Editor’s Note: This is an interesting First Amendment story. You have to read through the entire story and the first few pages of comments before you get a feel for what actually happened. I have mixed feelings about it.
If Gabrielle’s and her father’s claims are true, I can understand why she did what she did. I remember teachers at Apple Valley High School doing the exact same thing to us when they had us captive. I was a senior in high school when Proposition 13 was on the ballot and I had a number of teachers who spent class time telling us that our parents and we should vote against it. I see little difference between that and what Gabrielle did and her teachers did to her and her fellow students.
Some say she should have addressed the school board instead. I bet that would be about as effective as a county employee addressing the Board of Supervisors.
To me the school’s response goes along with the dumbing down of America. Teaching our children to be sheep is hardly a worthy lesson. Granted, I supposed she could have worded it a little differently, but I suspect it was in-line with the lingo of her generation. And it seems to me the district proved her point with their reaction.
School official threatens to withhold diploma, then relents
June 06, 2011 5:07 PM
Staff Writer
PHELAN • Gabrielle Foley, 17, stunned her peers and Snowline Joint Unified School District officials Thursday night when she used her salutatorian speech to blast the school district for being “corrupt” and making decisions that were unpopular among students.
Then on Friday, school officials shocked Foley by initially refusing to hand over the No. 2-ranked student’s diploma. According to Foley, Principal Sharon Schlegel pulled her into an office, told her the speech was unacceptable and demanded an apology to the district and school board.
When Foley argued she had the right to express how she felt and refused to apologize, the principal asked Foley to leave the campus immediately and had a school resource officer escort her out.
“We couldn’t believe it,” said Gabrielle Foley’s father, Lee Foley. “I expected them to be somewhat upset but to try and retaliate against her, that’s childish … it just proved what she’s trying to say.”
Later in the afternoon — after Foley’s parents contacted state offices and had a heated phone chat with Superintendent Eric Johnston — Foley was informed she could pick up her diploma from the district office.
To read the rest of the story, click here.
