Gilroy
– More than two weeks after a controversial Day of Silence at
Gilroy High School and days after a packed board meeting, emotions
remain high over whether teachers have First Amendment rights in
the classroom.
Gilroy – More than two weeks after a controversial Day of Silence at Gilroy High School and days after a packed board meeting, emotions remain high over whether teachers have First Amendment rights in the classroom.
After about 16 students and four teachers participated in a Day of Silence, a national demonstration where participants refrain from speaking all day symbolizing the oppression gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals feel, the community came out in force at Thursday night’s school board meeting.
Every seat in the board room was taken, leaving some standing in the back pacing back and forth. Sixteen individuals spoke about the Day of Silence. Only two supported teachers participating in the national demonstration inside the classroom – they were GHS teachers.
GHS parent Mark Zappa invited representatives from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) to attend. Both nonprofit agencies came to give their opinion and legal council to the board.
“Teachers don’t have absolute First Amendment rights in the classroom,” said Kevin Snider, PJI’s chief council lawyer. “They have academic freedom, but in the confines of their curriculum. The First Amendment doesn’t give you the right to say whatever you want to say whenever you want to say it.”
PJI President Brad Dacus delivered the message at the meeting and implied that the district could be sued for not implementing board policy.
PJI has never gone to trial over the Day of Silence. They have not pressed charges against the GUSD.
“I’m not tolerant of people disrupting classrooms,” Zappa said regarding teacher participation in activities like the Day of Silence. “It has nothing to do with my personal beliefs – I would really like to see teachers go in (the classroom) and be neutral.”
Zappa was one of several parents upset that GUSD Superintendent Edwin Diaz did not enforce the board policies that were already in place.
“He knew it was coming,” he said. “I would ask that the superintendent be held accountable for what happens in school,” Zappa said at the podium.
Diaz assembled a legal council prior to the Day of Silence to formulate an opinion outlining what the board is legally authorized to do when activities like the Day of Silence surface. Teachers were not restricted from participating because the council did not have a clear explanation at the time of the activity. GUSD’s legal opinion should be known by Friday, Diaz said.
GUSD board member Jaime Rosso believes it will give the board a certain amount of control in exercising restrictions in activities such as the Day of Silence.
He did stress that even if legal opinion allows the limitation of staff members from participating, the district needs “to be more proactive in finding other ways to build awareness and make sure we’re addressing the issues and concerns the Day of Silence was trying to do.”
According to Gay/Straight Alliance’s advisor Sally Enriquez, two teachers who participated in the demonstration have received hate mail.
“I know different people saw it as advocating a position,” Rosso said. “I saw it much more as raising awareness of a problem. And that was valuable in that regard. I think we have to be careful here – because we want to make sure that harassment isn’t happening – prior or after the fact.”
According to Gilroy Teachers Association president, Michelle Nelson, the GTA is waiting to hear what the legal opinion concludes before contacting any legal service such as the American Civil Liberties Union.
At the meeting, each board member echoed the sentiment of the one before, repeating the need to limit teacher participation in political activities to outside the classroom.
“It was a student driven activity,” said GUSD board member Tom Bundros. “It wasn’t necessary for staff members to participate. My expectation of teachers is that they teach with every fiber of their being.”
After hearing each of the board members present speak, Terry Thompson, the lawyer representing the ADF, was pleased with what he heard.
“I just hope the superintendent hears the message and enforces what is right,” Thompson said. “And if he has to, that he takes the heat for it. I think enforcement is the key.”
Both the ADF and the PJI offered to assist the school board draft policies that would preserve the first amendment rights of teachers and students, but restrict them to designated times and places. Neither agency has since been contacted by the district.
Despite the sometimes heated statements individuals read at the meeting, most speakers followed the same argument: Stick to the basics. Students can participate – teachers cannot. There is a time and place for everything, and the classroom is not the place for the Day of Silence.
“I’ve been to a lot of meetings and I was really surprised at the unanimity,” Zappa said, regarding the board’s agreement that teachers should not participate in activities like the Day of Silence in the classroom. “I was really encouraged by that.”
