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The district officially reprimanded the teacher who harassed Luke in class, in writing-but no suspension-and agreed to a series of actions to make amends for the impact the bullying had on Luke and prevent any further bullying and harassment of Flagler County School District students. School officials, according to the ACLU, acknowledged that Luke’s harassment had not been handled as swiftly as it should have been and several missteps had occurred: a conference between him and a guidance counselor was also misinterpreted as a confidential conversation, rather than a call to action, which caused a delay in the school’s response. He’ll continue his work through Florida Virtual School, and will have the option of either returning to FPC next fall, transferring to Matanzas or continuing with virtual school. In the meantime, Luke’s mother hired Phil Chanfrau, an attorney, the American Civil Liberties Union got involved, the school investigated, and earlier today, the ACLU and School Board Attorney Kristy Gavin said a settlement was reached: Binkley will publicly apologize, though Luke is not returning to FPC this year. Schools have a no-tolerance policy of students bullying students or using bigoted language.Īfter attempting unsuccessfully to change classes, Luke quit going to school two months ago. The incident, which the teacher did not deny, as well as the students’ jokey response, is indicative of a school culture that has yet to take gay bashing as seriously as other forms of bigoted, demeaning or bullying behavior-from students as well as faculty or employees. When he made this remark which he made several times he looked straight at me so I knew he was trying to affend me and people in the class laughed like it was a joke.” (The “joke” is said to have some currency in NASCAR circles, where Pepsi products, including Mountain Dew, are car sponsors.) “For example,” he wrote in an email he circulated to media in February, “the teacher sells soda and chips in his class and said out loud to the class that you can not put mountain dew and pepsi in the same fridge or they will turn gay. In Binkley’s class, he said the discrimination was not limited to a single incident. Ending 33-Year Disgrace, Appeals Court Rules Florida’s Gay Adoption Ban Unconstitutional (Updated).Beaven: A Nation of Bullies: Our Children Are Watching.