Date: Tue, 17 Oct 1995 19:30:41 -0700 From: jessea@uclink2.berkeley.edu (Jessea NR Greenman) Subject: more info on San Fran and New Hampshire teachers [N.B. from The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project: California's Commission on Teacher Credentialing can be reached at 1812 9th St, Sacramento CA 95814. The voice mail (horrendous) is 916-445-7254. If calling from a touch-tone, as soon as you connect push 1 -- means you are calling from a touch-tone -- then push 2, then push 1 to get to the Professional Standards Division, which deals with investigations and discipline. Their hours are M-F 8:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Pacific Time. Their FAX number is 916-323-6735. The Chair of the Commission on Teacher Credentialing is Verna Dautreive. She is responsible for the whole Commission, which oversees the Committee which made this decision (see below) and which has the final authority on this matter after it goes to the administrative law judge. The Chair of the Commission's Committee on Credentials, the seven-member committee which actually made this ominous and misguided decision, is Barbara Boyle.] ---------- [N.B. from The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project: the following message is from one of our readers who is close to the situation] Just a few comments on the nightmare being endured by two of my colleagues. 1. As far as I know this is the first time any teacher has faced the loss of a credential with no accusation of wrongdoing. Can you find any similar case in CA history? The accusations are disputed remarks made by a CUAV speaker in response to a question by a student. Most of the quotes being bantered around in the press were invented months or years after the event in April, 1992. 2. Even if the allegations of statements by the CUAV speakers were all true, a giant leap from reality, the only thing the teachers did was not jump in immediately to stop statements they probably didn't even hear (and were most likely not even made). Both speakers made the same presentation in another sixth grade classroom immediatly before, and nothing controversial came up. The presentation was actually about 55 minutes -- and focused almost entirely on issues of homophobia and hate violence. With no prompting or direction, some students DID ask a few questions about sexual behavior. The time given to these questions amounted to no more than THREE MINUTES. This is a case about punishing SF. The two teachers are caught in the middle. Any of us could be on the line for allowing district approved speakers into the classroom.. 3. The charges were investigated by the school, the district administration, and the school board. No wrongdoing was found by anyone. 4. The CUAV presenation was approved by the board. It was school policy. If anyone was at fault, it would be the board, not the teachers who implemented the policy. 5. Parents were notified in advance of the course content and speaker. Any parent could have taken their child out of the course, or any portion of the course by merely signing the form and having it returned to the school. Incidentally the teachers are both outstanding teachers with excellent records, both before and after the contrived incident. The one teacher listed as beginning in the mid 1980s actually began in the mid 1970s. His dedication to the students is such that he worked twelve years without permanent status. The two Everett teachers need more support from the superintendent and the board. Dr. Waldemar Rojas, Supt, San Francisco Unified Public School, 135 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA 94102. Board president is Dr. Dan Kelly, President, Board of Education,SFUSD, 135 Van Ness, SF,CA 94102. A supportive member is Dr. Leland Yee, same address as above. He needs to be thanked for his strong support on KQED radio, and urged to keep up the support. This may be a long fight. =================================================== Here's how to stay tuned to developments in the Penny Culliton case in Mascenic New Hampshire, from a fellow close to the situation, which has to do with a high school English teacher fired for trying to teach books by May Sarton and EM Forster to her 11th & 12th grade classes: ------ Hello, My name is Jim Giddings. In the last few weeks the Monadnock Ledger and Peterborough Transcript, which are our "local" papers for the Mascenic district, have published some good editorials (and one really bad one) and lots of letters to the editor. The dialog is getting hot, and I hope we can keep it this way until School Board elections in the Spring. A group of us who are voters in the district are meeting regularly and trying to get a good canditdates to run. We also plan to get a gay rights article and an anti-secrecy article on the ballot. We are working with Penny Culliton and her attorneys. She gave an inspiring talk at the Peterborough Unitarian Church this Sunday, which the Transcript may publish in its entirety, and two local women debuted their song in her support. I have been posting stuff to a personal web page http://www.mv.com/users/jgidding/mascenic.html. If you find it useful, please make use of it. The amount of stuff that gets posted depends on my ability to type it in and my ability to wangle time from my job, so I can't post everything I'd like to. My email addresses are: jgidding@mv.mv.com or jgiddings@igc.apc.org. Thanks for getting the word out. [Note from The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project: The Mascenic Regional School District Board can be reached at PO Box 479, Wilton NH 03086-0479, phone= 603-654-2171, fax= 603-654-5818. The Superintendent is Ms. Francine E. Fullam.] Please also write letters to the nearby newspapers: Keene Sentinel,Box 546,Keene,NH,03431 -(Fax 603-352-0437, print run 15,700) The Union Leader,Box 9555,Manchester,NH,03108 -(Fax 603-668-0382, print run 71,609) The Telegraph,Box 1008,Nashua,NH,03061 -(Fax 603-882-5138, print run 29,580) *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ YOU MAY RE-POST. Jessea Greenman The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project*; ph/fax: 510-601-8883, 586 62nd St. Oakland, CA 94609-1245 Gopher to "gopher.outright.com" Action Alerts and Organizing Manual: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/ http://www1.usa1.com/~furball/glb/person.html/ (Children's Animated Television) Organizing Manual: http://www.pride.net/pridenet/person The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project is *always* looking for volunteer organizers. Please cc us (for our files) on correspondence you send or receive re our action alerts. *P.E.R.S.O.N. stands for Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally.