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Image provided by: Guilderland Public Library
ri^hj^-^^^^^^&J^^ '- :>:: i*J!!yi&£^^ **>&• •*$: ^^^iffiK^^I^*.\^ ** f,tt^ »*-j»*-^ w-.aut^t* UJ »'-atA-i'JJ T „'.\ -i...-~..Ky v.tjt*.''. ^i.jj- ,. ,/.*.\' ~ x. - * ^ - N ** J. - _r = *tuA^^jii-jni**^, it,/, j: .a' ....;. ThcAUamontEnterprUe — Thurtday, April 11,1996 9 By Melissa Hale-Spencer GptLpiRl^VND — For two- and-a-half hours on Tuesday night, school board members listened to diverse public opin- ion on a high school program about homophobia, and dis- cussed their own reactions. The session began with the reading of a letter calling for the resignation of the high school principal and ended with board members' endorsement of the job he was doing. Wednesday, Principal John Whipple explained for The En- terprise how the program came to be. \Each year,\ he said, \we run an all-school assembly on di- versity.\ Last year, the subject was racism. \I did not find this topic to be threatening,\ he said. \The message -wasn't any different than when we dealt with racism...The message was that people can be different and have a right to be different.\ The principal allowed, \I did not anticipate all the hype.\ Students plan program Whipple said that last year, the Alliance for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Students asked if they could apply for a grant from the Albany-based Our Brothers' Keepers, to \heighten awareness of the plight*of gay and lesbian people.\ The request was approved and they received a $2,400 grant \to educate students on homo- phobia,\ Whipple said. Whipple said he discussed with Alliance advisors how the planned assembly \would fit in with the bigger picture of teach- ing about tolerance.\ He said he felt \comfortable\ with the choice of speaker Karen Har- beck as she had been positively received by the faculty when she addressed them a year ago. Whipple said he wasn't aware that Guilderland grad- uate Daniel O'Neal would be speaking, but felt the two speak- ers balanced each other well. \He basically talked about how difficult it was to be an ado- lescent and find out you're gay,\ said Whipple. \His par- ents — unlike Dr. Harbeck's — were very supportive of him.\ An Alliance advisor, teacher Sharon Legge, explained how her former student and friend, O'Neal, came to talk to the Guilderland students. \I hooked him up with Karen Harbeck because he said he wanted to attend the assembly, and she talked him into it on the spot.\ Legge said O'Neal was one of the top five students in his 1988 graduating class at Guilderland and went on to graduate from Yale, with FOR THAT SPECIAL GIFT. . . prtwippl says assembly a catalyst for learning Western Avenue Guilderland Service, Quality anii Mr Prices FOR OVER 50 YEARS! 464-4044 Thurs.until8»SaMOr3 mtmSmmammmmm honors, after which he has been serving in the Peace Corps. Whipple described O'Neal's talk: *He told how hard it was for him at Guilderland because fer the option when we deal with sensitive issues,\ he said, not- ing that students could also re- quests alternate class assign- ments if they felt uncomfortable IVe.are not trying to change minds, but to open them. You can't do that in a 45-minute assembly. 9 he was gay. They were physi- cally, psychologically and ver- bally abusing him. He said, Tm just like you are, and I don't deserve to be picked on.'\ \A microcosm of society\ Whipple stressed that class- room discussions on Tuesday, following Monday's assembly, were an important part of the program. \Any time we have an assembly of this nature with di- vergent opinions, its purpose is to foster discussion,\ he said. \We are not trying to change minds, but to open them. You can't do that in a 45-minute assembly,\ he said. He said that English teachers oversaw the.discussions Tues- day, and were assisted by social workers, counselors, and members of the Alliance, in the classrooms. \The assembly was a cata- lyst,\ said Whipple. \The learning takes place in class.\ He sat in on a number of Tuesday's classes and de- scribed the discussions as \very rich.\ \The classroom is a micro- cosm of society,\ said Whipple. \Despite divergent opinions, the kids listened respectfully. They'd debate, but wouldn't put others down.\ He said the assembly and discussion together \heightened students' empathy towards gay and lesbian people,\ explain- ing, \A lot didn't know this kind of gay-bashing was going on.\ Asked about statements made by school board member Joseph Breitenbach, who claimed responsibility for students' being offered a choice of whether or not to attend the assembly, Whipple said they were \absolutely untrue.\ Whipple said students who didn't want to attend the assem- bly could go to a study hall. \That was in place from the time we set up the assembly,\ said Whipple. \We always of- St. Peter's Hospital converts to new telephone prefix ALBANY — Effective Feb. 15, St. Peter's Hospital will be con- verting their 454, 435 and 437 telephone prefixes to 525 in order to accommodate future telephone and fax machine growth. This conversion will include all telephone exchange numbers as well as fax ma- chines. s L k B L A H R A R E A •T 4 w 3U OHO modem s t E fi k « Ct B R A 0 * B » I «, « DBO m * a ?: E F|J Alt; A|K ft t N|M RM#. * • s w <* E GO D~ IK * A E N D JE 1 H E 0 N a E ft A ft E Bf&unmBm. • EsnniiEiEnai Mann mmpeo oooo unmm mmmmm loura participating in discussions on \sensitive issues.\ \A hard time talking to parents\ Whipple noted a generational divide in response to the topic. \The students dealt with it open-mindedly,\ he said. \They don't seem to have trou- ble discussing the topic.\ He went on, \In my genera- tion, you did not talk about ho- mosexuality, so it makes a lot of us uncomfortable or we avoid it...Again and again, I heard in the classroom discussions that students went home and had a hard time talking about it with their parents.\ Whipple also noted, of the reaction to assembly speaker Karen Harbeck, \She tried humor to reach the kids... Adults had different expectations that the students...Some of the examples that were meant light-heartedly were taken seriously.\ One quotation that was mentioned frequently by both students and parents and by both those who supported and those objected to the assembly was Harbeck's comment on where a homosexual could go to talk about her orientation if she could not speak to her parents: \I went to my softball team....Softball players and lesbians go together like milk and cookies.\ Board member Laura Letson found the statement \disturbing and said that some of Harbeck's statements furthered stereotypes and did not serve the gay community well. Student Karen Delehanty said of Harbeck's statement, \I think...she wanted to point out what sterotypes did.\ Board member Joseph Breitenbach said that statement and comments like it stirred prejudice at the high school that hadn't existed before. \She stirred the pot,\ Breitenbach said of Harbeck. \Today there was a lot of abuse of members of the girls softball team.\ Asked if he thought Harbeck had stirred up prejudice, Whipple said, \I would totally disagree...You may get an immediate reaction, because people are thinking about it, but that's what brings about change.\ \No second thoughts\ Despite local television news coverage that said Guilderland administrators would \think long and hard\ before conduct- ing another assembly like Monday's, Whipple said he's had \no second thoughts\ about allowing the assembly pro- gram. \The proof is in the pudding,\ he said referring to Tuesday night's school board meeting. \You heard a consistent mes- sage from our students,\ he said. \I was very proud of them.\ Whipple named only two things he'd do differently. First, he said, he wished he'd described the assembly ahead in the monthly PTA newsletter. \There was no intent to hide it,\ he said. \I did not anticipate all the hype.\ Secondly, he regretted that aU four high school classes couldn't attend the assembly. Only freshman, sophomores, and juniors attended. 'There just wasn't enough space,\ said Whipple, explaining seniors were sacrificed since they'd be leaving the school in a month and a half. Whipple also described the school board as \supportive.\ \We set these priorities,\ he said. \You take risks when you move forward. Some of the best learning takes place when you're uncomfortable.\ r >. EXPRESS your personality with COLOR! PRATT & LAMBERT ^ PAINTS Arth k'UurjHi ^tn-vu;|tiC1i.K,ulrr...Sha'irH 340 Delaware Ave.. Delmar I 439-93SS CB/h Open House April 14,1996 • 1-3 pm Your son's future depends greatly upon the type of education he receives. 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