SAEGERTOWN — Penncrest School District residents packed a district meeting room for the second time Wednesday night to address the Penncrest School Board about a recent display of books for Gay Pride Month at the Maplewood High School library.
Some residents supported the display and denounced School Director David Valesky’s social media post that called the display “totally evil.”
Background:Crawford resident petitions for ouster of 2 Penncrest school directors
Others supported Valesky and denounced the display.
Residents also crowded the Saegertown meeting room during a board work session Monday night.
Valesky did not comment on the controversy during Wednesday’s School Board business meeting. School directors adjourned the meeting without board member remarks when Melanie Weed tried to address them during the portion of the agenda set aside for directors’ comments.
Weed, a Penncrest graduate, launched an online petition calling for the recall of Valesky and another school director, Luigi DeFrancesco, who shared Valesky’s post. Weed no longer lives in the school district. According to board policy, only district residents may address the board during public meetings.
Weed was escorted from the meeting room after refusing to yield the podium. The School Board then adjourned the meeting.
The controversy that divided the Crawford County community began last month when Valesky posted on Facebook about the library display of gay pride books.
“Besides the point of being totally evil, this is not what we need to be teaching kids. They aren’t at school to be brainwashed into thinking homosexuality is okay. It’s actually being promoted to the point that it’s even ‘cool,’ ” Valesky said in the post. The post shared a photo of the display.
Residents speaking for and against the book display and Valesky’s comment received almost equal applause from audiences that packed the School Board meeting room for both meetings this week.
Intolerance should not be tolerated, but the advocacy of “lifestyles contrary” to the Judeo-Christian belief system is wrong, Fred Bryant, of Centerville, told the School Board on Wednesday.
Bryant called for the formation of a parent task force to consider “controversial” books purchased by the schools with limited dollars.
Anne Gamber, of Guys Mills, thanked Valesky and School Director Luigi DeFrancesco, who shared Valesky’s social media post, for standing up for “Christian values.”
Debbie Cagle, of Centerville, applauded the library display.
“If you remove these books, what will be removed next, books on slavery, books on the civil rights movement … Where will it stop,” Cagle said. “Book displays are not pushing homosexuality, contrary to what Mr. Valesky says.”
Hate has no place in the schools, especially from a board member who had sworn to uphold the constitution and protect all students from discrimination, Cagle said.
Saegertown High School language arts teacher Stacey Hetrick addressed the board both Monday and Wednesday nights to support the book display and LGBTQ students.
“A school’s job is to provide a fair and equitable education for all, including providing resources,” Hetrick said Monday. “Books remind us that we are not alone.”
Hetrick asked Wednesday night’s audience to stand in silence with her for 30 seconds in support of all Penncrest students.
The Maplewood library book display was set up in early May in advance of Gay Pride Month in June, Penncrest schools Superintendent Timothy Glasspool said in a written statement to local media. There were simultaneous displays of books about baseball, music and bullying, he said.
The Penncrest School District is committed to providing a safe learning environment for all students, Glasspool said in the statement.
“As a public school, we teach tolerance and celebrate diversity,” he said.
William Hetrick, also a language arts teacher at Saegertown High School, on Wednesday night “strongly urged” school directors to provide diversity training for all Penncrest students and staff.
Weed was open about being queer in school and was tormented by classmates, first at Maplewood and then at Saegertown High School, Weed said.
In the petition, Weed called Valesky’s comments “hateful, hurtful things. The kind of things that make kids kill themselves, the kind of things that makes other people kill kids.”
The petition had more than 4,600 signatures Wednesday afternoon. Signing the petition was not limited to Penncrest School District residents.
Pennsylvania law provides no process to remove an elected school director from office, said Stuart Knade, chief legal officer for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, in an email to the Erie Times-News.
Knade did not comment on the Penncrest controversy, only on Pennsylvania law.
“The bottom line is that there is no provision of PA law that grants a school board the power to remove one of its members from office,” Knade said. “PA law provides no recall process for school board members or most other elected officials no matter how many people sign on to the petition. That means essentially that the ballot box is left as the sole means in PA to remove school board members because of opposition to their views, statements or voting records.”
Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com. Follow her on Twitter@ETNmyers.
