Wednesday, March 13, 1996

Source: Associated Press

BYRON CENTER -- The school board suspended two people following an investigation into whether employees illegally released students' addresses to help distribute an anti-gay video.

The Byron Center High School's technology director, Ronald Reisterer, is suspended for four weeks, and the guidance counselor, Brian Friddle, will be off the job for two weeks, the superintendent said.

Homosexuality has fractured this conservative Grand Rapids suburb. Music Director Gerry Crane almost lost his job in December after news spread about his relationship with another man.

Crane's supporters say he is a fine teacher. Opponents, however, believe his sexual orientation sets a poor example for teen-agers.

Parents of Crane's students said they received a package of anti-gay material in the mail two weeks ago, including a video of homosexual sex acts.

Superintendent Philip Swainston said the board acted on his recommendation to punish Reisterer and Friddle at its meeting Monday night. He announced the suspensions in a brief statement Tuesdaybut was otherwise unavailable. Reisterer and Friddle could not be reached for comment.

The anti-gay packages included a letter signed by 38 people associated with a group called Parents for Traditional Values. "There needs to be a deliberate effort towards precision in our understanding of the tremendous moral storms that are sweeping our country," the letter said.

Although Crane kept his job, the school board condemned his lifestyle and promised to keep an eye on him.

[The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project notes:
The phone number for the Byron Center Public Schools (where you can reach the Superintendent of Schools, who is Philip Swainston, and the Board of Education, whose President is Robert Kaiser)
is (616) 878-1541; the fax there is (616) 878-0233,
and the mailing address is 2475 84th St., Byron Center MI 49315.]

**Any letters in support of Gerry Crane which are sent to the school board should also be copied to Gerry himself. His lawyers are trying to get copies of all letters that the school has received (4,000 according to the school, which is charging them for each copy), but they fear that the school is destroying letters which support Gerry and tipping the scales to show favor for the school board's recent actions.

If people send letters to Byron Center High School regarding Gerry's situation, they should copy them to Brad Bergman at either
(brad_bergman@studio.disney.com) or (BBergman01@aol.com)
so that he can forward them to Gerry. Please indicate somewhere in the letter (preferably at the beginning) that it is a copy of a letter that was actually mailed to the school board, if that is the case.

***Letters from gay/les/bi current or former high school students could greatly benefit their cause, as such letters give the school board solid proof that gay and lesbian students do actually exist, and in greater numbers than the board is willing to acknowledge.

Another newspaper to write to is
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
155 Michigan St. NW,Grand Rapids,MI,49502
-(Fax 616-459-4126, print run 146,749). Address the general issues, not the story specifics, as the above story was not from this paper, but this paper has covered the story in past and has a large circulation.

{The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project notes: According to People for the American Way, Governor John Engler proposed, unsuccessfully, the outright repeal of the entire state school code, a move that was WELCOMED by the State Board of Education (a body which has been in close contact with the far-right group called "Michigan Family Forum.")

**The Michigan State Dept of Ed. is developing core academic curricular standards for the state. To input your thoughts re inclusion of fair and accurate information into these curricular standards, write :
Michigan Dept. of Ed., POB 30008, Lansing MI 48909. The Superintendent of Public Instruction is Robert E. Schiller. Michigan's DOE Web site is located at
http://web.mde.state.mi.us/ ]

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