Teachers have begun to flee a private school in Kansas City, Missouri amid allegations that the school in question has begun to pressure faculty there to expel gay students.
At least three teachers will not return to Whitefield Academy, a self-described K-12 Christian School, next year allegedly owing to the school’s policy. Whitefield requires all faculty to sign on to a mission statement affirming “core principles.” Initial reports suggested that an amended mission statement would require all faculty to identify gay students at the school for removal.
Now Kansas City newspaper The Pitch reports that school administrators have denied the charges that Whitefield formally requires teachers to sign a statement agreeing to expel gay students. The school’s headmaster, Dr. Quentin Johnston, issued a statement to the press clarifying that the school’s mission statement all faculty must sign does not mention the removal of gay students.
Related: Principal expels gay student because “Jesus would want me to”
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“We have not asked our teachers to sign a statement or letter such as you describe,” Johnston said. “As in past years, we ask teachers and parents to understand and consent to the standards outlined in our Statement of Faith and core documents, which have not been altered in several years.”
Following news of the scandal reaching the press, Johnston also sent a similarly-worded statement home to parents of Whitefield students. In part, it read:
We firmly believe every person has been made in the image of God and should be treated with dignity, compassion and respect. In some cases, there are those who do not understand the biblical principles associated with our core beliefs. Such is the case this week when a news story made claims about our school that were neither accurate nor true.
The Board of Trustees and I want to make sure you, as parents, understand our policies and procedures. To be clear, we have not asked our teachers to sign a statement such as described in the news story. As in prior years, teachers have been asked to affirm their personal belief and agreement with our statement of faith and core documents.
We are also in the process of receiving faculty contracts for the next academic calendar year. As is normal in personnel matters, there are some faculty members who will not be returning, as well as new faculty joining our community in the fall.
Not all parents have accepted Johnston’s assurances, however. One anonymous parent told The Pitch that while the mission statement itself may not condemn or target gay students, faculty understand they are to be singled out and removed.
“It’s been unspoken I suppose up until now, and now they’re now they’re formalizing that in a way that makes me really uncomfortable,” the parent says. “We know the suicide rates for kids that are not in affirming families. And when I think about those same kids going to school and knowing that every adult in that school has signed a piece of paper saying they are not welcome there, it just hurts my heart to think about.”
At the time of this writing, administrators at Whitefield Academy have not further commented on the school’s policy regarding LGBTQ students. The story is just the latest in a series of headlines about religious, private schools discriminating against queer students. Last year, a Christian school in Texas opted to expel a gay student under a similar onus. That discrimination also extends to secondary schools, with a number of high-profile Christian colleges and universities expelling gay students or worse, forcing them to attend conversion therapy.
ptb2016
Jesús would expel the faculty members wanting to exclude students because of their sexuality, something their god gave them in the womb.
TomG
Agreed, because as I heard of the Christian tenets, “love thy neighbor as thyself”, and there’s nothing in there about hatred.
vikram
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Josh in OR
‘Christian’ schools are hotbeds of fundamentalism, ignorance and homophobia. Have been since….forever.
I attended a ‘Christian’ private high school (my grandmother feared for me in public school, being a pretty obviously gay boy in 1991, and thought she was helping by sending me to a place that ‘upholds Christ’s teachings’. There, I learned that Disney was going to make Alladin gay, which was one of the signs of the apocalypse….somehow. When that didnt pan out, it became instead Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. Or Pocahontas. When THAT didnt pan out, it was Tarzan. Basically, my school was POSITIVE that Disney was going to gay up SOME cartoon or kids movie, in order to spread the sin of gayness and damn all mankind to the Fiery Pit…except, of course, ‘True Christians(tm)’…
I was taught in science (by a teacher who went on to impregnate a sophomore) that you can tell the Earth’s age by the accumulation of dust on the surface of the moon, which accumulates at such a rate that it PROVES that the earth is only 6-7000 years old (something I learned about that ‘factoid’: it was disproven in the 70s, but still taught to Christian students as ‘science’up through at LEAST the first half of the 90s).
I was taught that dinosaur bones were probably placed in the earth as a test, either by Satan, to mislead mankind for nefarious reasons, or by God…to….mislead mankind, but for a GOOD reason…that never was properly explained.
I was taught that gay men gets AIDS when they come out of the closet, like the worst door prize ever.
That evolution was a product of the heavily drunk mind of a grieving, God-hating Darwin who recanted on his death bed and converted to fundamentalist, washed in the blood Christianity. And so did Gandhi. And Jefferson.
That dancing was a sin worse than murder (to the point that my senior year, when we had a sock hop, he quit on the SPOT because he couldnt work for such a sinful organization that would allow children to commingle and have vertical, fully clothed, 6 inches distance between them sex…which is all dancing is, to guys like him.
Sex Ed was a half-semester course taught by the same guy who taught Xrivers Ed, and who clearly wanted nothing more than to talk about cars, not teach pubescent kids honestly about their bodies and urges…
This is all sounds insane, I’m sure, even for an old timey education. But this is from a period of 1991-1995. Not some hoary, distant past. Fundamentalist Christian ‘education’ is a goddamned sham and should be stopped. From home school nonsense that the Quiverfull jackasses teach their victims all the way up to the racist, homophobic bastions of fundamentalism that are ‘Christian’ colleges.
whateverokok
I went to catholic high school from 1988 to 1992 and faced none of those things you spoke of. Maybe it’s different at a “catholic” school rather than a “christian” school, but they’re one and the same pretty much. I had two years of Sex ED. Year long too, if I’m not mistaken. I also was taught World Religion as a required course. The teacher in that class taught about all the world religions including Wiccans and Voodooism. We had some pretty religious rules to adhere by, but the school was pretty progressive, I think. Best 4 years of my life.
Mr-DJ
Have you ever seen a clapback (from the principal & school board) so vague as that? Never used the words Gay or LGBT. Never addressed or denied the actual facts. Amazing spin and avoidance!
GayEGO
Well, the religious bigots are wrong again, they should update their bible to agree with science who proved the world is round!
BoomerMyles
I feel so bad for the powerless students who just can’t tell the school to eff off and kiss their gay ass on the way out.
BGreen1963
They are called “Christian” schools, because “Racist, Sexist, Homophobic, Transphobic, Hate filled, Poor quality education School” is too long for the letterhead.
cuteguy
They are not true Christians, this school disguised as Christianity but it’s actually a cult, like the KKK or GQP. Absolutely revolting
Cam
Enough of this B.S.
America has been too tolerant of bigots for too long. This school gets money from the federal govt in the form of accepting grants, tax write off’s etc. They need to either abide by anti-discriminations laws, or return all of that money.
Additionally, we need far far far more oversite from the department of Ed into these schools and demand they teach proper science, evolution, and not force religion into those lessons. Why do you think Republicans have wanted to get rid of that department for so long?
ShowMeGuy
Teachers don’t expel students, but okay, whatever.