Comments on More on Mount Si High

what the hell is wrong with this school?

@ 1
It's on the east side.

And in one of the most rural parts of King County. Believe me, the Snoqualmie Valley is still one of the most Uber-conservative (so far to the right that even Libertarians are considered "librul" by comparison) parts of the county, despite the suburban growth that's taken place there in the past decade.

We now live in a world where people who spout intolerant views can claim that they suffer from people not being tolerant of their intolerance.

@1

What #2 said + the Mount.

I take comfort knowing that at least a few of the people on the anti-Day of Silence petition will be trading sex for meth eventually. Probably even GAY sex.

This dickwad deserves everything he gets. I'm talking about the teacher. Booing an invited speaker? Come on. You've got a Ph.D. -- you should know better.

You don't counter the Hutchersons of the world by shouting them down -- that just makes them look more reasonable. You counter them with intelligent and pointed discourse.

The best thing this teacher could have done -- and the best example to set for the students -- would have been to ask a touch question. Not boo like a fucking twelve year old.

Joykiller—

the other teacher, Kit McCormick, did not boo Hutcherson. She asked Hutcherson a pointed question after he spoke, but she's receiving the same discipline.

No #7. That's a very peachy way of looking at the world. These kids were getting their minds poisoned and this man was a hero for putting the seed of doubt in their minds.

i'm with asking a tough question, holding a sign, and booing when appropriate. but yes, this teacher should know better, and should have set a better example -- even though the teacher, not the guest, is in the right.

@9... maybe. but i don't recall thinking any high school speakers were heroes! and booing is still... lame? but not as bad as throwing things.

i still think a question, or even walking out in silent protest, would be better. but with the booing... well, there's more attention at least.

Hey as a student I booed Jon Kitna when he appear and was talking about Jesus at my public high school (RHS '03)its really the only effective way of countering someone with a microphone

however, the booing of Hutch would have been far more effective coming from the students or at least the gay-straight alliance members

The thing about civil disobedience is that it's DISOBEDIENCE. If you don't want to suffer the consequences, you don't do it. I think the penalty given Potratz is appropriate; I also think Potratz was doing the right thing by booing the fat moron. Inviting Hutch to the school in the first place -- for an equality celebration! -- is the unreasonable act here.

This principal needs to address the real issue here. And the students petitioning to get rid of the Day of Silence need disciplining too.

Another pocket of Redneckville. Morons who want "family values" from some other era, when they could lynch people without any problems...

@8, fair enough, that's fucked up.

What's also fucked up is equating a lack of maturity with some sort of grand civil disobedience protest.

@9, acting like an adult and setting an example of critical thinking is a much more effective way to plant a "seed of doubt."

I love how "color and ethnicity" are listed as reasons, as if the teachers may have just been racist assholes.

#15

You obviously haven't been to a public school rally in a long time, if ever.

There is no room for dissenting teacher rebuttals. Nobody would allow it and very few of the kids would pay attention. He was in a room full of kids, and he did what he knows speaks to them. I think you are out of touch with the high school mindset. I respectfully disagree that he did the "wrong thing." I do accept that there may have been a better way, although I haven't seen one suggested.

I’m going to fight this,” Potratz says. “[My] position is that they violated my due process and I’m going to fight this on free speech grounds."

You don't have due process right, nor freedom of speech while at work. You get to sit and do what your employer tells you do and if you don't like it then you can go find another job.

I’m going to fight this,” Potratz says. “[My] position is that they violated my due process and I’m going to fight this on free speech grounds."

You don't have due process rights, nor freedom of speech while at work. You get to sit and do what your employer tells you do and if you don't like it then you can go find another job.

@18: When the government's acting as an employer it still has to deal with the Constitution. For instance, that's why discrimination on the basis of race and sex are illegal even when the government does it, since Title VII doesn't apply to government employers.

I just got back from the school board meeting. The place was packed with people standing outside the main and both side doors of the board room. High school kids, parents and misc. interested parties including a church group with rainbow lapel thingies.
The first few speakers were all students at the high school with a fairly even split on the two “sides”. The factions broke down to those who felt the teachers, both the booer and the questioner, were out of line and forcing their agenda on others and those who felt the teachers were justified. Judging by the applause after each speaker the majority of the room was with the anti-teacher group. The first speaker was a well spoken young man who stated he felt he had been subjected to ridicule following the assembly because of the faith. The crowd liked him.
I bagged it after about 45 minutes as I had ended up in the side hall with a mostly anti-teacher group. On the way out I ran into the same woman I had chatted with briefly on the way in. She has a son at the high school and a daughter who was there a couple of years ago. I asked her what she thought of all this. She surprised me when she said her daughter felt threatened by the day of silence events. Physically threatened. Complete with a story about students being “thrown into lockers” when they spoke on the day of silence. I was trying to imagine a gay choir boy (I know about this) throwing a football jock into a locker but then I remembered how vicious lesbians are so it’s possible her story is real.
Although I don’t believe there are gay gangs rampaging through the halls of Mt. Si High School. I do believe this woman has been told that gays and lesbians are out to capture her children so many times that she honestly believes it.

What is wrong with this school/city? This Randy Taylor character (imho) is a piece of crap. How can one person be such an ass? What is the area's commerce consist of? Can so many people in a single city (located in King County even) really, truely be this ignorant? Just some thoughts...

But they were so sad after Laura Palmer got killed....

My favorite part was when Hutch's wife complained that it upset her that people called her and her family "bigots" and other bad names. Boo hoo. The truth hurts, dunnit?

What is the day of silence? Do they seriously try to get a whole high school to not talk all day? That sounds impossible and silly.

@18, 19: Take a hike, you right-wing, double-posting bastard.

Bigot: a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.

#24, #26 It's funny ... you call us bigots yet you yourself are intolerant enough to not accept our way of life either.

If George Potratz is going to say that if Hutch is going to repeal rights for gays, then maybe we should start thinking about bringing back black slavery, he deserves to be fired. To me that is pretty intolerant. Hehehe... but you don't see anybody in these comments berating Potratz for what he said now do you.

And how can you not see the inappropriateness of what the teacher did to a guest speaker? Never mind the fact that it was Hutch, or even a preacher, he was still a guest speaker to the school. Berating him in public like that is not going to help solve the gay rights issue, or any issue for that matter. Chances are in the end it will only lead to a couple of high school teachers getting fired.

#27 (Antioch Bible Church Attendee) is referring to Hutcherson's latest (well, probably not by the time you read this) outrageous lie. At the school board meeting last Thursday I said, among other things, that despite Hutcherson's best efforts, discrimination against people on the grounds of their sexual orientation was now illegal in Washington State (and has been since 2006), and that as a public school district we are bound to respect and enforce that law, and that therefore this was not merely a matter of differing opinions, as #27 and his allies would have it. I further said that I understood that KH and his supporters were entitled to their opinions -- that I supposed people had the right to advocate the reinstitution of SLAVERY, if they wished -- but that such ideas could NOT be regarded as equally valid in our public schools with the idea of equality for all.

Now Hutcherson is actually saying, as #27's message attests, that I advocated restoring slavery!

Hutcherson was at our school yesterday, given an audience by the principals and vice principals, to repeat this absurd slander and demand that I (and Kit McCormick) be fired.

Ken Hutcherson has repeatedly demonstrated that he does not feel bound by the truth in his public pronouncements. This is only one instance, albeit a particularly outrageous one, I must say. I hope others not so directly victimized by this may appreciate the humor of it; even I find myself laughing at times, it is all so preposterous.