Two years ago when teacher Donald Edward ( not his real name ) helped another Uhlich Academy employee escort a student to the bus, he never thought that it would be a life-changing moment.
"I was walking with the school attendant to help him escort a kid who was acting out to the bus and before the kid got on, the guy called him a faggot. He didn't call me a faggot, but I was clearly within earshot and the kid heard it and I heard it. The student involved had a behavioral disorder. He was one of those kids that unfortunately gets put out of regular schools because he is effeminate and being harassed; it happens a lot," recalls Edward.
With the other employee's words ringing in his ear, Edward wrote a letter to the school's Principal, Fred Patz, and other key administrative personnel describing the incident.
"He [ Patz ] just didn't understand why I had a problem with what this guy said," explains Edward. According to Edward, this was but one of many incidents involving this particular employee regarding inappropriate remarks to students and teachers.
"So I take the principal aside and I tell him why I have a problem with this incident especially. I told him that I am gay ... and this is something that I have never made a big deal of. So that was in May. By June, I was passed over for vice principal and the next two years were sort of a continuing campaign of nonsupport of writing me up for every little thing, and stealing stuff out of the classroom," he said.
The two years of nonsupport and harassment eventually led to his firing, he alleges. "The principal was the only person who I had made aware of my sexual orientation and I had read our handbook carefully so I figured even if he didn't like it, here it is. And for more than a year I said to myself that it couldn't be that [ discrimination ] ."
Uhlich Academy describes itself as "an innovative therapeutic day school that uses a special education curriculum and trained experienced staff to help up to 80 students grades K-8 to exceed in academics." Many of the students are diagnosed learning disabled or behavioral disabled. The Academy, formerly located in Chicago's West Loop, is an offspring of the Uhlich Children's Home, which was founded in 1869 as a result of the compassion to care for Civil War orphans within the congregation of St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran Church ( known today as St. Paul's UCC, Chicago ) . The Academy recently relocated to the city's West Side.
After four years of employment with Uhlich Academy, Edward said he was fighting for basic things that were once given to him. His health even began to fail him in the form of kidney stone attack. "This was the first time that I began to say to myself, maybe I am under some stress here. All of a sudden you go from where you are really doing well and everyone is supportive and everything is great guns and then all of a sudden you just feel like everyone is up in your face and when you try to defend yourself you are being written up. There was another incident where I asked to [ attend ] a conference and the principal said that there is no money for that but three months later three people at an in-service are reporting on that conference," Edward claims.
The incidents soon went from simple undermining of his authority in front of coworkers and students to claims that he was hitting on other male employees. "One employee, a big guy, all of a sudden started in on me, calling me names. The incident just got out of control and I told the principal and he just said to stay away from each other. But at the end of the day, when I was in this other classroom talking with an assistant, this guy comes in with his kids and out of the blue he threatens to assault me. When the investigation happened, his side of the story was that I had made a pass at him. So all of a sudden it turns into I had made a pass at him and not that he had threatened me. I found out later that this guy and another guy had discussed my lifestyle in front of one of my students and the student told me this directly after I was gone."
Edward could not find anyone to collaborate his side of the incident for the investigation. School officials denied the problems.
Tom VandenBerk, President and Executive Director of Uhlich Children's Home, said Edward's characterizations are "totally incorrect. His performance over the period of time had deteriorated considerably and it is all part of his continuous record that this has gone on. We have key staff members who are gay throughout our organization. So his claims are not true."
After his termination, Uhlich reportedly sought to deny Edward's unemployment benefits. Edward fought the claim and won.
"The State of Illinois said this firing was baloney and though they may have had economic reasons for the firing, that was no reason to deny me my unemployment," Edward said. "It wasn't like they were in my face calling me a faggot. It was the kind of thing that they do to teachers to get rid of teachers. Like the secretary came in and disrupted my class and when I asked her to leave, she cursed me out. When you love to teach, they make it impossible for you to teach .. . I was in a hostile environment and it didn't start to happen until I told the principal my preference. When you are a teacher, one of the kisses of death is for a school to be able to say that we fired you with cause. This guy not only threatened my job, he threatened my career to my face. Fortunately because of my certification and there is a huge shortage in the Pubic Schools, I was able to get a job."
Edward said the final straw that led to his filing employment discrimination charges with the City of Chicago's Commission on Human Relations happened when he found profanity scribbled on his car six weeks after his firing. "I saw 'Fuck You' on my car and one of my former employees had signed his name to it, and that was it," said Edward.
Chicago's Commission on Human Relations ( CHR ) and the Cook County Commission on Human Relations are where individuals can file discrimination charges based on sexual orientation.
Currently, the commission is investigating Edward's case. He is considering filing a civil lawsuit against Uhlich Academy. "They put me through hell. It was mean spirited and the worst thing of all is that this is a school with emotionally disturbed students and they thought nothing at all about my students and the stress they were going through with my being harassed. They undermined my authority and they didn't care what their antics would do to my ability to teach my students."
Ken Gunn, CHR's First Deputy Commissioner, said: "Right now, we are in the investigative stages and investigations can take more than a year to be completed. If we find in favor of the complainant, we can issue an order for damages to be paid by the employee."
"We are working very carefully with the Commission to provide them with the facts and the facts will show that he was not performing his job correctly and that he was never slighted because of his orientation," VandenBerk said. "We do not discriminate due to gender or sexual orientation, race, religion, etc. We are, by the way, affiliated with the United Church of Christ ( UCC ) which is probably one of the strongest and affirming churches of [ gays ] that there is. We are a very open and affirming environment."
Asked why Edward's performance evaluations had gone down, VandenBerk said: "He became more dissatisfied with his overall life and he is a very creative individual with outstanding ideas and we are an organization that gives a lot of leeway and encourages creativity, since we deal with troubled kids. I think that he was not able to continually grow with the program and it had more to do with his personal issues."
When discrimination does occur in schools, the impact on a gay or lesbian teacher is tremendous. According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, "Gay teachers work in fear that a student, parent, or school official will discover their orientation. The ramifications for LGBT teachers who are 'out' or 'outed' are serious. The teacher's health is at risk as a result of both likely harassment and possible physical violence. In ... most school districts the teacher's career is also at risk. LGBT teachers who remain 'closeted' will also experience stress, anxiety, and depression ... ."
