ADVISOR: Do Teachers Ever Remain Silent?

This is a selected posting from the ADVISORTALK, an unmoderated discussion list for faculty advisors of GSAs to share ideas and information about their GSA work

NORTH CAROLINA: I am a new advisor to a fairly new group in North Carolina. We are a large, suburban school. We are doing a day of silence on April 25th and I have a couple of questions.

One Do teachers ever remain silent in their off time (plan period. lunch) in sympathy with the students?

Two, Are any of you having parents come in a question the day of silence? We have had one already who made it sound like we would be leaving classes (we aren't) and disrupting school (we aren't).

Glad to meet you all.

(Not signed)
North Carolina

ALASKA: Several fundamentalist groups, and apparently squawk radio broadcasters, have apparently been spreading the story that DOS is "disruptive," that all students will be required to participate, etc. We were contacted by a local TV station that was doing a story at the behest of a local church group, and were offered the opportunity to make a rebuttal. If you're asked about DOS, it's important to welcome questions, be prepared, and have accurate, clear information.

Here's the text of an email we send to all of the teachers at our school every year about DOS:

On Friday, April 25, members of the Gay/Straight Alliance will join GSA¹s at more than 3,000 other high schools in the national GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) Day of Silence (www.dayofsilence.org). This is our sixth year of participation.

Participants will be wearing rainbow ribbons. Staff who would like to participate - or just show support - are invited to pick up ribbons in Room 14.

Participants will be carrying “speaking cards” with this message:

CARD FRONT: Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth calling attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?

CARD BACK: Take responsibility for what you say. Using words like faggot, dyke, queer and "that's so gay" is hurtful, cruel and creates an unsafe environment for everyone. Take responsibility for what you hear. Don¹t be afraid to stand up to hate and ignorance in your community. If you don¹t, who will? Take responsibility for what you think. Accurate information will only serve to make life more interesting and enriched.

School¹s name _____ Gay/Straight Alliance meets Thursdays at lunch in Room [14]. All students, gay, bi and straight, are invited.

Your support of Day of Silence is, of course, voluntary. Participants have agreed that, if they are called upon to speak in class, after presenting the "speaking card", they will respond if the teacher chooses not to allow them to remain silent.

Our GSA thanks you for your support, participation and/or good wishes.

Barb and John

Teachers at our school generally don't keep silent all day (neither John nor I do, and we're the advisors). I have heard of teachers at other schools doing so, and putting lesson on a overhead or something, which I think is fine, but I think it's important to remember that GSA's student-led, student-run clubs -- we're just the advisors -- and that the student-to-student interactions on DOS are the really powerful ones.

Barb C.
(Alaska)

WYOMING: I had similar parent misinformation issues with DoS last year. At one point, I had a parent call and demand to know why she should send her child to school if the teachers weren't going to teach and she was very upset that we were going to have a parade. I had to laugh at the parade part, because that was never even discussed. There was no parade. The rumor mill is an interesting thing sometimes. Needless to say, every teacher in the building taught that day (because it's our job and we love to do it). There was never any question about continuing our students' education. She had a lot of misinformation about DoS, was mostly angry that we were doing it at all and wanted to vent. My principal wouldn't even let her talk to me and told me he would handle it himself. It was a very nice gesture on his part.


Wyoming