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A Missouri teacher resigned last week after his school district administrators told him he had to remove his pride flag and couldn’t discuss human sexuality or “sexual preference” at the school. school.
John M. Wallis, 22, who has taught speaking, acting and world mythology, said he hung a rainbow pride flag in his classroom at Neosho Junior High School on the first day of ‘school to create a welcoming environment for all students – and he said that the students noticed.
“I had about five students on the first day come up to me and thank me,” he said. “They said, ‘Thank you for raising the flag. I wouldn’t know where else to go.
But just two days later, on August 26, the public school teacher said, he was called to a meeting with administrators who told him a relative had called and said they feared. that Wallis “does not potentially teach their child to be gay”.
Before the first day of school, he said, he asked the administrators for permission to hang the flag, “and they advised against it but didn’t ask me not to.” So he displayed the flag and two signs above his whiteboards both saying “Everyone is welcome in this class.”
At the August 26 meeting, administrators told him to remove the signs and the flag, which Wallis said was one of the administrators in relation to the Confederate flag.
“I was told that in class I had to be halfway on political issues, and I said, ‘It’s okay, it’s not a political issue,’” Wallis said. “I said, ‘It’s a human rights issue.’ And then I was told that I had to be halfway when it came to human rights. There is no middle ground when it comes to human rights.
Wallis said he called in students “every hour” on August 30 to ask for the location of the flag and signs. He told them that he had a meeting and that he was told to withdraw it.
“And then I went further and said, ‘If you have a problem with this flag that represents me or my students, there are other classes that you can find,'” he said. to students.
The next day, he said, he was called to a meeting with Jim Cummins, the superintendent of the Neosho school district, who said several parents had called and said Wallis was “pushing an agenda in the classroom.” .
Cummins asked Wallis to sign a letter that prohibited him from discussing LGBTQ-related topics in class.
The letter, shared with NBC News, stated that if Wallis was “unable to present the program in a way that keeps your personal agenda on sexuality out of your narrative and class discussions, we will end your employment.” .
He added: “To clarify this further, there will be no reference to sexuality or gender displayed in your classroom, your instructions and classroom conversations will be kept away from discussions regarding human sexuality and / or sexuality. sexual preferences, and any given research or assignment should not require a topic related to the above.
Wallis said he eventually signed the letter, but quit the next day. He planned to stay until September 30, but on September 2, administrators told him they had found a replacement and he had until the end of the day to tidy up his class. He tweeted about the experience a few days later.
Cummins said in a statement that “As with all personnel matters, there is a limited amount of information that is allowed to be shared by the school district. ”
Wallis, who said he grew up as a teenager locked in Neosho, said the letter broke his heart, adding that “the term sexual preference was used, which showed me the neighborhood and the locals de Neosho clearly believe that it’s always a choice to be who I am.
He has since filed a complaint with the Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office, alleging that he had been discriminated against in employment because of his sexual orientation. Cummins declined to comment further on the complaint.
When he first met the school administrators, Wallis said, one of them told him that the LGBTQ students at the school knew they were being supported, but, he added , “If I had, I wouldn’t have asked the students to thank me because they didn’t know where to go,” he said. “So it was very clear to me that this neighborhood, this school, was not a place where they felt safe, but for them to see this flag in the classroom, they immediately knew that my classroom was an environment where they could learn and where they could feel safe.
Now, Wallis said, he plans to move to St. Louis, where he hopes to coach speeches and debates, but he no longer plans to teach at K-12.
“I don’t want people to think I hate my neighborhood. I grew up there; I like it so much, but there are very clear issues, and public education is supposed to serve all the public, ”he said. “And if we’re not doing it by protecting LGBTQ + educators and students, then we’re not doing what public education should be doing.”
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