Petition: High school kicks out gay teen

[RKP5637]

From Change.org - The Master’s School -- a Christian high school in West Simsbury, Connecticut -- has a motto, “Veritas Vos Liberabit,” which translates into “the truth shall set you free.” But when a 17-year-old girl told the truth about being a lesbian, she was forced to leave the school.

The girl in question (we’ll call her “R.”) was a model student at Master’s: she got great grades, played sports and participated in other extracurricular activities. But then R. went on a school field trip where a bunch of girls pretended to be married to one another -- no big deal, just a joke. But the Master’s School administration didn’t find it funny.

When the girls returned home, the administration questioned them one by one: Are you gay? All of the girls said they weren’t. Except for R., who revealed the secret only her friends knew. The administration responded by telling R. that if she didn’t withdraw from school, she’d be expelled.

Greg Plotkin lives near the Master’s School, and he was outraged when he read R. had been kicked out. Greg started a petition on Change.org asking the Master’s School to adopt a non-discrimination policy for LGBT students. Please sign his petition today.

One of R.’s coaches at Master’s, Heather Lodovico, says of R., “She’s a fantastic kid.” Coach Lodovico was shocked when she found out R. had been expelled: “I never saw anything about Master's that would lead me to believe they would do something like this. One of the things they pride themselves on is they let kids be unique and express themselves.”

Master’s purports to be a school that strives to include kids from all walks of life and help them achieve their potential. While R. is happy at her new school, the Master's School’s administrators need to understand that discrimination against LGBT students creates a divisive and unsafe school environment.

When Master's administrators see that thousands of people care deeply about the well-being of the school’s kids, they'll be pushed to stop discriminating against LGBT students. Please sign Greg Plotkin’s petition to ask the Master’s School to adopt a non-discrimination policy for LGBT students:

http://www.change.org/petitions/the-masters-school-stop-kicking-out-gay-and-lesbian-students

Thanks for being a change-maker.

[LWolf]

1. I signed.

Here's a simple solution:

PUBLIC school.

[NYC_SKP]

2. Done, and then you get to sign a couple more petitions...

Making the filling out part even more worth the effort.

[RKP5637]

5. Yeah, Change.org is pretty interesting! Thanks for signing! n/t

[Occulus]

3. And this is why I object to any and all religious "schooling".

Religions should not be in the business of practical education. Period.

[RKP5637]

6. Exactly!!! Many become institutions of propaganda IMO. n/t

[exboyfil]

11. So my very talented niece who is graduating from a

Catholic High School with top marks, All State in Music since a Freshman, state competitive in debate, state competitive in a writing competition, high marks on her ACT, etc should not have gone to her High School? It was better for her to go to the public school she was almost raped in.

If I had the same choice for my girls, even though I am not Catholic, I would not hesitate to send them to such a school even though our public school is safer than the one my niece was zoned to go to.

Real intelligent comment.

[saras]

14. It would be better to fix the public school ....

...instead of gloating that YOUR daughter doesn't have to put up with it while those OTHERS do.

This is EXACTLY why we shouldn't have religious schools. Because they teach these values, and because they create these situations.

[exboyfil]

15. Actually it is my niece

that is in the private religious school. Except for some partial Homeschooling of my younger daughter, my daughters attend public school. Lets see I pay my taxes, I have voted for bond issues for the public school, my wife volunteers about 5-10 hrs/week to help in the classroom at my daughters' middle school, I have tutored students at the elementary and middle school, we regularly purchase gifts for the teachers at my childrens' school, we volunteer to supervise at dances, we support various booster clubs for music, we are engaged and supportive of our daughters' teachers, we have our daughters ready to learn, and we surround our daughters with lots of educational materials. In addition to Homeschooling my younger daughter in English, Social Studies, and Biology, I also tutor my daughters in Math, English, Social Studies, and Science.

You want to prevent my niece from attending her school. You probably want me to stop my partial Homeschooling of my younger daughter. You think you know better than the families of parents like me. My brother and sister in law made a wise choice in sending my niece to a private school. They still pay all their taxes to support the public school which offers an inferior education to the one my niece was receiving in Texas of all places. You want to take that decision away from them.

I am for school choice but not supported by the government. Folks like me pay twice - to the public school and for how we think our children should be educated. We have lots of Homeschoolers on this board - you can take it up with them. Catholic schools have been getting better results with a lot fewer resources for generations. The biggest difference is that they have a critical mass of parents who actually are engaged in their children's education.

I don't agree with the decision to remove the girl from the school in question. You broad brush indictment of all religiously affiliated schools is what got me started.

[Exilednight]

16. You hit the nail on the head. People would rather pay to avoid the problem rather than

actually try and fix the problem.

Then people wonder why this country is falling apart and declining.

[exboyfil]

18. An individual can only do so much

At some point you worry about your own. How are you going to keep a child safe in an unsafe school? If you pay your taxes and do your best to see that funds are equitably distributed, then what else can you do? We happen to do a lot to support our local school (see my other post), but if I was in our neighboring district, I would concentrate my efforts entirely in the most economic way to get my child educated safely. It is the parents of these other children who have checked out. We have alot of them in our school system as well, but it has not yet reached a critical mass. Give it another generation, and our school system may be a lost cause as well.

Why do you think on this liberal board that Homeschooling is so popular? I pity the child who has no choices in his/her education.

[Exilednight]

20. Well, there are several things I disagree with in this response.

1. This is not a liberal board. This is a Democratic board that also has liberals.

2. Homeschooling is not that popular among liberals.

3. An individual can do more than you think. As Margaret Mead said "A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

[Occulus]

23. Nominal Catholics- my own parents- ruined my music education career for me

before it could ever get off the ground, and I guarantee you I was (note the past tense) just as talented as your niece: oboe, piano (self taught), percussion (self taught), composition (self taught), regional and state honors choirs (self taught), four years of musical theater, and a slot in the Madison Scouts drum and bugle corps (one of the top six corps in the world at the time, and I'd never even touched the equipment I was performing with until that year). Graduated 13th in my class, both NHS cords, 27 on the ACT. Music scholarship. If I had gotten the training I deserved early on (something my parents knew should have happened by the time I was five and outright refused to allow) the word "prodigy" would be appropriate.

All destroyed because of the moral outrage of a pair of nominal Catholics. You get three guesses why, and the first two don't count.

I would have been immediately thrown out of your niece's school without any regard at all for any talents or scholastic achievements, just like I was later thrown out of my own home and then forced out of college. There would have been no discussion, no appeal, no second chances. The Roman Catholic Church deeply despises people like me.

So yes, it was in fact a very intelligent comment. I know everything I need to know about that hateful institution, and I know exactly how the girl in the OP must feel right now, better than you or your niece ever will.

Religious institutions should not be allowed to operate schools. Period.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. For shame!

[aikoaiko]

7. How awful to do that.

Best wishes to "R".

[xchrom]

8. Recommend

[Parker CA]

9. Done. Kick and Rec!

[msongs]

10. well she was "set free" for telling the truth nt

[RKP5637]

12. Yep, in a certain sense she learned a lesson young. n/t

[MADem]

13. There will be an "upside" to this story one day.

There will come a time when -- universally-- the school will be regarded as a bunch of fucking idiots for doing what they did. It might not be next week, but it will be a stain on their reputation in the eyes of future generations (if the school even survives into the future) that they'll never live down completely.

I doubt they'll be moved by the petiton, though. They will yank out their bibles and turn to Leviticus, and cite that as "proof" of their correct POV.

It would be nice if a genuinely "quality" school--one of the top tier privates--offered her a scholarship just to poke those shits in the eye.

[exboyfil]

17. What I noticed were

the tuition and fees even for a day student. $34K/yr. That would pay for nearly four years of tuition at our public universities.

I can't imagine that kind of wealth. My niece's tuition to a Catholic High School is $4,700/yr, and I think she is getting about the finest education you can get at her age. Of course her parents (particularly her mother) has to do lots of volunteering to get that tuition. For non-Catholics who don't want to participate with volunteering, it is $9,500/yr.

[MADem]

24. That is ABSURD--for HIGH SCHOOL? At a "Christian" School of Intolerance?

Jesus....there are lots of private schools that have better national reputations that don't charge that kind of green.

[laylah]

Done and posted

to my FB wall.

[laylah]

19. Done and posted

to my FB wall.

[Shagbark Hickory]

21. OH it happened where?!?! In CT? Not in "Teh South?" n/t

[ThatsMyBarack]

22. Signed, sealed, delivered I'm yours.

;)

[Trillo]

25. "When you encounter something intolerable, kick it out of your life forever"?

I don't understand that lesson. There are plenty of forced circumstances in life where "kicking it out of your life forever" will not work. Such as employment (unless you're born into wealth) or the need to work. Such as education. Such as being subject to government.

So, what is the purpose of such a lesson? To maim for life?