Parents of Spanish Fork High School students are looking into ways to keep their children out of a lesbian teacher's classroom.
And beyond that, the group calling itself "Citizens for Legal and Moral Values in Nebo School District" wants a policy permitting parents to keep students away from other teachers whose conduct they deem immoral.About 100 people from Spanish Fork, Springville and Payson gathered Saturday afternoon to sign a petition that will be delivered to the Nebo School Board next week.
Specifically, parents intend to pull their children from classes taught by Wendy Weaver, a Spanish Fork High psychology and physical-education teacher. After learning last summer that Weaver is a lesbian, school officials took away her job coaching the girls' volleyball team and ordered her not to discuss her sexual orientation at school or on her own time.
Last month, Weaver sued the school district in federal court, contending the district's gag order violated her free speech and privacy rights. Her suit seeks a declaration that the ban is unconstitutional and an order that school administrators remove it from her personnel file.
"We have no squawk that someone sued the district," said Matt Hilton, an attorney helping the group. "The squawk is having gone militantly public, how can you role model for these kids?"
A lesbian lifestyle doesn't fit with the moral standards of the community, he said, adding nor does immoral heterosexual conduct.
Parents say the gag order on Weaver isn't enough. Hilton questions the way the school district handled the situation, saying it might have acted prematurely and that it could have taken steps to suspend Weaver. He intends to speak with a Nebo attorney about district personnel policies.
"It's a real complex legal quagmire," he said.
Hilton and the parents group met Saturday to discuss legal issues and their options.
"We have a say in what our kids are taught, in class or by example," said Roxanne Barney, one of the group's organizers. Barney withdrew her teenager from Weaver's class before school started.
Parents want to be able to direct administrators to yank their children from classes taught by teachers with questionable backgrounds. They want student and teacher privacy rights, and silence on sexual issues to extend beyond campus to interaction outside of school. And they want the policies to apply equally to all teachers, regardless of sexual orientation.
Carol Gnade, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, which represents Weaver in the case, is bothered by the parents' intentions.
"The whole notion of causing this kind of divisiveness in a community is troubling," Gnade said. "One would hope that there would be level heads that recognize this is a fine teacher who deserves better treatment."
Hilton acknowledges the group's legal options are limited, which is why members want to make sure their interests are not ignored as Weaver and the school district negotiate.
"The goal is to make sure the district knows that many parents feel this is not appropriate role-modeling for our children and we have the right to determine who our children's role models will be," said Hilton, a father of five.
"I'm infinitely more concerned that my children's moral values are intact when they graduate than I am about what they've learned."