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| Faye and Alan Caldwell spoke out against Berkmar
High School’s Gay, Lesbian & Straight Society during a Feb. 10 meeting
of the Gwinnett County school board meeting. (Photo by Sher Pruitt) |
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: DYANA BAGBY
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Parents opposed to a gay-straight alliance at Gwinnett County’s Berkmar
High School spoke out during a school board meeting last week, accusing the club’s
gay faculty adviser of pressuring students to recruit new members.
Faye and Alan Caldwell, who have twin daughters attending Berkmar, also charged
that teacher and club adviser Stacy Howard violated school rules for monitoring
the club by leading discussions and volunteering to help with a Web site and
print flyers.
Howard, a Berkmar biology teacher and one of the faculty advisers to the newly
formed Gay, Lesbian & Straight Society, refuted the Caldwells’ allegations,
saying they are motivated by homophobia.
“I feel really deep down, and on the surface, too, that they disagree
with the club and want it out of the school,” Howard said.
The Caldwells addressed the Gwinnett Board of Education on Feb. 10 to report
on a meeting of GLASS that Alan Caldwell attended on Feb. 9. He told the board
he audited the meeting as a concerned parent and Howard facilitated the entire
meeting. According to school board policy for student-initiated clubs, she is
simply supposed to attend in “a non-participatory, custodial [way],”
Caldwell said.
“It seems like this [club] is part of an organized effort — not
by the students, but by adults — who are using vulnerable teenagers to
further their own agenda,” Caldwell told the board.
He also noted that Howard told the students at the GLASS meeting about an upcoming
conference at Kennesaw State University about the formation of gay and straight
alliances in middle schools as well as high schools.
“High school is the first step, middle school is the second step. I feel
like we’re being blackmailed,” Caldwell told the board. “Can’t
we find someone to protect the children at Berkmar?”
Superintendent J. Alvin Banks and school board member Louise Radloff, who represents
Lilburn, where Berkmar High School is located, said they would look into the
Caldwells’ allegations about Howard’s conduct.
After the board meeting, Caldwell expressed concern over what he said were
Howard’s overt attempts to recruit new members into the club.
“They were talking about handing out cards [about the club] to all students,”
he said.
Howard said she met with Berkmar Principal Kendall Johnson on Monday to outline
her role as GLASS adviser. No reprimand was given and the status of the organization
is fine, Howard added. As the adviser, she will only be able to answer student
questions if they deal with school board or Berkmar policy, she said.
“Whatever hoops I have to jump through, I will because I believe this
club is that important,” Howard said.
Howard said she did encourage members at the Feb. 9 meeting to tell friends
about GLASS.
“I have no idea what [Mr. Caldwell] is talking about,” she said.
“We did talk about how to get the word out, but there is no recruiting
strategy.”
In January, Faye Caldwell approached the school board and tried unsuccessfully
to have the board force the school to change the name of the Gay, Lesbian &
Straight Alliance, claiming it is sexually explicit.
“This is nothing more than a sex club,” Faye Caldwell said after
the Feb. 10 school board meeting.
GLASS was started last November and has a core membership of about 15 students,
Howard said.
School officials in north Georgia’s White County have put on hold the
formation of any new school clubs after a student proposed forming a gay-straight
alliance at White County High School in Cleveland.
Lance Helms, Georgia coordinator for Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians
& Gays, said his organization is working with student Kerri Pacer in forming
the student club.
On Wednesday, Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., led by anti-gay Rev.
Fred Phelps, announced it would demonstrate at the school on March 7 to protest
the alliance.
The White County School Board is slated to meet Feb. 24, and it was not certain
at press time whether the student club issue will be discussed.
Superintendent Paul Shaw and Principal Bryan Dorsey were unavailable for comment
this week, according to school officials.
Dyana Bagby can be reached at dbagby@sovo.com.
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