Hoping to get some answers, a group of students and their parents attended the December Community Unit School District 303 Board of Education meeting to address the lingering effects of the "Straight Pride" T-shirt controversy that occurred last month at St. Charles North High School during their "Ally Week.'
With all seats taken and people lining the walls of the room, the meeting began with a call to order, superintendent's report and committee reports before moving onto citizens' comments. The committee reports mentioned what happened at the November policy committee meeting, when the issues of preventing bullying, intimidation and harassment of students were raised. According to the meeting minutes, they decided to table those discussions until January.
When Windy City Times spoke to Jim Blaney, director of school and community relations, he remarked that board members are still working on phrasing of the policies, including asking the state board of education for further guidance on the definition of gender-related identity—which is different than gender identity as a class of people—before releasing new policies. Blaney also said that there would be no official comments until Dr. Donald Schlomann, Superintendent of CUSD 303, meets with students and staff to discuss the T-shirt controversy and how they plan to proceed in the future.
When it came time for citizens' comments, three students and one mom spoke. The first person as Amanda Harshbarger, who was involved in planning Ally week. Harshbarger explained what the vision of "Ally Week" encompassed and then said, "During this week, some very public bullying occurred when students wore shirts stating homosexuals should be 'put to death,' which caused many students to feel harassed or offended." She added that those students were allowed to wear those shirts for many hours while administration debated whether it was bullying or free speech.
Harshbarger also said that "according to Illinois state law, this was not freedom of speech but rather harassment because it violated the right for other students to feel safe at school." She then praised the district for efforts such as Ally week, teacher trainings and hiring Mr. Backer to work on anti-bullying efforts within the school district. However, she said that she wants to be a part of "creating training programs for staff and students on how to prevent, recognize, and react to bullying" in the future since there are still harassment problems at the school.
A classmate, Montana Zaccagnini, said, "I've witnessed first-hand what it is like to have so much love and aspiration, and have it all drained out of my body a little more each day because of hate." She then expressed how grateful she was to have an event like "Ally Week," but stressed that she would like the school to enforce a zero-tolerance policy on bullying. Zaccagnini closed with this comment: "It isn't about religion, what color your hair is, the gender of the one you love, how you look, the sports you play, the activities you are in, or the friends you hang out with; it's about human compassion and creating a generation of adults that can benefit one another and be themselves without worry of harassment."
Zaccagnini's mom, Mary Jo Foster, spoke in support of her daughter and the other students who planned "Ally Week." Foster also called on the board to ensure every student's safety at school as well as tolerance and acceptance of every student. The last speaker was Alex Furlin, a senior at the school, who said he was outraged that there "was this gray area where shirts that advocate death to homosexual students are kind of OK where in the same situation shirts advocating death towards Jews or Blacks ... wouldn't even be an issue."
Talking exclusively with Windy City Times, Zaccagnini and her parents; Furlin; and other students and alumni who attended said they were happy with the support they were getting from people outside of their community as well as the media exposure that brought attention to the issue. They also talked about the mixed messages they were receiving since the school approved "Ally Week" but failed to act on the T-shirt issue in a quick manner. Zaccagnini's dad, Robert Zaccagnini, echoed those statements and also questioned the lack of a concrete plan as of that evening since the incident happened a month ago.
