Last week as I picked my daughter up from Gilroy High School, I
was stopped dead in my tracks by a group of men handing out New
Testaments to students leaving the school.
Last week as I picked my daughter up from Gilroy High School, I was stopped dead in my tracks by a group of men handing out New Testaments to students leaving the school. I went into the front office to inform the administration about this, and was told that as long as the men were on the sidewalk, it was perfectly legal to hand out religious literature. I realize that Gilroy High School was respecting the Constitutional rights of these Christians. But I am a little confused.
I am thinking specifically about Cynthia Walker’s column of two weeks ago. A student, protesting the firing of teacher Kim Lemos, attempted to exercise her Constitutional rights. She was not allowed to gather signatures on a petition. Or rather, those signatures were confiscated. She was not allowed to wear clothing proclaiming “No Lemos, No Peace.” I find it troubling that the high school acknowledges the Constitutional rights of the proselytizing crew who are handing out Bibles, but doesn’t appear to fully extend those same rights to the students who attend Gilroy High.
The award-winning Gilroy High School newspaper, The Free Press, is protected by the First Amendment. A student writing for the newspaper should be able to write about the firing of Kim Lemos, and the administration should not censor the article.
Since I now know that the line between the separation of church and state at Gilroy High is the sidewalk, I suppose that it would be as good a place as any to exercise one’s right to free speech. Petitions could be circulated on that sidewalk. I checked out the American Civil Liberties Union Web site regarding student rights. The only way Gilroy High could justify not allowing a student to wear a “No Lemos, No Peace” vest would be if they actually believed that the wearing of said vest was a direct threat to the school. This is a bit of a stretch, even for Gilroy.
Students at Gilroy High School need to realize that their rights are guaranteed even when they have crossed that sidewalk. I hope that Alex Williams and all the other students at our high school have the courage to stand up for what they believe and fight the good fight. There are plenty of parents just like me who will back them up.
Much has been written about a hidden agenda at Gilroy High School. I don’t know if that term is the correct one. I think the former principal of the high school was very forthright about her vision. She was on a personal journey, and the paths she established along the way over her tenure were meant to construct a whole new kind of high school.
I think there are a few teachers at Gilroy High, certainly not the majority, who are still on that mission. What those who remain fail to realize, even at this late stage, is that the journey is not one that Gilroy wishes to embark upon. It is at odds with the goals of this school district. It is at odds with the will of the community. I can’t make it any plainer than this – I never signed the permission slip for my daughter to take that trip!
It sure seems odd to me that these very people who claim to espouse a liberal world view can’t seem to acknowledge the rights of the majority of students and parents who aren’t looking for a savior. Most of our students, like most people in Gilroy, don’t view themselves as victims. I would venture to say that the majority of our students do not want a handout. They long to be valued as individuals, they want to earn the respect of their teachers, and they want a good education.
It is time for all of us to check our political ideology at the door, and do our jobs. For me as a parent, that means having to put aside my personal biases and work with the group. As a parent of a child in the GHS choir, that means that I must learn to overlook my bias against religious music in the public schools, and celebrate the great job of singing that the choir does. As a teacher, that might mean that you need to overcome your fear of Dickens so that the students will benefit. At the end of the day, the outcome should be the best possible educational experience for our students. Do you finally get it?
I sure hope so, because there will be a test.
