John M Wallis Wiki – John M Wallis Biography
John M Wallis, 22, who taught public speaking, drama, and world mythology, said he hung a rainbow Pride flag in his classroom at Neosho Junior High School on the first day of school to create a welcoming environment for all students. , and said the students noticed. I had, on the first day, about five students who came up to me and thanked me,” he said. “They said, ‘Thank you for having the flag raised. I wouldn’t know where else to go. ”
But just two days later, on Aug. 26, Wallis said, he was called into a meeting with administrators, who told him a father had called and expressed concern that Wallis would “potentially teach his son to be gay.
John M Wallis Age
John M. Wallis is 22 years old.
John M. Wallis resigns after school tells him to remove the Pride flag
A Neosho teacher resigned last week after parents complained about a pride flag in his classroom and the district told him to remove it. John M. Wallis, a graduate of Neosho High School and Webster University in St. Louis, was recently hired to teach public speaking, drama, and world mythology at Neosho Junior High School.
He filed a complaint with the US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, his last day with the district on Thursday, September 2. In a series of tweets over Labor Day weekend, Wallis explained what led to him leaving.
“At the beginning of the school year, I had two signs on my chalkboards that said ‘Everyone is welcome in this classroom’ and an LGBTQ + pride flag on my bookshelf,” he wrote on Twitter. “This was an attempt to make my classroom more open and welcoming to all of my students and nothing was ever taught about the flag because it was there as a reflection of my classroom as a safe space for my LGBTQIA + students.” .
Before the first day of school, he said, he asked the administrators for permission to hang the banner, “and they advised me against it, but they didn’t tell me not to.” So he held up the flag and two signs on his blackboards that said “Everyone is welcome in this classroom.”
During the Aug. 26 meeting, administrators told him to remove the signs and the flag, which Wallis said one of the administrators compared to the Confederate flag.
“They told me that in the classroom I had to be in the middle of the road on political issues, and I said, ‘That’s fine. This is not a political problem, ‘”Wallis said. “I said, ‘This is a human rights problem.’ And then they told me that I had to be in the middle of the road on human rights. There is no middle way on human rights. ”
Wallis said students came “every hour” on Aug. 30 to ask where the flag and signs were. He told them that he had a meeting and they told him to remove it. “And then I went one step further and said, ‘If you have a problem with that flag that represents me or my students, there are other classes you can find,’” he said he told the students.
The next day, he said, he was called into a meeting with Jim Cummins, the superintendent of the Neosho school district, who said several parents had called and that Wallis was “pushing an agenda in the classroom.”
Cummins asked Wallis to sign a letter that prohibited her from discussing LGBTQ-related topics in the classroom.
The letter, shared with NBC News, said that if Wallis “was unable to present the curriculum in a way that keeps her personal agenda on sexuality out of her narrative and classroom discussions, we will ultimately terminate her employment. “.
He added: “To clarify this further, no references to sexuality or gender will be displayed in your classroom, your classroom instruction and conversations will be kept away from discussions of human sexuality and / or sexual preference, and any research or Assignment given should not require a topic related to the above. ”
Wallis said that she finally signed the letter, but she resigned the next day. She had planned to stay until September 30, but on September 2, administrators told her that they had found a replacement for her and that she had until the end of the day to pack her classroom. She tweeted about the experience a few days later.
Now that everything is officially over, I can share some news;
I am no longer a teacher with Neosho…
1/
— John M. Wallis (He/They) (@MrJWallis) September 5, 2021
Neosho has no mention of gender identity or sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policy, and that is disconcerting enough. Couple that with a policy banning anything that expresses part of me in the classroom, and it makes for a hostile work environment.
8/
— John M. Wallis (He/They) (@MrJWallis) September 5, 2021
Cummins said in a statement: “Based on all personnel matters, there is a limited amount of information that the school district can share.”
Wallis, who said he grew up as a locked-up teenager in Neosho, said the letter broke his heart, adding that “the term ‘sexual preference’ was used, showing me that the district and the people in Neosho clearly believe that they still it’s a choice to be who I am. ”
He has since filed a complaint with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights alleging that he suffered employment discrimination because of his sexual orientation. Cummins declined to comment further on the complaint.
During his first meeting with school administrators, Wallis said, one told him that the school’s LGBTQ students know they are supported, but added: ‘If that was the case, I wouldn’t have had students thanking me, because they didn’t.’ I don’t know where else to go. So it became very clear to me that this district, this school, was not a place where they felt safe, but for them to see that flag in the classroom, they instantly knew that my classroom was an environment where they could learn and where they could learn. I could feel safe. ”
Now, Wallis said, he plans to move to St. Louis, where he hopes to be a speech and debate coach, but he no longer plans to teach K-12.
“I don’t want people to think that I hate my district. I grew up there. I love it, but there are very clear issues and public education is intended to serve the entire public, ”he said. “And if we are not doing it by protecting LGBTQ + educators and students, then we are not doing what public education should be doing.”
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