Two teachers at an Anoka-Hennipin high school in Minneapolis so subjected a student, Alex Merritt, to biphobic, transphobic and homophic harassment, he had to change to another school 25 miles away. Now the school district has settled with his family to the tune of $25, 000. But the high cost of homophobia may not make any impression on the teachers who were hardly disciplined for their actions.
Merritt said that the continuous harassment from his teachers encouraged taunting from other students, which escalated to death threats. He received anonymous notes stating, "Shut up, you queer," and "I'm going to kill you, you queer."
Diane Cleveland, his social studies teacher, would taunt Merritt in front of his classmates during class, saying that his "fence swings both ways," while Walter Filson, his teacher in law enforcement, would tell the class that Merritt "enjoys wearing women's clothes."
Merritt said he had Cleveland's class before lunch, and Filson's class afterwards. If Cleveland made fun of him for something, he said, she told Filson about it at lunch. Merritt would be teased for the same thing in a new class after lunch.
"I told Ms. Cleveland that I wanted to do a report on Ben Franklin, and she said, 'Why? Do you have a thing for older men?' " he said. "Then I sat in Mr. Filson's class, and he called me 'Mr. Ben Franklin' and said, 'What do you have for these older men that Ms. Cleveland told me about?' "
So, Alex Merritt and his family had to suffer from Cleveland and Filson's mistreatment and the taxpayers of Minneapolis had to pony up for their bad behavior. What did Filson and Cleveland have to make up in class?
A little slap on the wrist for Cleveland--two days unpaid suspension and an unfinished assignment to work on "a social studies curriculum development and reflecting on equality and diversity in the classroom." As far as is known, Filson's gotten a free ride.
Oh, there was their half-hearted apology to the parents.
It's doubtful that things will be "all better now" for the Anoka-Hennipin school district. They had rejected the help of OutFront Minnesota to train their staff in conjunction with the district's revised policy on promoting LGBT tolerance and inclusion.
According to Associate Superintendent Michelle Langanfeld, "There are so many advocacy groups out there that you could have one for every social concern there is . . . What we've tried to do is create policy around a neutral stance, focusing on respect, appreciation of diversity, responsibility, integrity, and compassion."
How's that workin' for ya, Michelle? Is it going to take another settlement over, say, racism or religious beliefs to induce you to reconsider? Suppose Filson gets it into his noggin to go off on the little faggots in his law enforcement class again? Let's hope your school district has money to burn.
Finally, Alex Merritt is straight. It's been a tough lesson on homophobia to learn, but he seems to have passed with flying colors: "I'm not the first kid this has happened to. I feel bad for the kid who was homosexual in that class, seeing that I was belittled . . . If kids feel like this is what they're going through, at work, at school, at the house, you've got to tell somebody."
Why aren't you teaching the adults, Alex? Oh, well, throw a little Ben Franklin at them:
"The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance."
"Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn."
"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid."
"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."
"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."
old new lefty
1_Irritated_Mother
LadyMiko
Amanda Gulledge
Natalie Not Pedantic
Robert Crook
Salon.com
Comments
I'm just amazed it was allowed.
Guess it's my California showin'.
It's too bad. I had always thought of Minneapolis/St.Paul as a sweet, easy going, relatively liberal city.
Adults don't seem to understand that what they say about members of groups they dislike is interpreted by kids as permission to attack. Kids do not filter and fine-tune what they hear. They just take it in uncritically and learn to hate.
Since that male and female teacher liked to pass tidbits to each other during lunch, maybe he should have asked them if they were having an affair. I don't know if I agree with paying him so much as I like the idea of firing them, though. If we gave money to everyone that was discriminated against in the school system, sadly, we'd go broke.
I wish you could have heard how several of my teachers would bitch about Democrats. I mean it was basically like being taught by Ann Coulter. I just kept my mouth shut.
@Lainey--the very idea that these teachers did this so publicly, were a tag team when they executed it, and kept it up for most of the year till Alex had to leave is proof of abuse of power, not just a misunderstood, off-the-cuff remark. This guy was their target.
@emma--if you read the Star Tribune article, it says the superintendent that was there when this happened is gone (no indication of firing) and the new superintendent says the teachers' records of performance for years at the school justified not firing them over this one incident. I find it so hard to believe that these teachers did not play this game on other students in their long history. I bet if you just scratched beneath the surface . . .
@Sirenita--the more I think about it, the more I think the family should have gotten more.
@Delia--hmmm . . . an affair between the bully-teachers. Now there's a scandal to spread rumors about in retaliation. Seriously, I got so mad thinking about this last night, I wanted to slash their tires. Good thing I'm in Chicago. Oh, sorry about the AnnCoulter-style teachers--she's not only bigoted, she's as dumb as a box of rocks.
@incandescent--yeah, 40 or 50 and fired in this economy is no joke.
@Kellylark--oops! Almost missed you. Yeah, where is the professionalism? As the principal, I would have drilled them on their appalling transgression of their roles as teachers. A kid says he wants to do a report on Ben Franklin, you say, "Let's get you to the library, " or "Have you written a first draft yet?"
@aaroncynic--almost lost you in the shuffle, too. Our journey to Spock-like perfection is slow and torturous.
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_13331287?source=facebook&nclick_check=1
What do you think? I actually hope the teachers' claims are true, because a vengeful teenager is far less depressing than a couple of openly homophobic teachers.
Love your posts, btw -- really brilliant writing.
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