bad parenting

Aaron Krikava Yanks Son From Student Teacher Seth Stambaugh’s Class Over His Gayness

Oregon student teacher Seth Stambaugh (pictured, top) — who was kicked out and then reinstated from his job after revealing to students he is a gay man — won’t be teaching one particular student any longer. The parent who originally complained about Stambaugh telling his fourth grade class he had no interest in marrying a woman has pulled his son out of Stambaugh’s class.

Aaron Krikava (pictured, below), the father of the Sexton Mountain Elementary student who asked whether Stambaugh was married (and was told no, because he cannot legally marry a man), insists he’s not the crazed one in an email that’s circulating among Beaverton School District parents: “We have been called every name under the sun. We are not bigots, homophobes, or religious fanatics. What began as a simple event of a responsible parent expressing a valid concern quickly turned into an opportunity to push a political agenda.”

Now that the classroom is a “compromised situation,” Krikava believes it would be “irresponsible” to let his son stay there. This comes after a supposedly “threaten[ing]” phone call between Stambaugh’s attorney Lake Perriguey, and the boy’s mother Allison.

Krikava writes that Perriguey told the mother that if the family did not ask the district to reinstate Stambaugh, “he may not be able to continue to keep our names, and our phone numbers, including our sons, out of the press.”

Perriguey, characterizes the phone conversation in question as a “very cordial, factual conversation with a mother of a student, whom I will not name, about the district’s discriminatory actions.” It’s worth noting that at the time this conversation took place, Stambaugh had a public letter of support from 27 Sexton Mountain teachers, 22 Sexton Mountain parents, and nearly 5,000 people who signed an online petition to reinstate him.

It’s too bad the education of a little boy is what will be the only thing to suffer here. And while I’m sure he’ll be well taught by other instructors, it does nobody a service to eliminate a chance at embracing diversity in the classroom. The only “irresponsible” behavior, here, belongs to the Krikavas. [Blogtown; bottom photo via MySpace]

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