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Update on Gay Student Teacher
If you listened to our show on Monday, you heard the story of Seth Stambaugh. He had begun his student teaching at a Beaverton school, and was abruptly reassigned after a brief conversation he had with a 4th grade student about why he wasn't married. A couple of days after the show the superintendent, Jerry Colonna, accepted Seth's request to meet in person to talk about the situation.
Lake Perriguey, Seth Stambaugh's lawyer, told us that in that half hour meeting, Seth asked Jerry Colonna to be reinstated. Seth had since been reassigned to another school in Portland, but he feels passionately that the Beaverton classroom he was assigned to was the perfect match for him — as well as the focus of all his preparation. Jerry Colonna agreed to call Lewis & Clark College, where Seth is a student, to discuss the matter. There is no word yet as to whether than conversation happened or what if anything will come out of it.
The other topic on that came up on the same show was what Seattle author and columnist Dan Savage was doing to respond to the spate of recent gay teen suicides around that nation that were blamed on gay bullying. We thought the topic of bullying merited its own hour, so we'll be taking about that subject in more depth on a show next week.
Editor's Note (10/19/10): Beaverton Superintendent Jerry Colonna is meeting with Lewis & Clark staff this Thursday, according to Seth Stambaugh's lawyer, Lake Perriguey.
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The same (pay to work) can be said of any of us who had Co-op Work Experience in college. I was an accounting tutor at Lane Community College here in Eugene while working on my degree, and I had to register for some number of credits of CWE, in order to do it for academic credit. Balance that against the low wage we were paid, while above the state minimum, it was still fairly low.
I agree most heartily that the simpler solution would have been to transfer the child of the offended parent to another teacher's class. It would have created a whole lot less controversy. But then, I guess school officials are not exactly long on common sense.
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One thing that has not been said about this issue is that student teachers PAY to student teach. They have to pay tuition for that quarter/semester to get the credit for student teaching. It still amazes me that ONE parent has that much power to have the administration take such action. Why didn't they remove the kid of the offended kid to another classroom? That would have made more sense.