Diversity assembly at Eastern sparks backlash from parents

The York Dispatch ^ | 16 November AD 2007 | Wendy Garman

[lightman]

Diversity assembly at Eastern sparks backlash from parents

WENDY L. GARMAN For The York Dispatch Article Launched: 11/16/2007 10:47:40 AM EST

Eastern York School District's board meeting was standing-room only Thursday night after more than two dozen people turned out to protest a diversity assembly held last week at the high school.

Kathy Freeland, who has a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old in the district, said she received no notification of such an assembly and was "disturbed" to learn that her children were addressed by a "gay man, an African-American woman and a Jew."

"I send my children to school to be taught academics," said Freeland. "I'll handle the morals."

Freeland later learned from her children the same group that put on the assembly, the York County Diversity Coalition, in partnership with the Jewish Community Center and the York County Community Against Racism, held a public meeting at the school the same night as last week's assembly.

"Three parents and two students attended that meeting, and the gay gentleman that spoke (at the assembly) wasn't even present. If proper notification about the follow-up meeting was given, the entire auditorium would have been filled," Freeland said.

Offended by speaker: Many at the Thursday's board meeting said they were personally offended by the fact that the homosexual man who spoke stated that he was "born gay and did not choose to be gay."

Laurie Lehman, who has a 10th-grade student, said, "This is not what I'm teaching my children. We have a biblical-based belief system" and said she felt that proper notification should have been given to parents about the assembly and the follow-up meeting. "I want to be notified if a speaker is highly controversial."

Lehman said she felt that ninth-, 10th- and 11th-grade students (seniors were not invited to the assembly) should have been given a choice to leave if they felt strongly opposed.

Kathy and Troy Smith, who also addressed the board, said that while they were not against the gathering, they would like to have been given the opportunity to be present.

Troy Smith said, "In the working world, people get terminated for failure to notify."

The Smiths said they felt that both sides of the story should have been represented. "Why not also include someone who used to be gay but now no longer is, or a Jewish person who has since converted to Christianity?"

Trying for dialogue: Cathy Bollinger, diversity director at the York County Jewish Community Center and a facilitator of the assembly, also addressed the board.

"The goal of this assembly was to break down walls and hold a dialogue," said Bollinger. "It was never intended to hurt anyone. Yes, a York College man said he was born gay. He believes this to be true, that doesn't mean you have to believe it."

Bollinger went on to tell the board that the assembly, which was to last 11/2 hours, was shortened to 40-45 minutes because voting was being held in the room originally intended to be used.

"By the time we moved everyone to the auditorium and the students gathered, we weren't able to end the program with questions, shared stories and strategies to build a better school environment," Bollinger said.

Assistant superintendent Rita Becker said the intent of the assembly was to "erase bias and bigotry among our students and to teach that all humans are worthy of value."

Becker said the public meeting held the same evening as the assembly was not a school-sanctioned event; however, it was advertised in the newspaper and open to all community residents.

Becker also said the district would be failing if it didn't prepare its students for a diverse and ever-changing world.

"Personal bias can lead to hatred," she said. "We need to create an environment where all students feel safe and welcome."

-- Reach Wendy L. Garman at 854-1575 or news@yorkdispatch.com.

[lightman]

Eastern York School District is located along the Susquehanna River which forms the border with Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

[lightman]

Ping

[lightman]

Ironically on the same day a Pennsylvania Appellate court struck down the broadening of the PA Hate Crimes statute to include “sexual orientation.”

Win some, lose some.

[sure_fine]

also where I live

[normy]

When I was a freshman in high school I was put through a diversity class. The year was 1987 and the city was Ballard Washington.

I had it good because my younger brother was bussed to a majority black school where they held an assembly at the beginning of the year where some faculty got on stage and told the white kids that they were in the minority now and how does it feel. My brother said the students were cheering.

[donna]

The teachers want to have sex with our children.

[VeniVidiVici]

"...and was "disturbed" to learn that her children were addressed by a "gay man, an African-American woman and a Jew."

So a gay man, an African-American woman and a Jew walk into a bar ...

[Resolute Conservative]

My children would not have spent one minute in your brothers school.

[rightinthemiddle]

I’ve had it up to my butt with “diversity.”

What happened to UNITY?

Diversified vs. Unified...who is “dividing the country.”

The LEFT.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

One word: “Homeschool”

[achilles2000]

Ballard High? I lived in Ballard for some years when it was still mostly blue collar and Scandanavian. A lot of the kids we went to school with (Whittier/James Monroe) had fathers who worked in the fisheries and related industries.

[normy]

We had just moved from Texas and were in transition. We actually moved to Edmonds, which is north of Seattle, the following year.

[MrB]

That’s the whole goal, dude...

Divide and destroy the country. Tear down anything “traditional” to be replaced with secular socialism.

[Graybeard58]

One word: “Homeschool”

There are three kinds of people in the world.

Those who can count and those who can't

[MrB]

Good answer to the woman stating “I send my kids to school for academics, I’ll handle the morals”.

Well, then, you’re working at cross purposes, because the schools these days see their job as indoctrination into the “liberal” moral code.

[normy]

When I was at Ballard it was mostly white and Asian with some blacks. Ballard was fairly rough but it wasn't the worst school in Seattle. My brother was in middle school though and I do not recall where the school was.

This was the time where everyone started wanting to be a gang banger and the whole Californian bloods/crips thing was moving north. Combine that with liberal theology and it makes for a wonderful place to raise children./s

[Resolute Conservative]

Bet that was culture shock.

My g-parents and that side of the family all live(d) in Ellensburg and up the coast in Bow and Lynden. We live in Texas, always loved going for a visit ( back in the 70’s of course ).

[normy]

Sure was. My grandpa lived in Ballard and that is why we were there. I was glad to move away from the city and even more glad when I graduated and moved back to Texas.

[subterfuge]

The government scrhools were infiltrated by communists in the 50’s and the offspring/useful idiots carry on their work today. It’s mindless drones like this Becker woman that run the scrhools and the message of socialism is being systematically drilled into our childrens’ heads and there is nothing that can be done about it.

If teachers’ unions and the dept. of education could be abolished, there might be a chance of the government scrhools returning to normalcy, but I don’t see that happening. Politicians, any of them, have never seen a bureaucracy they didn’t like.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

We homeschool, and are daily grateful to God that we don’t have to hand our kids over to the wolves every morning.

Saw a sticker I want to get:

“We Homeschool because we’ve seen the village - and we don’t want it raising our kids!”

[skeeter]

Assistant superintendent Rita Becker said the intent of the assembly was to "erase bias and bigotry among our students and to teach that all humans are worthy of value."

I wonder how many still buy this load of manure.

The day the district invites a white heterosexual christian to address the students I'll take them at their word.

[Larry Lucido]

addressed by a "gay man, an African-American woman and a Jew."

And James Watt was canned for bragging that he had "a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple." SIgh.

[achilles2000]

One thing I find amusing on my visits to Ballard is that the houses that used to sell for $10-$14 k , and which were just decent housing at best, are now selling for $300-$400k and the neighborhoods are less well kept than they were in 1960s.

[Ouderkirk]

to teach that all humans are worthy of value.

B.S....you were looking to teach that some humans are more worthy than others

[One_American]

Things sure have changed since I got kicked out of high school.

[normy]

I haven’t been back in years, but my Grandpa lived only a few blocks from the high school. He had a nice home and the neighborhood was nice. When he died I think it went for the price you were quoting.

[Hacklehead]

“I’ve had it up to my butt with “diversity.””

Likewise, the more they try to show this down our throats the more anti-diversity people become. Hence diversity promotes divisiveness.

[Mr. Lucky]

My kids' high school used to have mandatory diversity sessions as well, but they tended to revolve around whether "blue hymnal" Lutherans were as faithful to the word of God as "red hymnal" Lutherans.

(The correct answer is: they're not)

[Resolute Conservative]

LOL what a dilemma.

[Oberon]

I've heard that those blue-hymnal folks were also prone to use off-brand mushroom soup (instead of the requisite Campbell's) in their green-bean casserole!

...but you didn't hear that from me...

[Mr. Lucky]

Heretics!

[TNCMAXQ]

So they erase one form of bias and bigotry by creating a whole other version of it. Nice going.

[Disambiguator]

Kathy Freeland, who has a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old in the district, said she received no notification of such an assembly and was "disturbed" to learn that her children were addressed by a "gay man, an African-American woman and a Jew."

You can get this every weeknight on PBS.

[Morgana]

Kathy Freeland If you have any brains get your kids out of public school and into a nice Catholic school or home school them!

that is all I have to say on this matter.

[norton]

...only if they add the accursed onion soup crunchies on top.

[Oberon]

Durkee brand (TM) french-fried onions?

I thought those were required by the liturgy.

[whatisthetruth]

I had it good because my younger brother was bussed to a majority black school

Consider your brother lucky that he lived to be able to talk about it.

[normy]

When the faculty instigates it its really freaky.

I actually went to an elementary school in Dallas called San Jacinto Elementary and I only remember 1 other white kid. It was actually ok, but that was the early eighties in Dallas. I am sure its brutal now.

[skeeter]

The left and their fellow travelers are NEVER about what they claim to be about - equality, justice, etc.

They seek the upper hand - the same advantage over others they claim to be eradicating. People need to know that.

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

I smell a rat in the reporter's selective quoting of the Mom.

If the Mom really did say she "was disturbed to learn that my children were addressed by a gay man, an African-American woman and a Jew," then why didn't the reporter just directly quote her saying that?

No. Instead, the reporter claimed that the Mom said she:
   was "disturbed" to learn that her children were addressed by a "gay man, an African-American woman and a Jew."

Note that the location of the quotes is critical.

This stringing together of separate quotes, instead of presenting one long quote, most likely means that the Mother actually said something along the lines of: "They sent our kids to an assembly without telling us. This disturbs me. They had a gay man, an African-American woman and a Jew. I don't want my kids propagandized by homosexuals."

So in the best Michael Moore style of journalism, you go snip-snip here, snip-snip there, paste-paste, and voila, you can make the Mom look like a racist.

The first AP feature article I ever saw on James Dobson and Focus on the Family, back in the early 90's when Colorado was in the spotlight for "Amendment 2," was a mudslinging masterpiece of anti-Christian bigotry that used these same techniques to produce a piece of slime that was "technically not lying," but in all other ways was a lying piece of propaganda.

For instance, they told of a story going around Colorado Springs that FOTF was calling all local school principals and demanding lists of single teachers, so that they could investigate and try to figure out which ones were gay.

Anyone reading this hit piece at a normal speed would have thought that the rumor was proven true. That's what I thought, the first time I read that paragraph. But it didn't at all ring true, given what I knew of FOTF, so I backed up and reread carefully, and discovered that although the words were ingeniously crafted to leave that impression, that's not what they actually said.

The narrative went something like this: The reporter decided to check up on the truth of the rumor. So she phoned one high school principal, "and he confirmed the rumor ...."

Whoa! Really? But when I slowly reread the sentence, it actually said that the principal confirmed the rumor had been heard by him.

Uh ..... OK. Is that all? You're telling me you had the guy on the phone and you never once thought to ask him the next extremely obvious question, namely, "Well? Is the rumor true?" Here you managed to reach a guy who could confirm or deny the rumor for you, who could prove or disprove the story, and all you can think to ask him is, "Can you confirm you heard this rumor?"

Bullcrap!!

Obviously she asked him for confirmation, and obviously he told her that no, nobody had called him for a list of single teachers, and he knew of no other principals who had been called either. That would have completely shot the slimy rumor down in flames. Instead of doing that, she worded it to look like the rumor was true.

Scumbag reporters!

[skeeter]

This stringing together of separate quotes, instead of presenting one long quote, most likely means that the Mother actually said something along the lines of: "They sent our kids to an assembly without telling us. This disturbs me. They had a gay man, an African-American woman and a Jew. I don't want my kids propagandized by homosexuals."

Exactly. Further, I suspect those quotes were in response to questions like 'how do you feel about what happened?" and "exactly who do you understand was it that spoke to your kids?"

[Mmmike]

What’s more, it’s impossible to impose such a dichotomy between school life and the rest of life. There is no getting around the reality that school is a socio-political agenda-pusher. It’s inherent in the very procedure of school itself: grading, bussing, assemblies, collective learning, gimmickry, avoidance of religious subject matter, ... Did anybody ever agree that we need to have laws compelling us to embrace all these things in pursuit of some supposed social good, when I wasn’t looking?

[ronnie raygun]

The education system in the US has gone stark raving mad. They are doing everything but teach our kids the academics they need to succeed. Condoms, sexual diversity, racial diversity, mental health counciling, and family counciling. This is the monster that asks for more of your hard earned tax dollars each year and rejects any outside interferece with thier agenda. It is time to get involved mom and dad!

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

I like your sig:

ronnie raygun (Id rather be hunting with dick than driving with ted)

Long ago, I made up this bumper sticker. It comes in an 11x8.5 image that you print off on a 25 cent Kinko's sticker sheet (that has just one monolithic sticker on it), make one cut down the middle the long way, and arrange them on your bumper side by side in a 22x4.25 bumper sticker. So that it's more readable, I rearranged the image here to be the way it'd appear on the bumper:

I actually stole it from some other Freeper (I forget who), but it was really fuzzy. So I redid the text to make it sharp, and when I was re-drawing the image on the right end, which showed the tail end of a white car sticking out of the water, I decided to change it a bit to make it look more like a periscope, because I thought it looked funnier.

[proud2b4family]

I hear ya. Wasn't this supposed to be the United States of America? Less pluribus, more unum.

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

My Freeper sister mollynme got fed up with all the "Celebrate Diversity" bumper stickers and made her own, reading:

CELEBRATE UNITY
ONE NATION UNDER GOD

or something close to that.

[mollynme]

That's it. It's on my FR home page.