Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 09:32:26 -0700 (PDT) From: jessea@uclink4.berkeley.edu (Jessea NR Greenman) Subject: job opening at PFLAG in DC || source of small grants || Followup on Des Moines school elections || NJ teacher's struggle ---------------------- [from maggie Heineman] job opening at PFLAG in DC: http://www.pflag.org/works/staff/jobs.html Development/Fundraising Assistant Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays seeks organized, detail-oriented individual with experience/interest in fundraising. Admin support position working with major gifts manager and executive director. Excellent writing, people skills, Macintosh literate. $18,000, health benefits. Fax resume and writing sample: PFLAG 202/638-0243, or email info@pflag.org ---------------------- ---------------------- [from larry goldsmith... but on a personal note, this is a very good group. grants tend to be small, but there is a quick turnout... e.g. if you need to produce flyers for a demonstration in three weeks, they may just be able to cut you a check for a hundred dollars to help out, within a week or so of your request, if you meet their funding guidelines.] source of small grants: One source of funding for progressive political organizing around lesbian/gay (and other) issues is: Resist One Summer Street Somerville, MA 02143 (617) 623-5110 Call or write for an application and a copy of the grant guidelines. Resist has been funding social change since 1967, and is supported primarily by small donations. If you'd like information about becoming a Resist supporter, call or write the office at the same address. ---------------------- ---------------------- [followup on Des Moines School Bd. Elections:] recently we told you that 3 good candidates had been elected to the Des Moines School Board last Tuesday. Now we have their names: Nadine Hogate, Mark Schuling, Margaret Borgen Letters to Des Moines school board members can come from all over the state & should be sent to: Board of Education, Central Campus, 1800 Grand Ave., Des Moines, IA 50309. The Des Moines School Board's fax number is 515-242-7579. Might be nice to write to the new Board members to welcome them and ask for their support of LGBT school-related issues. you may recall that Des Moines has been the locus of major struggles over control of the school board around LGBT issues, with the right-wing having organized last year to defeat an incumbent gay man. education is part of healing...we suggest that the solution for Des Moines' tensions over these issues is MORE education re LGBT matters!!!] ----------------------- NJ Action ALERT, please call, write or fax! See information below. Postcards are also helpful. Please copy and spread these articles to any site or page that concerns Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual issues. Also any sites concerning New Jersey, teaching, civil rights/discrimination and education in the US that would be appropriate. If you have any questions and want additional information, please write AlexDn@ix.netcom.com. Thank you. "NJ Action Alert! Gay Educator Names NJ School In Suit" "(In-The-Life: The Lesbian & Gay Newspaper of he Hudson Valley & Tri-State Area, September, 1996, Volume 4, Number 9) (July 12) George DeCarlo, 37, a former substitute teacher at Watchung Hills Regional (High School) in Warren, New Jersey, has sued the school; charging that he was not reappointed because he is gay. The lawsuit contained a January 29 report from the state Division of Civil Rights which concluded that DeCarlo was denied reappointment as a substitute "because of his sexual orientation and as an act of reprisal." Although DeCarlo claims that no one ever expressed dissatisfaction with his work during his approximately (two) years of service, the school discontinued to call him back to work because of his problems with "classroo m management." This action followed measures taken by DeCarlo in which he approached Superintendent of Schools/Principal Robert Baly on Feb. 9th to express concern about the use of derogatory language and the lack of sensitivity training regarding homosexuals in the school. DeCarlo then filed a report with the school's affirmative action officer citing an incident in which such derogatory language was directed at him. In that incident, a studen was suspended for one day, which is "substantially less" than the disciplinary action meted out for similar offenses not involving sexual orientation, claimed DeCarlo. DeCarlo is suing the school, which won a national Blue Ribbon award for academic excellence earlier this year, for compensatory and punitive damages. We urge you to write to New Jersey's highest education official, listed below, since the state agency recommended this school for (a federal) Blue Ribbon award. The award has to do with excellence in curriculum, among other things, although there is no evidence that New Jersey or Watchung require curricula which are inclusive of fair and accurate information about LGBT people. We do know that not only is New Jersey a non-discrimination state, but also that while New Jersey's 600 districts autonomously choose their own texts and develop their own curricula, they do so within state curricular guidelines. Although these guidelines contain some generalities about diversity, urge Dr. Klagholz to institute immediate efforts (perhaps a task force) to correct this! Dr. Leo Klagholz, Commissioner, (NJ State Department of Education, CN 500, 225 East State Street, Trenton, NJ 08625-0500) Telephone: 609-292-4469, Fax: 609-777-4099" "Commentary... "(Our Quarterly =94: A Publication Exclusively for New Jersey's Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Community. September/October/November, 1996, Volume 1, Issue 3) Recently, the only negative commentary arrived at my email address in reference to being dismissed from Watchung Hills High School. The troubled person wrote, 'that my advocacy of sensitivity training, teaching that his (my) lifestyle is a normal, acceptable one" was the reason for my dismissal. While history and activism are distorted in their reading of the facts, I do advocate helping others to learn to appreciate, through awareness of themselves and others, difference. Relationships in our pluralistic society necessitate constant vigilance in order to pursue such arguments as lifestyle vs. the biological state of being. Concepts are used to distort, and the only remedy is to air the facts. Sensitivity training will allow for a better understanding of the feelings and emotions we suffer to be understood by the ignorant. Stop fear, stop hate by meaningful and rational dialogue. -George DeCarlo In April 1994, Mr. DeCarlo, a substitute teacher, was dismissed from Watchung Regional High School after complaining to school administrators about students calling him a "faggot." Currently, a suit has been filed by DeCarlo against the school district in New Jersey's Superior Court. The school has also been found by a finding of probable cause from the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights to have violated the nondiscrimination provision protecting affectional or sexual orientation." "Gay Educator names Watchung Hills in bias suit" by Cathy Bugman "(The Star-Ledger, Tuesday, July 30, 1996) A former substitute teacher at Watchung Hills Regional High School in Warren Township has sued the school, charging he was not reappointed because he is gay. George DeCarlo, 37, of Berkeley Heights noted in his lawsuit yesterday that the state Division of Civil Rights found probable cause existed to credit his complaint that the school had violated the state law against di scrimination. The lawsuit contained a Jan. 29 report from the state division that concluded DeCarlo was denied reappointment as a substitute "because of his sexual orientation and as an act of reprisal." According to the suit, filed in state Superior Court in Elizabeth, DeCarlo was hired in September 1992 as a substitute teacher, filling in for teachers in various classes in grades 9-12. He contends he successfully carried out his duties during the 1992-93 and 1993-94 school years. He said he approached Superintendent of Schools/Principal Robert Baly on Feb. 9, 1994, to express concern about the use of derogatory language and the lack of sensitivity training regarding homosexuals. He wrote a report to the school's affirmative action officer, then-Vice Principal Frances Sills, about an incident in which such derogatory language was directed at him, he said. In that incident, a student was suspended for one day, which is "substantially less" than the disciplinary action meted out for similar offenses not involving sexual orientation, DeCarlo claims. On June 7, 1994, DeCarlo said he received a letter stating he would be reappointed for the 1994-95 school year. From September to December 1994, DeCarlo said he called the school to find out why he had not been called to work. He was told the June 7 letter was a "mistake" and that he was not supposed to be called back as a substitute teacher because of his problems with "classroom management," according to the suit. DeCarlo claims no one ever expressed dissatisfaction with his work until he voiced his concerns about the lack of awareness of "(sexual) orientation issues" and name-calling. DeCarlo tool the matter to the state Division of Civil Rights, which concluded Watchung Hills used the excuse of "poor performance" to terminate him because he is gay. It determines that "probable cause exists" to warrant the allegations of the complaint, but DeCarlo withdrew that complaint to pursue his lawsuit. DeCarlo is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. School board President Bill Apgar said he believed the school had not yet been served with the legal papers. "I don't think I'd be able to comment on it even if we did," he said. Board attorney William Jeremiah and Baly were not in their offices yesterday and could not be reached for comment. The school enrolls more than 1,000 students in grades 9-12 from Warren, Watchung, Long Hill and Green Brook. Earlier this year it won the nationally recognized Blue Ribbon Award for academic excellence from the federal Department of Education." Please contact the following people and organizations encouraging their support for greater awareness, justice and reporting of Watchung Hills Regional High School. School Officials: Commissioner Leo Klagholz New Jersey State Department of Education CN 500 225 East State Street Trenton, NJ 08625-0500 609-292-4469 voice 609-777-4099 fax New Jersey State Board of Education Attn: President and Board Members CN 500 Trenton, NJ 08625 Watchung Hills Regional High School Board of Education 108 Stirling Road Warren, NJ 07059-5799 William I. Apgar, President Peter Falzarano Sondra Fechtner Ewald Friedrich Iris B. Keim Russell Leffert Barbara Luna Barbara Michael Christl Smith Barbara Vitarius Superintendent/Principal Robert Baly Watchung Hills Regional High School 108 Stirling Road Warren, NJ 07059-5799 908-647-4890 voice 908-647-4852 fax Principal Francis Sills (former Vice-Principal, Affirmative Action Officer, and Supervisor of Substitutes at Watchung Hills - She stated to a local paper that "she will return to Watchung Hills to aid her replacement when one is chosen.") Cedar Grove High School Rugby Road Cedar Grove, NJ 07009 201-239-6400 voice 201-859-9833 fax Alan Gaddis, Coordinator of Substitutes Watchung Hills Regional High School 108 Stirling Road Warren, NJ 07059-5799 908-647-4890 voice 908-647-4852 fax Media (letters and postcards to the following would be helpful): Times, Attn: Peter Callas, 500 Perry Street, Trenton, NJ 08605 New Jersey Monthly, Attn: Jenny Demonte, Editor-in-Chief, P.O. Box 920, Morristown, NJ 07963-0920 LGNY, Attn: Editor, 225 Lafayette Street, Suite 1103, New York, NY 10012 New York Times, Attn: New Jersey News Section, 229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 The Home News & Tribune, Attn: Chuck Paolino, 35 Kennedy Blvd., P.O. Box 1049, East Brunswick, NJ 08816 Courier-News, Attn: Anna Farneski, 1201 US Hwy 22W, P.O. Box 6600, Bridgewater, NJ 08807 Daily Record, Attn: Peggy Wright, 629 Parsippany Road, Parsippany, NJ 07054 New Jersey Reporter, Attn: Editor, 16 Vanderventer, Princeton, NJ 08540 Independent Press, Attn: Christopher Moore, 80 South Street, New Providence, NJ 07974 New York Native, Attn: Editor, P.O. Box 1475, Church Street Station, New York, NY 10008 Verona-Cedar Grove Times, Attn: Joy Catania, 685 Bloomfield Avenue, Verona, NJ 07044 *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ OK TO RE-POST. Jessea Greenman The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) CHECK THIS OUT FOR TONS OF INFO - - http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/ Please cc us (for our files) on correspondence you send or receive re our action alerts. "I have the great privilege to gather inspiration and pass it on to others." Maxine Hong Kingston