new thread
Well, my last letter didn't get a very good response, so I will rewrite it and repost it here before I send it off. The following was a second letter I wrote, Any opinions would be appreciated.
To whom it may concern,
My name is Joshua Lupardus. I am a sophomore at Granite City High School (GCHS) in Granite City, Illinois. A public high school I might add. I am a male student with long-hair. When I first came to the school last year, I tried to join the football team. I was declined because of my hair on what the coaches said were safety issues. When I took the issue to the athletic director, now principal, Mr. Greenwald, I was appalled to hear that the true reasoning of my dismissal was because they "don't want the school to be represented like that."
Since then I have asked other coaches in the school and they all say that male students with hair passed their shoulders are not allowed to participate. In fact, the tennis caoch himself told me that though I couldn't play like that, that long hair had no detrimental effect on the female tennis players. His telling me that forced me to conclude that the school truely believes in these prejudistic policies.
According to Greenwald, the head coach is allowed to decide on such issues and he has no power over them. That is either a lie or testimony of how horrible the faculty of GCHS truly is.
Using football as an example, I cannot see how Coach Martin could possibly be that dismissive to students just because they are different. Since his arrival at GCHS Martin has never had a winning season. His team usually wins only 1 game in a 9 game season. Whether it is due to poor coaching or poor players, either way their is something wrong with it. I was recently informed that the Junior Varsity football team only has about 20 players. Can Martin really afford to deny players the privelige of playing on the grounds that he does not like the way they look? In America, a country born on the promise of equality to all men, can he truely be allowed to continue his reign of tyrancy? What gives him the right to determine, based on appearence, who is better than whom?
I have appealed to Greenwald repeatedly, but to no aveil. I have appealed to politicians. But the cowardly staff of GCHS have decided it is their divine right to strip away the rights of their students and do whatever they feel is neccessary so that the truth will not be heard. And though their intimidation may, no, will work, to deter others from letting the truth be revealed, I believe that the public has right to know what is happening in their schools.
After my contacting the Congressman, I was given heck for not following the chain of command, which at the end of this letter I will include a copy of so that others can see just how unfair it truely is. These cowardly tyrants always use intimidation tactics when they talk to me. How does it sound that one fourteen year-old student is surrounded in a room by three adult men with, whether intentional or not, the seating of one of the three right next to the only exit. Does it really take that many of the faculty to talk to one student? Did they truely need to surround said student? Are they that afraid of myself that they would only talk to me in a pack? NO, I believe that these cowardly souls were trying to intimidate me. They are trying to get me to make a mistake so they can rid the school of me. But no matter what their reasoning is, one thing holds true; GCHS is trying to keep the truth from being revealed.
I feel that this prejudice must come to an end. I feel that we as Americans have an obligation to fight injustice wherever she may bare her ugly head. I feel that these tyrants must be showed that they are not given exception from the law. I feel that we must show them that we shall not be bound by chains and forced to do their bidding. Reasoning will not work, nor will one students protest. I feel that we as Americans, no we as humans need to stand together and fight these tyrants. Our forefathers fought and died to seperate us from England and their oppressive rulers and I feel that we should not let their sacrifices be in vein. We have to show them that they do not, and will not ever have the divine power which they believe they have.
Sincerely,
Joshua Lupardus
But WHO are you going to send it to?
And what action do you want taken? I don't see much in there about asking to have him removed anymore. The facts that would justify that seem to have shifted mostly from what they did to you to how badly the team has been playing. To bolster THAT argument, find students who would have made good players but avoided the abusive and prejudicial athletic department, depriving his teams of winning players. And NAME THEM.
Oh, and their notion about long hair being a safety issue is hogwash. Point out that players for the NFL have long hair. And name them.
Bill
I was going to send it to anybody in Illinois who has any power or leverage as well as to the school itself.
This was actually a different letter just made to expose some facts. I've been over and over the NFL thing with the school. since one player cut his hair when he changed teams they feel that they are doing nothing wrong.
That would be all the registered voters in your school district and members of the school board. I hope you have lots of money for postage. Hiring a lawyer might be cheaper.
Writing letters to the local paper, posting it on bulletin boards around town and at the school, passing petitions - these might be more within your budget. And if you put it on bulletin boards, have enough copies to keep posting it, because people WILL rip it down. Also, don't keep all of your copies in one place. People may try to take them all from you. This would be theft, but I saw this happen with a protest against the dean when I was in college. If you put out copies for people to take, just put out a few. Then when those are gone, come back and put out a few more.
NFL teams are private employers. They can ask for whatever looks they want, because for one thing, their whole mission is a PR gig. If it fit their purposes, they could ask for all their team members to grow their hair out, or grow beards, for that matter.
Your situation is different. Your institutional adversary is a governmental agency, and their mission is education, not public relations.
To not have an inclusive athletic department deprives some students of an education, and it deprives those on the team of the opportunity to play with skilled players. It also creates a divisive social climate in the school, pitting students with one identity against others. Wasn't this what underlay what came down at Columbine? In fact, wasn't that school doing just what yours is doing - bestowing favors on the "jock" crowd while disrespecting other groups?
Issues within an NFL team are very different than those within a student body, but on safety the issues are aligned, so the analogy is just to be played out there. NFL teams are the pros when it comes to football. If long hair were a safety issue in the sport, it would have been banned in the NFL in a heartbeat.
Bill
I was actually going to send it via e-mail. I was specifically going to send it to every member of GCHS faculty the school board and every politician whose e-mail I can get. But I do like the idea of posting it on bullitan boards and petitions and even the paper. I will definitly consider those options thank you.
This letter was bette rthan the last one. I think you should skip the part when you talk about him being a tyrant. I think that word is too exaggerated.
Also, have you tried contacting newspapers? They might be interested if you can find students in similar situations.
Hey Lupi,
The tone of this 2nd letter sounds way more mature and convincing to me than your first. The best person to listen to from here-on, in my opinion, is Bill. Bill has a law degree, and the points he's already made to you I think will get you going in the right direction, and give you the most likely possibility of the results you're hoping for.
Whenever writing a letter like this, a LOT of "fine-tuning" has to take place. It is a hell of a lot of work!!! My blunt comments to you re. dumpng your first letter were based on my belief that I didn't know whether you knew the difference between personally attacking your adversary, or the more professional approach of attacking the stupidity of his ACTIONS. True, this problem has definitely escalated to an all-out, "war"; but, even in war you have to know when saying something really nasty and personal will only result in bouncing back at you and make YOU look like the tyrant and stubborn asshole that your adversary really is. THAT WAS MY POINT, --- so if you continue to be careful in NOT resorting to name-calling and personally attacking; but instead, stick with stating the facts and how they are blatantly unfair, you will be giving yourself a much better chance at winning.
Hope these comments have helped!
- Ken in San Francisco (who also grew up in Illinois - lol)
Ya, I was attacking him personally, but it was fun. I have decided to scrap the letter and begin a new draft attacking his actions and not him. I was hoping to have all my letters finished so I can send them out on Tuesday, but that letter will have to wait. Tomorrow I will be gathering all the information I can on everything Martin has done, from his first year here until now, and write about them. Do you think it would matter if I called him a tyrant at least once? I really like that term...
This version is much better written but lacks direction. You need to state your purpose for the letter....ie, remove the teacher, allow you to play on the team, etc.
As a public institution, they dont have the right to descriminate....I state that but in a nice way as to avoid retaliation as much as possible.
peace
clayton
I would go straight to the local newspaper or television station (if big enough and local enough) whatever that is. Give them enough information as you can with as little opinion and personal sentiment as possible--perhaps even a list of what this guy has done and little more--and identify yourself. (Newspapers are very quick to do anything and so something long and complex sent to them might not get read.) Hopefully someone will contact you for more information, interviews, clarification, etc. They may get in touch with other students who have had problems and will probably ask the school for their side of things. The end goal will be an article about the school and the coach and hopefully enough community members will get upset.
The other difference is that the newspaper will know how to package the message correctly without resorting to emotions or hyperbole and will do it in the fewest number of words possible for maximum message distribution.
Ya, I think I will see about a newspaper article. thanks
It's a good letter. It's a little wild in places, but that's OK. Tyrant is a bit strong, but nobody really expects moderate language from a teenager. You should send it to everyone on the school board.
OK, Lupi, now that I understand more about your situation, I have one more piece of advice to offer you: DO NOT INVOLVE THE PRINCIPAL. When embroiled in a controversy between a faculty member and a student, ALWAYS EXPECT to see a public school principal supporting his faculty member. Generally, the student has TO PROVE his own case, except when gross negligence on the part of the faculty person is apparent (like sexual abuse, for example). STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS HOLD PRINCIPALS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTIONS OF THEIR FACULTY. It comes down to a liability issue. A principal will support what appears to be the most logical and safest side of any controversy just to keep his own nose clean and to cover his a** if and when something goes wrong. That's one reason behind why you're being told that long hair presents a "safety hazard" on the football field. As for the other reasons, well, it seems you know all about them.
Bill is giving you great advice. Stick with him and stir up as much trouble AWAY from the school as you can. Do you feel that your civil rights are being violated? If so, talk about that. It's a subject that always gets plenty of attention.
Gandharva
A bit of proofreading is in order. Below I will clean up a few
spelling errors I caught, perhaps someone else can proofread it to catch anything I might have missed. My corrections are bracketed. A good polished letter will be more effective. Overall, I think you have received plenty of good advice. It's rather sad that in this day and age, this kind of nonsense still goes on ( faculty and administrators on power trips, that is).
Carol
Thanks, I typed it up on a notepad program that doesn't have a spelling or grammer check. I borrowed some software from a friend about half an hour ago and have corrected it. I'm about to post a revised copy of the letter.