When a Catholic student commented that he doesn't accept homosexuality as normal, the teacher expelled him from the classroom, but the public school board said it was the teacher who deserved a suspension.
UPDATE 11/22/10 Opinion: Recognizing public school teacher Gay Agenda activism
Click here (.PDF) for students' accounts of the classroom incident
-- From "Teacher Suspended for Kicking Out Student Over Anti-Gay Speech" by The Associated Press 11/15/10
Michigan high school teacher Jay McDowell says he didn't like where the discussion was going after a student told his classmates he didn't "accept gays."
So McDowell kicked the boy [Daniel Glowacki] out of class for a day.
In return, the teacher was suspended for a day without pay for violating the student's free speech rights.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Officials: Teacher showed intolerance" by Jason Carmel Davis, Livingston Daily Press & Argus 11/2/10
Howell Public Schools said actions taken by Howell High School economics teacher Jay McDowell Oct. 20 during a heated exchange with two students about gay rights "could be construed as teacher-to-student bullying; ironic of the anti-bullying message of the day."
"Your demonstration of intolerance stands in contradistinction of the anti-bullying message of the day," district officials said in a letter of reprimand to McDowell, released Monday in response to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act.
In disciplinary documents obtained by the Daily Press & Argus on Monday, the district said McDowell initiated the controversy that resulted in a student being ejected from his class Oct. 20.
"You disciplined them in anger under the guise of harassment and bullying because you opposed their religious belief and were offended by it. The students were causing no disruption to the educational process," the reprimand letter states.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Howell Defends Teacher Discipline; Says Public Debate Must End" posted at WHMI 93.5FM (Livingston) 11/17/10
The Howell Public Schools district is reaffirming its decision to suspend teacher Jay McDowell for one day, despite threats and much public debate. . . It says McDowell threatened to bring media frenzy on the schools if the discipline decision was not reversed but should it go away, he would not bring attention to the issue. The district says “Mr. McDowell and his supporters have succeeded in painting our school community as bigoted, racist and homophobic, and the media has served as an unwitting partner. What started out as a disagreement over the expression of one’s beliefs has degraded into an unhealthy series of diatribes that paint our schools as dangerous places to work and learn.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
