School board considers policy to prevent GHS teachers from
participating in controversial protest
Gilroy – Gilroy Unified School District Board members will soon consider a policy that would essentially ban silent protests by teachers during instructional time.
Nearly a year ago, four Gilroy High School teachers participated in the “Day of Silence,” a controversial national protest they claim signifies the oppression gays and lesbians experience daily.
Although the protest was preceded by objections from parents and community members, the teachers participated by not uttering a word all day – something many considered unacceptable. About 16 students also did not speak.
“We don’t want an impact on instructional time,” said GUSD Board Vice President Tom Bundros. “If they want to do something outside of instructional time, that’s their privilege.”
The policy will require that when district educators are in the classroom they must teach and that includes speaking, Bundros said. A specific date for the policy discussion has not yet been set.
Although the Day of Silence divided the community last year, Bundros believes board members are on the same page.
“I don’t see a problem. But then again, I’m talking,” he said.
Gilroy High School Principal Jim Maxwell, who is in his first year at Gilroy High after replacing Bob Bravo, said last week he hopes the school board passes a policy to prevent teachers from participating in the Day of Silence.
“I do not want to invite hostility, to make our teachers and students fearful,” Maxwell said.
The high school, however, may run into a problem. Last week, Sally Enriquez, one of the GHS teachers who participated in the mute demonstration, said she is ready to be silent again on April 26. The social studies teacher, who said she received a death threat and endured months of harassment, said it was difficult but she thinks a message of tolerance shined through and the high school campus is a better environment because of last year’s protest.
Local community members and parents are already revving up their engines to oppose the demonstration.
“They’re not going to skate like they did last year,” said Gilroy resident Mark Zappa, an outspoken critic of the Day of Silence. He has proposed a counter demonstration called the Day of Truth.
Like Day of Silence, Day of Truth is a student-led protest, but “was established to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective,” according to the Day of Truth Web site.
Zappa said another point of view is necessary because the voices of those who oppose the gay lifestyle have been silenced. The Day of Truth takes place on April 27.
Ben Whittaker, another local resident, wrote a letter to the Dispatch proposing a Day of Absence.
“If you are tired of letting your tax dollars be wasted on teachers who won’t do their job, then allow your child to be absent on April 26,” he wrote. “If you want to make the school district do something about this, then hit them where it hurts: in the pocket book.”
