District defends teacher's suspension for playing gay-themed song
15 replies, posted
[quote]South Lyon — The South Lyon Community School District is standing behind its decision to suspend a middle school teacher for playing a popular song about being gay during class.
Susan Johnson played the song, "Same Love," during her eighth grade performing arts class at Centennial Middle School after a student made the request.
The song, discussed all over social media, is billed as the anthem for gay marriage, and Ellen DeGeneres praised the artists, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis as her new hip-hop heroes when they performed the song on her show recently.
District administrators learned about the song's use in class when another student complained.
Johnson told WJBK-TV (Ch. 2) the principal and assistant superintendent told her last week she'd be suspended for three days, two without pay. She said she was told she should have asked permission before playing the song.
Johnson could not immediately be reached Thursday. The South Lyon Education Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The school district responded in a statement, saying it generally does not discuss employee issues, but that "misinformation about this issue must be addressed."
"The district has an established practice, included in the staff handbook, that requires the instructor to first preview any taped material to be used in the classroom, including YouTube clips, then submit a completed form about the proposed clip to a building administrator for approval," read the statement.
"To ensure that the proposed material supports the curriculum for the class, the form requires the instructor to provide a brief description of the clip and how it relates to the lesson plan.
"Further, the instructor is to identify the curriculum benchmarks that students will complete as a result of watching the clip. The employee neither previewed the YouTube clip, nor submitted the form for approval as required. Instead, a student gave the clip to the employee at the beginning of class and the employee showed the clip to the class. The clip had no relationship whatsoever to the instructional class content planned for that day. The purpose of this established practice is to ensure that instructional materials are appropriate for the course and its students. It is because we care about all students that we have this procedure in place."
Chris Delong, 23, of Saginaw, who recently attended a concert by the "Same Love" artists over the Thanksgiving holiday, said the song is not about being gay.
"It is about the acceptance of others for who they are," he said. "I feel that the suspension is just because the teacher went against the school policy. As for the fact that the material happens to deal with homosexuality and acceptance, that is a completely different field."
Affirmations, a local gay rights organization, responded by establishing a Susan Johnson fund on its website, [url]http://www.goaffirmations.org[/url].
"This is very frustrating, because it's almost 2013, and we've got a president who came out in favor of gay marriage," said Affirmations executive director Dave Garcia. "So why would we not allow students to debate gay marriage? We can't talk about things like civil rights and women's suffrage? It appears the district is picking and choosing what might be too controversial to talk about."
When told administrators said Johnson should have asked permission to pay the song, Garcia's frustration became even more apparent.
"Does she have to ask permission to discuss the Holocaust?" he asked. "To them, gay marriage is too controversial, but it's OK to talk about abortion. Young people should be able to express themselves."
Emily Dievendorf, director of policy for the gay rights group, Equality Michigan, said it appears the district is "taking a stance against diversity and love."
"Suspending a teacher for playing a song with lyrics like 'love is kind' and 'if I was gay, I would think hip-hop hates me' says more about the school district's intolerance towards same-sex love than the teacher's judgment of her student's music tastes," he said. "I cannot help but wonder if they would have suspended her for playing a song which speaks positively of opposite-sex love or provides observations on the oppression faced by certain religions. Equality Michigan is eager and ready to help fight this behavior by South Lyon schools and make sure Susan Johnson is able to teach diversity and love over intolerance and hate."
Kevin Rogers, of Ferndale, and owner of Just 4 Us, a gay bookstore in Ferndale, said it was a tough decision for the teacher.
"I appreciate the initiative on the teacher's part to be that forward thinking," he said. "But that's a tough one, because the student who complained about it has rights, too."[/quote]
From The Detroit News: [url]http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121129/METRO02/211290425#ixzz2DeXgIsMA[/url]
Song in Question:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlVBg7_08n0[/media]
It's not really about being gay but rather about misconceptions and stereotypes people often have of homosexuals. Also there are portions of it calling out the hypocrisy of hating them, generally seems like a song with a great message to me.
Wow I didn't expect this from Michigan, I was thinking deep south maybe.
Saw this, expected Cazwell, was dissapointed.
(especially [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w02QxQZGQc[/url])
A student requested it, why should the teacher be blamed
Actually, why should anyone be blamed? This is just plain bigotry
Was expecting this:
[video=youtube;3j4t185wl-0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j4t185wl-0[/video]
[quote][Same Love] was written with the hope that it would facilitate dialogue and through those conversations understanding and empathy would emerge. This incident demonstrates how too often we are quick to silence conversations that must be had."
- Macklemore (via their official website)[/quote]
[QUOTE=Falubii;38642990]Wow I didn't expect this from Michigan, I was thinking deep south maybe.[/QUOTE]
The state has taken a weird turn in policies after Rick Synder came into power.
I can understand why the district would want to discourage the teacher's action.
It touches on a deeply political issue that could piss of a lot of parents.
[editline]29th November 2012[/editline]
Just to clarify though, I also think it's dumb because the song isn't even really about being gay.
It says protocol requires that if a teacher wants to show a YouTube video to class, he has to preview it and fill out a form about the video and its relation to the curriculum and send it to administration for review. He skipped the whole process and get suspended for refusing to adhere to the review process. Its a dumb rule but he wasn't suspended due to homophobia.
"To ensure that the proposed material supports the curriculum for the class, the form requires the instructor to provide a brief description of the clip and how it relates to the lesson plan.
"Further, the instructor is to identify the curriculum benchmarks that students will complete as a result of watching the clip. The employee neither previewed the YouTube clip, nor submitted the form for approval as required. Instead, a student gave the clip to the employee at the beginning of class and the employee showed the clip to the class. The clip had no relationship whatsoever to the instructional class content planned for that day. The purpose of this established practice is to ensure that instructional materials are appropriate for the course and its students. It is because we care about all students that we have this procedure in place."
seems like he was suspended for not following proper protocol, rather than inappropriate content.
Macklemore wrote a blog post of his thoughts about this.
[quote]I believe that Ms. Johnson getting suspended is completely out of line and unjust. However, I think it’s important for moments like these to be exposed and for us to pay attention and respond. This level of intolerance and fear is still very active in America, but at times is not completely visible. This incident is just one of tens of thousands that have happened across the country where schools have exposed a latent homophobia, preventing safe space for all young people to feel confident in being themselves. It’s clear that Ms. Johnson felt bullying and “gay bashing” were issues that needed to be addressed, and by doing so, was punished.
I wrote the song “Same Love,” not with the expectation that it would cure homophobia and lead to marriage equality across the US (although that’d be awesome). It was written with the hope that it would facilitate dialogue and through those conversations understanding and empathy would emerge. This incident demonstrates how too often we are quick to silence conversations that must be had. Even if people disagree, there is far more potential for progress when people are vocal and honestly expressing their thoughts about gay rights. When we are silent and avoid the issue, fear and hatred have a far greater life span.
It’s discouraging that a song about love and civil rights has led to a teacher getting suspended from her job. But that’s where we are at. For those of us who get a pit in our stomach when reading a story like this, it just makes it abundantly clear there is far more work to be done.
- Macklemore[/quote]
[url]http://macklemore.com/post/36834646919/ms-johnson[/url]
As a bigoted white male christian soldier, I am glad they did something about this horrible act. Teaching love, acceptance and tolerance goes against my beliefs, and everyone should only listen to my opinion.
[quote]"This is very frustrating, because it's almost 2013, and we've got a president who came out in favor of gay marriage," said Affirmations executive director Dave Garcia. "So why would we not allow students to debate gay marriage? We can't talk about things like civil rights and women's suffrage? It appears the district is picking and choosing what might be too controversial to talk about."[/quote]
These kids are getting a really fucked up education, and it's not like covering your ears and denying those things in history never happened will make it true.
[QUOTE=Starpluck;38645552]It says protocol requires that if a teacher wants to show a YouTube video to class, he has to preview it and fill out a form about the video and its relation to the curriculum and send it to administration for review. He skipped the whole process and get suspended for refusing to adhere to the review process. Its a dumb rule but he wasn't suspended due to homophobia.[/QUOTE]
A lot of teachers just ignore these processes and get off without even a slap on the wrist
Seems like a convenient excuse to avoid the real issue
[QUOTE=Van-man;38643321]Was expecting this:
[video=youtube;3j4t185wl-0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j4t185wl-0[/video][/QUOTE]
Or this:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XNFokmDKrE[/media]
[QUOTE=Falubii;38642990]Wow I didn't expect this from Michigan, I was thinking deep south maybe.[/QUOTE]
Honestly, South Lyon is like the deep south.
I went to South Lyon schools for part of elementary and most of middle school. Every teacher is a hardcore catholic conservative.
This makes me respect my school slightly more. They had two gay dudes for homecoming king and queen.
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