violated its dress code, school administrators have
said. Last month when he wore it to school, they
told Mathewson to turn it inside out. “FHS” stands
for Fayettteville (Ark.) High School, which Mathewson formerly attended.
Posted on 11/05/2004 9:00:38 AM PST by rface
“It's our responsibility to do the very best job we can to make sure we have an orderly environment for learning every single day. I think we've been very good at that.”
Ron Lankford, superintendent of the Webb City (Mo.) School District
WEBB CITY, Mo. — Whether the townsfolk know it or not, this city in the southwest corner of the state has become a battleground in the gay rights movement.
The debate hasn't yet reached front-burner status at such places as the Bradbury Bishop Deli on the downtown square. Scores of locals know very little or nothing about it.
But that could change. Soon.
Twice in the last two weeks, Brad Mathewson, a junior at Webb City High School, was instructed by school officials to change T-shirts that bore gay rights themes. The first of the two incidents prompted Mathewson to contact the American Civil Liberties Union.
Now the ACLU is actively involved. The organization has engaged a local lawyer, shipped out news releases en masse and met with school officials.
Mathewson said he had been contacted by representatives of “Good Morning America,” although a spokesman for the TV show would neither confirm nor deny that. Anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps is promising to make an appearance in Webb City this month.
School district officials, while refusing to discuss most specifics of the situation, said enforcing the school's strict dress code wasn't about gay rights or free speech. They said it was about preserving a positive, structured learning environment that is void of unwanted distractions.
“If disruption comes for whatever reason, you try to bridle that,” district Superintendent Ron Lankford said.
So divided are the two sides that after one discussion between Mathewson and a school official, Mathewson missed a week of school.
Mathewson called it a suspension. Lankford disagreed: He said Mathewson was welcome back at school, but only after Mathewson and his mother agreed to sit down with school officials and discuss the situation.
For now, Mathewson is back in class. He returned Tuesday after the ACLU's lawyer conferred with school officials. Mathewson has been instructed by school officials not to wear any gay-themed attire but instead to blend in with the other 1,000 or so students at the high school.
Mathewson, 16, said he wasn't sure he wants to make that commitment.
He said school officials told him that the shirts might offend other students, that they could be disruptive, that they could even leave him in danger of being beaten up by intolerant classmates.
Mathewson doesn't buy any of it, at least not the latter two reasons. And if the shirts are offensive to others, well, that's too bad.
“I just want to wear my shirt,” he said.
So the battle forges on.
Censorship charge
Chris Hampton, public education associate for the ACLU, called the school's actions “viewpoint-based censorship.” She disputes the superintendent's suggestion that the ACLU is simply trying to intimidate the school until it makes a change that, quite simply, it doesn't want to make.
“We're standing up for high school students whose schools are bullying them,” she said.
“They've been stomping on this kid's rights.”
It all started Oct. 20 when Mathewson, who had recently moved to town from Fayetteville, Ark., went to school wearing a shirt from his previous school. The black T-shirt had the words “FHS (Fayetteville High School) Gay/Straight Alliance” on the front and a message on the back that was supportive of gay rights.
“They told me to change it, turn it inside out or go home,” Mathewson said.
He initially turned it inside out, then decided to leave school and talk with his mother. He was upset, and he didn't think the school was within its rights. Eventually, he called a teacher from his previous school and asked for advice. The teacher told him to contact the ACLU.
He did. He did something else, too.
About a week later, using markers and a bit of vengeance, he scrawled the words “I'm gay, and I'm proud!” on a plain T-shirt and wore it to school.
He was there less than 10 minutes, he said, before school officials approached him again and told him he couldn't wear the shirt. He left school again.
“I didn't even make it to class,” he said.
Some Webb City residents say they aren't surprised by the reaction of school officials, that this Bible Belt, blue-collar town of 9,000 or so people is slow to accept change.
Scott Cadwallader, 49, grew up in Webb City. He moved away for a while but has been back now for three years. This week, while washing clothes at Webb City Laundry downtown, he said a lot of local people “are totally against gay marriage.”
“Personally, I'm just accepting of the way people are,” he said. “But most of the people I've talked to don't want that kind of thing here.”
Count Dave Carey among them.
Carey lives in nearby Oronogo, as does Mathewson, and was recently at a downtown gun and pawn shop. Referring to gays, but calling them a more derogatory term, he said, “I don't like them.”
For his part, Mathewson embraces his sexuality.
He has known since he was a little boy that he was gay, he said, and chuckles when his mom suggests it might be a “phase” he's going through.
“He's still my son,” said Marion Mathewson, Brad's mother. “He will always be my son. I stand behind him, and I support him.”
Unintended statement
The irony is that Mathewson wasn't originally trying to make a statement, that he just happened to throw on that black T-shirt the day this all started. It wasn't the first time he had worn it at Webb City High, either.
“I wasn't causing a disruption before,” Mathewson said. “It sure is causing a disruption now.”
What's more, he said he had seen anti-gay bumper stickers on notebooks at school. This week, he said, he even saw a student wearing a shirt that said, “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”
Lankford said those students, like Mathewson, were asked to turn their shirts inside out or otherwise conceal those messages.
Either way, Mathewson's confrontation with school officials initially left him frustrated, even mad.
Now?
“It's exciting,” he said. “It gives you an adrenaline rush. And I like the attention. I can't lie about that.”
Others don't like it.
Barbara Pope, 26, who graduated from Webb City High in 1997, said she hoped Webb City wouldn't become known for this one controversy.
“Webb City people are tolerant of just about anything,” she said.
Pope said the brouhaha was probably more about a dress code than anything else. She said she remembered how tough it was when she attended the school: no shorts, no Starter jackets, no flannel shirts tied around the waist.
“They're just very strict when it comes to clothing,” she said.
And that's the point Lankford makes.
He doesn't apologize for the school's strict dress code, for the ban on hats, spaghetti-strap tops, piercings anywhere besides the ear, tattered clothing, even “items that fail to conform to accepted standards of modesty.”
And Lankford isn't afraid of making strict interpretations because the dress code includes a line that says clothes must not be “disruptive, distracting or inappropriate for the classroom.”
“It's our responsibility to do the very best job we can to make sure we have an orderly environment for learning every single day,” he said. “I think we've been very good at that.”
Perhaps the way for the school district to address this issue is to have a policy that forbids printed T-shirts altogether - but I suspect that the ACLU will try a double-standard approach.
I hope the school board will stand up, and not cower like a whipped dog
Perhaps its time for the right to start
whipping back...
MV
As long as his clothes dont include hatefull words, vulgarity, or something else that would impedee the learning process then who cares, and honestly if you just had the picture without the article I wouldnt have even noticed what the subject matter of the shirt was
"Perhaps the way for the school district to address this issue is to have a policy that forbids printed T-shirts altogether "
Now there's a thought. That would be my call. If they allow printed T-shirts, they're going to have to allow any that aren't obscene. That's how free speech works. If they allow no printed T-shirts at all, then there it is. No printed T-shirts. That's equality under the law.
I agree, but I am waiting for the ACLU to go for a double-standar, seperation of Church and School strategy. But I may be very wrong
I don't have a problem, theoretically, with this student wearing this T-shirt, as long as the ACLU doesn't have a problem with the throngs of students who will come to school wearing - lets say, 10 Commandment T-shirts, or some other traditional value themes on their T-shirts
--
yup. exactly.
Better to go to school uniforms, save money by only needing one or two outfits for school. Maybe bring back "Yes Sir" and "Yes Ma'am"
No one can wear a Confederate Flag t-shirt so this kid's t-shirt should be treated in the same way. If the ACLU gets this to go their way, then by all means trot out the Flag tees. Let all see the hypocrisy of the left. One can't be favored over the other. This PC bs needs to END!
As long as his clothes dont include hatefull words, vulgarity, or something else that would impedee the learning process then who cares, and honestly if you just had the picture without the article I wouldnt have even noticed what the subject matter of the shirt was
Problem is, this is subject to interpretation. How can one make the decision that it is fine to promote an agenda that many find morally offensive? What if the shirt advocated for NAMBLA? In the end, it does come down to what people find objectionable. Schools should not be platforms for promoting agendas where we see the halls lined with pro-choice/pro-life, pro-gay marriage/anti-gay marriage t-shirts. Easiest way for schools to deal with this is to say that school is not the place for anyone(especially teachers) to promote their political agenda and focus on educating the students so that Johnny can actually read what is on the T-shirts when he is off school property.
"Better to go to school uniforms, save money by only needing one or two outfits for school. Maybe bring back "Yes Sir" and "Yes Ma'am""
Boy, I'd sure have no argument with that at all. Uniforms can be very simple and inexpensive. Something like dark trousers and white shirts or sweaters for boys and dark skirts or pants and a white blouse or sweater for girls.
That would allow some choice of colors and styles, but would be uniform and non-distracting.
Kids are in school to learn, not to show their "attributes," as far as I'm concerned.
If it's fair to let him wear his gay-rights T-shirt, then the other students should be able to wear anti-gay T-shirts, pro 2nd Amendment T-shirts and others that would certainly lead to an unworkable situation for teachers.
I agree that the policy should be "No printed T-shirts. Period."
“It's exciting,” he said. “It gives you an adrenaline rush. And I like the attention. I can't lie about that.”
The kid is "shouting" for love and attention. Where's his father in all of this? I didn't see him mentioned and he's the key to this whole thing.
Personally, I don't think the shirt is that big of a deal and agree that if he can wear it, then other forms of expressive shirts should be allowed as well.
Let the principal make the call.
This boy needs to get his mind off his Cadwallader and back on his schoolwork.
"I agree. A policy of "No printed T-shirts" teaches the kids nothing about judgement or personal responsibility. I'm tired of this "zero tolerance" BS.
Let the principal make the call."
Problem with that is that the principal of your school may be a screaming liberal. So, he'd allow the gay rights T-shirt, but not the 10 Commandments one.
Not all principals are principled, if you know what I mean.
I think schools should be able to dictate their dress codes.
High school is a great place to learn how to either deal with it or live with it.
Not the workplace.
I agree with you. Where kids lack the presence of a loving guiding father things go terribly wrong...
his tshirt IS vulgar in its message - those who see nothing wrong have already fallen to the depths of depravity the leftist have been pushing for a;lmost 100 years in the USA --- see Antonio Gramsci to see how you have been brainwashed and conditioned.
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