A Principal Comes out to His Students, and His Bosses are Fine with it

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http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-07-29/news/a-principal-comes-out-to-his-students-and-his-bosses-are-fine-with-it/1

This is a really great article about what I am guessing, is NYC's first out principal. It is a good read.

One day in early May, Michael Soet, the principal of the International High School in Brooklyn, took over the 11th-grade social-studies classes for the day. The juniors had been learning about McCarthyism, and Mr. Michael, as he is affectionately known by his students, saw an opportunity to elaborate on some of the themes of the class by doing something that he had been waiting for just the right moment to do. He announced to his students that he is gay.

"I thought it might fit in with the lesson about paranoia and making assumptions about people just because they are different," Mr. Michael says of the timing. He had already alerted his staff and invited them to participate in the discussion, which several teachers did. He'd also spoken with Brian Ellner, a senior counselor to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, and gotten his support. Still, Mr. Michael couldn't help but feel nervous at first.

"I felt the same this time as I did when I first came out as a teacher," he explains. Before he became a principal, Mr. Michael taught history at the Manhattan International High School, where frequent usage of the words "homo" and "fag" inspired him to come out to his students after his second year as a teacher.

"The first time I did it in the last 10 minutes before summer break. I basically told the kids, 'I'm gay. Have a nice summer,' " he says, laughing. "I realized by the kids' reactions that they weren't appalled or shocked. They just had a lot of questions, and I hadn't left them any time to ask me anything." He decided that next time he would give his students the opportunity to have a serious conversation about his sexuality.

end of quote lots more at link

I have decided to come out to my students this year. At some point a student will ask me and I will just say yes. I will answer any reasonable questions they may have afterward but I don't intend to make a huge deal. Just a simple yes, about a simple part of my life that makes me no different. That is the message I will send. Nervous, yes. A little psyched, yes. The downside of this strategy is that I lose control of the timing. The upside, I like the message it sends to do it this way.