I Pledge Allegiance to Freedom of Speech, Not to My School Administrators

— Misc

[UPDATE] – It has been reported that Ms. Gillman won. The court went on to decide that:

“…the school board and Principal David Davis [are] to notify students in writing that they had the right to express their support for equal treatment of gays in an appropriate and non-disruptive way.

However, the principal, David Davis has apparently not gotten the message:

“Principal Davis would not go on camera. He did say he’s disappointed in the judges’ decision, but he will abide by that ruling.”

[UPDATE] – A thanks to the readers for pointing out that the information within this article was wrong. At the time of the writing (February of 2008), the sources of information about this story had indicated that Heather Gillman was a gay student. This is not the case. As it turns out, Ms. Gillman, who is involved in the ACLU case was not, in fact, homosexual, but a supporter of gay rights in her school.

In addition, I would like everyone to know that no harm was ever meant towards the school, the students within this post, or to the community surrounding Ponce de Leon high school. It is horrible to think that a school (students, faculty, parents, administrators, etc.) would possibly stand behind a principal who so terribly handled a delicate situation with such intolerance and stupidity. Yet, the school still proudly lists Mr. Davis as their principal on their website.

It should also be noted that those (proclaiming their closeness to the school) who have the ability to actually do something about the problem, have taken the time to attack the writer of an article who was simply trying to bring the story to the attention of the major news outlets.

Perhaps you should consider using the time to change the school in your community and the administrator responsible.

It has been reported recently in a number of places around the internet, that there has recently been a scandal at Ponce de Leon High School located just south of Alabama in between Pensacola and Tallahassee in Florida:


(more info on the small town here)

The scandal involves a lawsuit that the ACLU has filed against the school primarily for the actions of the principal: David Davis. (davisd@hdsb.org)

While other sites and news outlets have thoroughly covered the actual scandal, there are a few things that they have missed in the process. However, just to get you up to speed, I’ll give you a brief rundown.

First of all, here’s a picture of the person at the front of the case, Heather Gillman, standing out in front of her school:

She was suspended for 5 days from her high school. Her crimes? Being openly supportive of gay rights and reporting troubles associated with it to a school administrator started the ball rolling. Then, when Davis called for a “morality assembly,” (where a religious preacher was apparently invited) Heather Gillman, along with some other students, spoke of possibly walking out of the assembly in protest. However, they did not, and instead started to wear pro-gay symbols such as the rainbow. The principal eventually decided that her and her friends were distracting other students and acting in a way that might be construed as being a part of a secret society or gang and decided that suspension was the best decision.

I swear, you can’t make this stuff up.

As if this story wasn’t bad enough… according to Florida Department of Education, Division of Public Schools’ Bureau of School Improvements (man that’s a long-winded title for an organization) School Improvement Plan for Ponce de Leon:

“Mr. David Davis is the principal at Ponce de Leon High School. This is his first full year as principal. He has a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership, K-12. Mr. Todd Jones is our assistant principal. This is his first full year as our assistant principal. He, also, has a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership.”

So, we’ve got two principals both in their first full year of being a principal. But wait, according to them, they are:

“…outstanding leaders of our school…supportive of teachers’ needs, and they listen to teachers’ and students’ concerns.”

Unless, of course, you’re gay. That’s right. When students approached David Davis to complain about harassment received from students and faculty, he was quoted as saying:

“Well, you shouldn’t be gay.”

Way to listen to the concerns of your students.

Alright, I’m willing to play devil’s advocate. Maybe it isn’t their fault. Maybe the school has something to do with it and we can’t blame these first-year administrators. Let’s take a look at the school website to see if maybe we can figure out where these guys are coming from.

Let’s see here, well, we know the school doesn’t hate women. Because they are very careful to make sure that their most recent “Young Miss Ponce de Leon” is posted in their photos section. Maybe the mascot is a truck driver or a conservative leader or something. Oh wait… nope:

Alright then I guess it isn’t the normal views of the school to be against women, and they don’t have a mascot breathing outdated ideals down their neck. Well, it must be in the goals of the school to promote such ignorance and hatred. Let’s take a look at their map to success on their beliefs page:

“The staff at Ponce de Leon High School believes:”

“Students should successfully compete at the highest levels and should be prepared to make well-reasoned and thoughtful decisions.”

Yes, Mr. Davis: telling someone they shouldn’t be who they are is definitely setting them up to make well-reasoned and thoughtful decisions.

“The learning environment should be conducive to teaching and learning.”

But if you are gay, and your learning environment is being distracted from, you should definitely not report it to an administrator. You should just stop being gay.

“The environment should protect health, safety, and civil rights…The development of the “whole child” should be evident in the activities and instruction provided.”

I guess since the principal doesn’t technically provide instruction, he is exempt from this. Oh, and inviting religious leaders to come speak at school assemblies is definitely how I would see my children becoming a “whole child.”

“[they] visualize literate students who are seekers of meaning and knowledge and are using this knowledge to satisfy their curiosity about life’s complexities as they explore.”

But homosexuality is a bit too complex. Let’s just keep it to penis and vagina okay?

“As these students progress through the educational process, they will recognize their responsibility for changing conditions detrimental to human development, opportunity, and community. They will promote equity, tolerance, understanding, and acceptance of all people.”

Yes, and they will be taught that changing their own human condition, to fit the development, opportunity and community of Ponce de Leon can only be done through fear and ignorance.

But perhaps, the very best gem from this facility of hypocrisy comes from their self-professed mission statement. As a former educator, I know the importance that mission statement holds in a school. An educational mission statement is there to be the ultimate statement by which the faculty, and staff can look to for guidance in helping the young minds that they are responsible for.

Before I leave you with the final gem, I would like to offer some advice to those out there who are as outraged as I am about this. Recently a post hit the front page of the popular news site reddit which linked to the faculty website stating “Here are the email addresses for the staff at the school where the girl was suspended for being a lesbian. The principal is David Davis. Tell him to resign and to publicly apologize.”

Contacting the school to complain about the school is like sending an email to Dick Cheney to complain about how Bush has handled the war in Iraq. If you really want to make a difference, here are a couple more useful links:

Now, finally, I leave you with the mission statement for Ponce de Leon High School. I guess principals there have to read that in their 2nd full year of employment:

“With a philosophy grounded in the firm belief that each student is a unique person of intrinsic worth, the Ponce de Leon High School staff has a clear mission: to support an educational program which accommodates individuality rather than uniformity.

Building upon this basic belief that our students are individuals of diversified interests, aptitudes, talents and goals, we seek to offer a program which accepts each student for who he is, and offers him a diversified program of educational equity and reality-based relevance to the world beyond the classroom.

Our mission requires that our teachers gain a greater knowledge of the student as an individual and use that knowledge to assist the student in developing the potential which is inherent in each.

As educators, we pledge that this mission will be an ongoing one as we seek to make a positive difference in the lives of the sons and daughters of Ponce de Leon High School and to work hard to make the vision statement a reality.”

Like I said, you can’t make this stuff up.

Related Posts

  • How horrible and barbaric. Thanks for the links and the story.

  • does anyone knows if there is any other information about this subject in other languages?

  • WHAT THE HELL!? That in all seriousness PISSES me off. THE PEOPLE OF THIS WORLD SOMETIMES…thanks for the artical.

  • Another thing, I don’t understand…
    you can bring religious leaders in school, have a moment of silence everyday for people of religion, say a pledge to this country that even has ‘UNDER GOD’ in it…but you can’t be gay?
    makes no sense.

  • Tony

    I graduated from PDL, I have a daughter who attends the school now. This is a VERY small part of a huge issue.

    While I am grateful to be able to live in a small town, and have my daughter attend a small school, where drugs, crime and gangs are at a minimum, you also get the bad parts that you see here.

    Small town politics are a huge problem, it causes a very real problem in schools where 90% of the admin. and teachers are relatives, or connected at the hip some other way. Kids who are not connected with this “loop” have a small chance of being popular, an athlete, or generally being put into a position of showing whatever talents they may have.

    Unless they conform to the ideals of the “loop” they are considered outsiders and treated a such. My daughter’s teacher last year was a complete religious fanatic. I’m talking old school, stone thrower if given the chance. The kids were made to pray each and every day, regardless of what the believed, they were instructed to pray the way the teacher saw as right. My daughter was told that anyone who listened to “rock” music, smoked or didn’t attend the “right” church, were sinners. This teachers husband is a high level admin within the school system as well.

    It was a very tough year for my daughter, as well as for us. She was raised to treat everyone the same, and not judge others, yet here was someone who she was suppose to respect, an authority, telling her these things every day. Politics are also a huge push by teachers. The religious right is the be all end all here.

    You may question why we didn’t, as parents, raise a huge stink about this? Again read what I have said above. The girl in question here will be a prime example. She may have won her suit, but she is pretty much doomed in this town. The courts can tell the school how to act, but they have no control over things outside school. This girl and her family WILL be discriminated against by the majority, and now people will go out of the way to treat them like crap. There will be no getting ahead for her, unless she moves to a different community. And yes, I know this girl, I know her mother and her family. It will be hell on them.

    I talked to my daughter every day, and explained to her that just because someone is older, and happed to be a teacher, didn’t make them any better a person, it doesn’t stop them from being ignorant, or intolerant.
    We have to raise our children at home, talk to them and hope that we get through. This problem isn’t just a PDL problem, it goes on everywhere. Hopefully our little town changes one day, but for now we are stuck in the 60’s.

  • In response to the use of the photo: I am assuming you are talking about the picture of Heather Gillman at the beginning of the article. The photo was found in a news article about the story – this blog was not the source.

    According to the story: she was the accused. This is also according to the ACLU case:
    Gillman v. Holmes County School District, case no. 5:08-cv-34

    The sources (yes, there were many) who first published information about this story placed Ms. Gillman as the female who first spoke to the principal about the issue.

    If you read the article, then you would realize that I am applauding Heather for standing up for what she believes in, not trying to put her in a spotlight to be looked down upon in any way. If you are concerned about the photo being on the internet, then I would suggest contacting the news organization who posted it in the first place.

    If, however, you are speaking of the photo of the girl in the green dress, you should note that she was Miss Teen Ponce De Leon and her photo was published on the schools website. Again: this blog is not the source. I was using the image (and the explanation of its prevalence on the school’s own website) to show that the school is not derogatory against women. There are no connotations of her sexuality or of her having anything to do with the case. Though, I have no intentions of causing undue harm, so the photo has been removed.

    In response to the comments about the school itself: I am using the language and content from their own website as means to illustrate the terrible decision made by the school administrator. Nowhere do I state that the High School is terrible or that the staff had anything to do with it. In fact, I state, more than once, that this mistake rests upon the principal. It is not my fault that his actions directly contradict the goals of the school.

  • Angie

    In 2000, I graduated from Ponce de Leon High School. It is a small town, and sometimes some of its citizens are close-minded (but close-mindedness is not exclusive to small towns; it exists in cities also). I never had any experiences quite like the one the parent describes above (her portrayal seems a bit extreme from what I remember),and I stuck out like a sore thumb with multi-colored hair and my fashion choices (JNCO’s, chained wallet, polka-dot shoes). I knew I didn’t fit in, but I accepted that, and most of my peers and ALL of my teachers embraced my individuality and outspokenness. I was free to be me.

    Mr. Davis, who was my government and economics teacher when I attended, made an extremely poor decision by discriminating against this child and suspending her. There is no excuse for his actions, and hopefully this ordeal has taught him the error of his ways. Should he be removed from being a principal if he is discriminating against children and forgetting the importance of the separation against church and state? Yes. Is he just a human who makes mistakes? Yes, again.

    However, there is also no excuse for the way you are portraying Ponce de Leon High School, a school you know so very little about. The majority of the teachers who worked there when I was a student (many of whom still work there today) are not horrible people who are strategically planning how to brainwash their students and pass down a culture of intolerance. (We had students who were openly bisexual when I attended, and they were not discriminated against by the staff.) They promote education and being a good person. They are role models. To stereotype an entire school based on the actions of one man is simply wrong, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

    It is one thing to report the facts, but it is quite another to smear the school with your inflammatory comments. If you want to do some good, don’t mock the school and community. Inciting people doesn’t teach them tolerance; it only makes them reject your views even more. You should respectfully express your opinion through your e-mails, which should be to the Holmes County Superintendent and the school board members, not to Mr. Davis and other employees of the school. Remember, hate only breeds more hate.

  • Angie

    Through your attempt to show the irony of the situation, you are (possibly inadvertently) insulting the entire school and community. While you may have meant to simply applaud Heather, who certainly deserves a pat on the back for sticking up her rights and the rights of other students at PDLHS, you demean the school. Perhaps you would like to edit a few things in your post, so it does what you were intending.

    First off, when you say “their” and “the school” below that doesn’t refer simply to the principal. “Their” is a plural possessive pronoun, which implies that you are referring to more than one person. You should revise the blog to read “his”. The term “the school” is being used as a collective pronoun; in this case (even though you say you didn’t mean to sound this way), it is being used to refer to all of the faculty and staff and perhaps even the students.

    Your words: “Maybe it isn’t their fault. Maybe the school has something to do with it and we can’t blame these first-year administrators.”

    Next, you also need to revise the quote below so it doesn’t refer to the community of Ponce de Leon. Now, I know that you only put “the community of Ponce de Leon” in your remarks because the mission statement says community, but community has different connotations. There is the human community (mankind) as well as the area you live in. The mission (“they will recognize their responsibility for changing conditions detrimental to HUMAN development, opportunity, and community.”) is referring to the human community not the community of Ponce de Leon. Thus, your interpretation was incorrect. If you really want to leave that part in there, I suggest changing it to read, “Yes, and they will be taught that changing their own human condition, to fit the development, opportunity, and community of Mr. Davis can only be done through fear and ignorance,” so that it better meets your goal of attacking only the principal, not the community.

    Your last attempt at satire through use of the school’s belief statement, which is worded a little better, still implies that the problem is with the entire school because of your use of the word “there”. You wrote, “Now, finally, I leave you with the mission statement for Ponce de Leon High School. I guess principals there have to read that in their 2nd full year of employment”. I suggest you change it to read the following so that it better aligns with your goals, “Now, finally, I leave you with the mission statement for Ponce de Leon High School. I guess Mr. Davis wasn’t planning on reading it until his second year of employment.”

    Last but not least, I would suggest revising the following statement, because it once again sounds as if you are attacking the entire school:

    “But perhaps, the very best gem from this facility of hypocrisy comes from their self-professed mission statement.:

    You should change it to read, “But perhaps, the very best gym in the midst of Mr. Davis’s hypocrisy comes from his failure to understand the school’s mission statement.” See, now it only bashes the principal instead of the facility (a.k.a., Ponce de Leon High School).

    Now, I realize that you probably won’t change a thing, because you were obviously outraged when you made this blog and are convinced that you are in the right. However, for one who is preaching against ignorance and hatred and only wants to applaud a brave young woman for standing up for her rights, your onslaught on Mr. Davis (and as it stands the school and community of Ponce de Leon) really takes the spotlight off of Heather. Plus, it sounds pretty hateful.

    Furthermore, being an educator myself, I fully believe that when reporting on a subject we should use non-biased and accurate facts that are not taken out of context. That is why I was researching the story when I ran across your blog, which as far as I can tell does NOT meet my standards for reliable information. Therefore, I would like to know where you got your information about the “morality assembly”, because, while PDL is far from perfect, I just cannot imagine that PDLHS has become this archaic in such a short period of time. Plus, I know that several of the teachers who work there probably would not stand for such a blatant disregard for the separation of church and state as you described. I would also like to know where you read or heard that the student had been suspended, because I did not see that tidbit of information on any of the reputable websites that I read.

    I’ve done a little research since I last visited your site, and you and your readers may be interested in knowing that you have a grossly (meaning extremely, huge) inaccurate statement. You write that Heather Gillman was the student who is gay, but according to the ACLU’s report (http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/youth/33864prs20080131.html) Heather was standing up for another student at the school who is a lesbian by wearing her gay pride outfit and writing, “I support my gay friends,” on her arm.

    In the grand scheme of things, a wrong has been righted thanks to this young woman. Perhaps, this will be the catalyst that ushers in change to PDL. I hope that you do take my advice and only focus on the win for civil rights instead of mocking the entire school.

    Angie

    P.S., Why don’t you be a good sport and take down the picture of Mandy’s cousin (Miss PDL). It undoubtedly bothers her that you are using the portrait in order to pick fun at the school. Sure it’s on the web, but does that make it right for you to use it maliciously? Furthermore, the school’s website is copyrighted, so you are breaking the law by using it without the school’s permission.

  • Angie

    My bad . . . In my zeal to help you revise your blog I typed collective pronoun instead of collective noun. I’m sure you’ll forgive me.

  • Shalee

    Why are the comments that the family are making being taken off the page. All I have asked is that the person in charge contact me, not because I want to press charges or anything I just want to say my part of my child being hurt in this situation to the author of the article. If everyone else can post what is wrong with the family being able to post what they think?

  • Steve

    Answer to Shalee is?

  • There is nothing wrong with the family posting comments about the article. In fact, the wishes of the family were granted and the ‘offending photo’ removed at their request.

    While I can appreciate the desire to ‘say your part’ to the writer of this article, it is hard to imagine there is anything constructive or helpful that could possibly come of it. Beyond granting your wishes to remove the photo and posting a comment further defining the intentions of this article, there is nothing more, at this time, that the administrator deems necessary.

    If you wish to post something constructive, or have anything to add to the content of the article, then it is probably more likely that your comments will remain.

  • I wish this blog was in other languages as well, like in German.

  • KP

    The girls were suspended for sexual contact…meaning they were doing vulger and sexual acts on school property….Straight people are suspended every day for that…Heather just wants attention…I know because i go to that school….unfortanatly word spread that he suspended them for being gay…that is not so…he was doing the right thing……i find it funny that he gave them warnings ahead of time about “currupting” the school hallways…they were writting on walls and showing there midrift for goodness sake…they werent just expressing there orientation but they were trying to show off there uncanny sexual desires…I dont know who the author of this story is..but i would hope that you would check in to the facts…

  • Y uno que se preocupa porque los avisos no molesten a los visitantes del blog.

  • thanks.

  • meb

    nice blog, congratulations!

  • thanks.

  • thanks for information….