A few weeks ago, the elementary school which my children attend, Sexton Mountain Elementary in Beaverton, OR; made national headlines for all the wrong reasons. A student teacher, in response to a question posed by a student (a 4th grader) concerning his marital status, responded that he was gay. The student's parent (who had previously complained to the district about the student teacher's appearance) complained, and the student teacher was dismissed.
Yesterday, that student teacher, Seth Stambaugh of Lewis and Clark College, has been offered his position back.
[ed: removed ref to other L&C alum, irrelevant to this article...]
The incident was previously covered in DKos in these diaries, the latter of which was a front-page article by LawrenceLewis, himself a Sexton Mountain alum. My oldest child is in fourth grade and had Stambaugh in his classroom, and reports that he was well-liked by the students. (My son did not witness the incident that prompted the dismissal).
Yesterday, the following was emailed to Sexton Mountain parents.
The Beaverton School District and Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education have jointly agreed to offer Seth Stambaugh the opportunity to return to his original student teaching placement at Sexton Mt. Elementary School starting late next week. Lewis & Clark and the Beaverton School District will continue to provide Mr. Stambaugh with a high level of support as we do for all student teachers as they begin to serve students and the greater community. We are moving forward with our shared values and principles of equity, respect and inclusion.
Sincerely,
Don Martin, Principal
The school, in the Portland suburb of Beaverton (and in OR-1, ably represented by Congressman David Wu), has an interesting demographic mix, including a large population of teabaggers. School administrators here, like in many places, have learned to flinch when the vocal right-wing clenches their fists. And so Stambaugh was asked to leave on the grounds his remark was inappropriate (it contained no sexual content, other than the admission of being gay).
But guess what? Word got out, and the people in the community fought back. This letter was sent to the Oregonian by the Sexton Mountain faculty, and another letter (which I cannot find online) in support of Stambaugh was signed by a large group of parents, including a scoutmaster at the school and a well-regarded family law attorney. And the Beaverton School district administration got the message--that the citizens who oppose bigotry outnumber the vocal minority who want to return to the proverbial Dark Ages. It would have been better, of course, had they stood up to the teahadists in the first place--but the right thing has been done.
And Stambaugh? According to his attorney, he is "joyous and ready to get back into that classroom".