Warwak Fired

Dave Warwak was dismissed unanimously by the Board yesterday at a special meeting that took place just prior to the regularly scheduled Board meeting. Despite the earlier time, many parents in town attended the meeting to support the community, the school district, and the administration in an action that was widely expected.

The meeting opened with public comments. Those making comments were limited to three minutes of speaking.

First off, Cindy Pilz addressed the Board. With her permission, here are her comments to the District:

"Thank you to Dr. Krause and Dr. Mahaffy for their expert handling of the recent personnel problem facing the district. They have led with dignity, and shown great diligence in making things right at the Middle School. Both would likely say that they are just doing their jobs, but issues of this caliber don’t appear in the training manual. Their self control and patience have been thoroughly tested and they have come out with grades of “A” in my book. On behalf of myself and my family, thank you for protecting our children’s best interests and our parental rights over all other concerns."

Next up was Steve Beyer. He addressed the Board with these comments, also included here with his permission:

"I am here to support the board of school's decision to fire Mr. Warwak. I have a major concern in Mr. Warwak's mental stability based on what he said to my son in class and giving out a book to him that was not approved by the board as part of the Art Department's curriculum.

"I have also read Mr. Warwak's comments in the paper, on PETA's website, and on MySpace, and again am concerned about his mental stability, and the safety and well being of our children.

"It appears to me that Mr. Warwak does not understand that what he is doing is wrong, and that our kids are not guinea pigs for him to teach non-art-related information. Our kids are in this class to learn about art. Mr. Warwak is using his classroom as a platform for vegan ideas and our kids have no choice but to listen to him.

"It is time for the board to send him home for good and let him spend his time teaching all those who want to listen to his ideas in a non-classroom setting."

Lastly was Mr. Warwak himself. He started by chastising the Board for limiting him to three minutes, while they spent weeks building a case against him. He again cited the policy for Teacher's Institute to provide humane and moral education and said that in the years he's been teaching in the district, he was not once given this education. He charged that the school goes out of its way to suppress his teaching of veganism and animal rights. Every time he tried to teach it, Warwak said, Dr. Mahaffy tried to stop him. He said the system is set up to censor him.

Warwak handed out cards to Board members that said "Do you want to know a secret not many people know?" on one side, and "Look up 'Factory farming'; look up 'vegan'" on the other. He said that right now, in many cities, people are handing out cards like this to children.

He also railed against the milk posters in the lunchroom, saying they were misleading. "When was the last medical journal you read about milk?!" he shouted to Dr. Mahaffy. He again made a plea for the school lunch program to become completely vegan and yelled to the Board, "you're killing my friends!"

Many of his comments were directed not to the Board, but to the audience and media representatives at the meeting. When Pat Hughes, Board President, requested that Warwak address his comments to the Board at a Board Meeting, Warwak shot back, "The world is my audience. I'm speaking to them." At least twice, the Board allowed Warwak to go over his allotted three minutes.

After a long executive session, where Mr. Warwak was again invited to address the Board away from the audience and the media, the Board voted 7-0 to dismiss Warwak. They issued a press release that detailed the reasons for Warwak's termination:

1. Warwak had stopped teaching art and without telling the board, the Principal, the superintendent, or the students' parents, converted his art classes into classes on veganism and animal rights. The board stressed that Warwak did not merely mention his vegan beliefs during his classes or casually mix in comments about animal rights during art projects, but rather from the beginning of the school year, he dedicated his instruction to preaching to fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders that eating meat, milk, and animal products was bad and that following a vegan lifestyle was good. According to the board, Warwak spent entire classes on veganism and animal rights, telling students that animals were tortured to make the meat they ate, assuring them that they would live ten years longer if they became vegans and having students read aloud from books advocating veganism. He also distributed tracts published by "PETA" and "Vegan Outreach" and directed students to Google terms such as "slaughtering" and "factory farming" which would take them to websites with graphic depictions of animals being slaughtered. The board noted that Warwak continued this conduct even after being told by administrators to stop.

2. After converting his art classes into classes on veganism and animal rights, Warwak told his students not to tell their parents or teachers or principal about what he was teaching them in his classes. Warwak told his students that parents would be mad, teachers would be mad, and the principal would be mad, so "let's keep it a secret."

3. Warwak repeatedly refused to answer questions from administrators and the district's lawyer about what he had been teaching and what literature he had distributed to students. On Monday, September 10, 2007, Warwak left a meeting set up by the district to interview him regarding parents' complaints about what was being taught in his art classes. Warwak walked out of that meeting without answering the district's questions, saying, "I don't like this at all. It's not about me and I refuse to participate in this [expletive]."

Board President Pat Hughes said, "Warwak shouldn't have secretly turned his art classroom into a zone of indoctrination. This is a democracy and other people have a say over the curriculum. Mr. Warwak shouldn't be allowed to impose his personal views on a captive audience."

Board Vice-President Steve Knar said, "The Board respects the right of all employees to follow their own belief systems and respects the diverse opinions of the individuals who make up our school community. This isn't about whether veganism is good or bad. It's about the right of the district to be informed about the instruction taking place in the classroom and its ability to control the curriculum. What Mr. Warwak could not do, and remain an employee of the district, was to unilaterally turn his art classes into classes on veganism and animal rights, tell his students not to tell their parents about it, and then refuse to answer the district's questions about what was going on in his classes."

According to news reports, Warwak has threatened to file civil charges against the district following his dismissal.