HAYFIELD TOWNSHIP — Three weeks after a PENNCREST School Board member referred to an LGBT-themed library display as “totally evil,” approximately 175 people came out on Monday to the first board meeting held in the aftermath of the controversy.
Anyone who expected board member David Valesky to dial back his comments critical of about a half-dozen books displayed in anticipation of June being Pride Month, however, was disappointed — and they will likely remain disappointed.
During the meeting, Valesky spoke repeatedly to explain his opposition to an anticipated tax increase that the board will vote to approve on Wednesday, but he did not address the controversy that resulted when he wrote in reference to the book display, “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. Its [sic] actually being promoted to the point where it’s even ‘cool.’”
In an interview following the meeting, Valesky told the Tribune, “I definitely do plan to follow up” on the controversy during the board’s voting meeting, which takes place Wednesday instead of the usual Thursday.
“I’m not taking anything back, but I guess I would like to clarify on it,” Valesky said. “I don’t regret anything I said.”
The controversy has provoked an online petition calling for Valesky and board Vice President Luigi DeFrancesco to be removed from office. Both men shared a Facebook post that drew attention to the LGBT-themed books, which were part of a larger display of approximately 70 books on various themes.
DeFrancesco shared the post without comment; Valesky stated, in part, “This is not what we need to be teaching kids. They aren’t at school to be brainwashed into thinking homosexuality is okay.”
By late Monday the petition at Change.org, which was open to people around the world, not just district residents, had more than 4,500 signatures.
The audience drawn to the meeting largely by the controversy was approximately 20 times larger than that of a typical PENNCREST board meeting. While those members of the public did not hear from Valesky on the topic, the board did hear directly from six members of the public and indirectly from many more.
Several dozen audience members displayed their support for Valesky by wearing large stickers affixed to their clothing with the phrase “I stand with David” in all-caps. About two dozen more showed their opposition to Valesky’s comments and support for gay rights with various signs, T-shirts and other pride symbols.
Four speakers voiced their support for the library staff that had created the display of books at Saegertown Junior-Senior high, for gay students in the district and for freedom of expression generally. Two of the speakers were critical of the display and said that the apparent endorsement of a “worldview” represented by the books was inappropriate in a public school.
Rising Saegertown sophomore LaWrynn Edwards, the social media editor for Saegertown Pride Alliance, a club at the school, cited the Constitution’s guarantees of freedom of expression and equal protection under the laws in addressing the board and calling on them to represent all students in the district.
“Public schools cannot single out students that are LGBTQ+ for negative treatment,” she said.
Saegertown English teacher Stacey Hetrick told the board that “books are not evil.”
“The only problem with books is when people perceive a threat that doesn’t exist and behave accordingly.
“If you don’t want your child to read particular books, then your child will not sign out those books,” Hetrick said. “As a parent you have control over them. Books sitting on top of a shelf are a threat to no one.”
Centerville resident Ryan Weingard said he had not followed the controversy on social media but had read about it in the news and had not seen “any people being called evil.” Instead, Weingard said, “people are confusing a worldview with a personal attack.”
“I would encourage the school board to return to foundational principles in what you bring before our children,” Weingard added. “The principles of the Christian worldview are in fact what this nation was founded upon. It’s what sustained the nation.”
Superintendent Timothy Glasspool said that 12 speakers are already registered to address the board at its Wednesday meeting. Regarding Valesky’s comments about the book display, Glasspool noted that in making the comments Valesky did not speak for the board and said he did not anticipate the board taking any action. The display, Glasspool added, remained in place until the library closed at the end of the school year.
In response to numerous issues, including the social media controversy, a disagreement with Valesky over the proposed tax increase, and board member absences from recent meetings and district graduations, board member Jeff Brooks proposed a retreat that could allow members to work through some of their differences.
“It’s embarrassing to be a part of this school board the way we’re operating and the way we’re doing things,” Brooks said.
Mike Crowley can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.
