Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for July 5, 2006 POSSIBLE GAY TEACHINGS SPARK THREATS

Father's demand that son be removed from class if homosexuality is covered has created controversy in Kentucky...

From Boston.com...

Schools chief threatened; boy's safety a concern

By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff

LEXINGTON -- Angry callers threatened to beat up the school superintendent. A school principal, bombarded by nasty e-mails, left town.

Even David Parker , the father who stirred the controversy when he asked that his son be removed from class if homosexuality was covered, now is worried about his son's safety at school.

The anxiety and suspicion that has gripped this progressive town over the past year shows the consequences for a community when a national political issue hits home. On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the only state to legalize gay marriage, in a nation with a president who wants to ban same-sex unions.

In Lexington, a debate over whether to mention gay marriage in schools divided parents, and a playground fight escalated the tension. Parker's 7-year-old son was punched on May 17 by another first-grader at Estabrook Elementary School as other children watched. A conservative group issued a press release almost a month later , saying students attacked the boy because of his father's protests over storybooks depicting gay relationships. School officials said students squabbled over where students would sit at lunch.

``It's made life miserable for everybody," said Jill French , whose child is a classmate of Parker's son. ``This has all been blown way out of proportion."

Paul Ash , 56, the new superintendent of schools, said news of the playground fight posted on blogs intensified the attacks. The conservative group's press release accused school officials and other adults of inciting students to fight, and claimed the spat was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the legalization of gay marriage. Then, a blogger posted Ash's phone numbers and e-mail address.

At 4 a.m. on June 18, a man from Japan called Ash's home and angrily asked why the school was beating up children. The phone rang until Ash took it off the hook.

By the next day, his e-mail box was clogged with nearly 400 messages, and his work voicemail filled with vitriolic messages.

Ash, who has gone on Fox News and NPR to state the school system's case, said he is outraged about the threats, largely from people outside of Lexington.

``My family is really upset," he said. ``If their intention is to intimidate or get people riled up, it worked."

Ash said Parker has been ``a gentleman." But he worried that MassResistance , the Waltham-based group that issued the press release about the playground fight, is using Parker to further its cause.

Sitting on his living room couch, Parker denied that he is being used by anyone. But in retrospect, he acknowledged there was no evidence that an adult had directly incited students to bully his son.

He is worried that adults who criticize his views against homosexuality might have led some children to not want to play with his son or to pick on him.

``Are parents and administrators telling little children to get [my son] on the playground because of his father's beliefs? No, I doubt it," Parker said, but added: ``You have children being exposed to the notion that this guy, or this family, is wrong and maybe is a bad guy. That can influence their actions."

He said his son overheard another child say Principal Joni Jay was leaving because of Parker's protest.

Jay said the controversy contributed to her resignation after seven years at Estabrook, but she also liked that her new school in Sudbury was closer to her home and offered more vacations.

She said she was upset when someone took a picture of her in a meeting and splashed it on the Internet.

``That kind of thing makes people feel anxious," she said. ``Is somebody going to be taking a picture of me or recording me?"

Like Ash, she received more than 300 e-mails after the playground scuffle became public. Her replacement was named last week.

Also shaken by recent events, Parker said he has considered pulling his son out of school. His son, though, loves Estabrook.

Parker, 43, a scientist, said he is a regular father, not an activist. He, his wife, and their two children moved into a modest Lexington home from New Jersey about two years ago because he was transferred for work.

He sparked a standoff with school officials in April 2005 when he refused to leave the school in a protest over a storybook the school had sent home months before with his son, then in kindergarten. One of the books mentioned same-sex parents. Parker was arrested on a trespassing charge and temporarily banned from school grounds .

In April, Parker and another family filed a federal lawsuit against the school system over the discussion of homosexuality in public schools. The other family this school year had protested that a teacher read ``King & King ," a fairy tale about gay marriage, to second-graders.

Parker has become a celebrity to opponents of gay marriage. He has appeared on talk radio and TV, and given speeches, mostly to conservative groups. He and his wife, Tonia, started a nonprofit, United Parents of America, to support parents' rights. He has accepted donations to pay ``huge" legal fees, though he won't say how much.

Brian Camenker , president of MassResistance, said Parker has ``unquestionably helped the cause," but is not a pawn.

``There's no possible way I could persuade somebody to spend the night in jail. I'm not sure I would do it," said Camenker, of Newton, who championed a law that allows parents to keep their children out of sex education classes.