals onto his own head.
He could have handled it well. He didn't. But he should have.
I’m not sure that the teacher deserved to be suspended; however his actions against the students appear to be inconsistent at best. If he feels that he should be allowed to wear something that stands for something that he believes in what right does he have to deny someone else from expressing their views as well? As long as there is no obvious violation or obscenity then both should be protected by the constitution.
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