Abstract
Joe McGinnis, principal of Jackson High School, is caught in the conflict between community values, parents’ rights, teacher speech, public health policy, and his own positioning within the community and faculty. He must decide whether and how to discipline a teacher and former mentor who, in the absence of a clear school district policy, supplied a student with information regarding sexual health. The parents claim the teacher exceeded her duties by providing morality education that contradicted parental and community values. The teacher asserts she acted in the best interest of the student’s health and academic future. This case poses questions about professional ethics and morality, community governance and school health education policies, school human resource rules, and school power.
Case Setting
Jackson High School is the only high school located in a rural school district and is composed of approximately 650 students. The socially conservative community is made up of a high number of church-going families. However, a developer has constructed new neighborhoods in the school district, and rural Jackson is transitioning into a suburb for professional families from Grove City. With that growth has come increased diversity of community members’ political, religious, and social affiliations and belief systems.
Jackson’s school board adopted an “abstinence only” sex education program within the health curriculum to reflect the community’s wishes and federal policies. However, in the past 10 years, Jackson has had a slow increase in the number of unintended teen pregnancies. Given the limited resources in the area, the girls who have become pregnant have attended Jackson until giving birth, but very few have continued their schooling after becoming mothers. There has been relatively little impact on the young men involved in the pregnancies. Some in Jackson’s diversifying population have voiced concern about the rise of teen pregnancy and have suggested revision of the “abstinence only” program. However, those individuals are still in the minority, and the established Jackson community tends to dismiss the concerns. Instead, most Jackson residents avoid this contentious education issue by focusing on school improvement efforts and raising test scores. To these residents, sex just isn’t something to be discussed in their own school experiences—at least not in the classroom. And many parents trusted the school counselor, Rhonda Louis, to discuss this delicate subject.
Ms. Louis felt good about guiding students toward abstinence. Not only was it a popular position with parents in their community and with school administration, but over her long tenure at the school, she had seen the challenges experienced by girls who became pregnant in high school. Ms. Louis had worked with several girls who felt shamed, who dropped out, and who fell far short of their career and personal potential due to the interruption of a teen pregnancy. Consequently, she felt it was her mission to save future girls from these hardships. She felt certain that she was carrying out the moral mission of the board and the community by impressing on students the physical and emotional health threats implicated by teen sexual activity. Ms. Louis also felt personally that abstinence was the best and most moral approach for students, and she saw herself as their caretaker. She had devoted her life to these kids, and she was determined to see as many as possible have happy futures.
Case Actors
Ms. Sally Reynolds
Ms. Reynolds is a veteran teacher of 12 years at Jackson High School. She lives in Grove City, a larger city 20 miles from Jackson. She has taught all levels of English and has been an advisor for the yearbook and the school newspaper, and both publications have earned awards for their artistic and journalistic work under her guidance. She and some colleagues have also prepared students for the Academic Decathlon with great success. The team has reached the state championship 4 out of the past 5 years in competition, and they won last year. As a teacher and advisor, Ms. Reynolds is well respected by her peers and students for her dedication to excellence and long hours.
Tracy Dimmick
Tracy is 17 and an active member of her senior class at Jackson High School. She is a three-sport athlete, an honor student, and an editor of the school newspaper. Tracy is mature and friendly. She often is at the center of Jackson’s youth social and academic scene. Ms. Reynolds was Tracy’s 9th- and 11th-grade English teacher, and Tracy has tremendous respect and admiration for her. Tracy appreciates that Ms. Reynolds exposed her to the healing benefits of writing during Tracy’s early high school experience, and Ms. Reynolds has been Tracy’s newspaper advisor for the past 2 years. Tracy views Ms. Reynolds as a mentor who will guide her toward a career as a journalist in a larger city.
Mr. Joe McGinnis
Mr. McGinnis is enjoying his 2nd year as principal at Jackson. He rose to the principalship after 6 years on Jackson’s faculty teaching social studies and humanities. His confidence is growing in his position, but he values having confidants on staff. Sally Reynolds is undeniably one of those confidants and allies, and he has often sought her perspective when wrestling with challenging questions in the past year.
It was Ms. Reynolds who encouraged Mr. McGinnis to pursue his graduate degree toward being a principal. In his first years of teaching, Mr. McGinnis heavily relied on Ms. Reynolds’ guidance in navigating the written and unwritten social rules of the school, setting behavior expectations, creating classroom environment, and managing other aspects of teaching. She also helped him make connections with other staff members and endorsed him as a capable and visionary young teacher. Spending long hours under Ms. Reynolds’s mentorship, Mr. McGinnis was able to see just how committed Ms. Reynolds is to Jackson and its students.
Ms. Rhonda Louis
Rhonda Louis was born and raised in Jackson. She attended the nearby Christian University and received her degree in counseling. She has been a permanent figure at Jackson High School for more than 40 years and is near retirement. She is respected by parents because she firmly reinforces a “Jackson parent’s perspective” when advising students. She is well liked by staff, and students appreciate her confidentiality.
Case Narrative
Tracy Dimmick practically lived at the school newspaper office, a fact about which her parents both complained and bragged. As a devoted editor, she often worked well into the evenings, especially on Wednesday nights, the final chance to assemble and proof each week’s version of the paper before it would be sent to the printer. A perfectionist, she poured over each line of the paper well after her peers had gone home, priding herself on finding edits missed by other eyes. Ms. Reynolds encouraged this devotion in Tracy, and she always stayed as late as Tracy to ensure her safety, to be available for last minute-editorial consultation, and to tackle her own classroom grading or other teaching projects.
One Wednesday evening, Ms. Reynolds noted that Tracy’s behavior was different. She observed that Tracy uncharacteristically snapped at some staffers, frequently left the room, and played constantly with her phone. Although she stayed well after her peers left to proof the week’s issue, the work she submitted to Ms. Reynolds was not typical of Tracy’s editing. Ms. Reynolds took a red pen and quickly inked up half of the front page piece before addressing Tracy. “Tracy, this just isn’t the kind of work I’m used to seeing from you,” Ms. Reynolds sighed as she sat down across from Tracy in the newspaper office. “The lead article’s title is misspelled, and the caption under this photo names the wrong student” she explained. Tracy nodded as her eyes welled, but she did not say anything. Ms. Reynolds leaned back. “It seems like it’s not a good time to talk about this now,” she said. “I’ll take care of this and submit it tonight.”
Tracy nodded again. It was quiet for a moment. “Can you keep a secret, Ms. Reynolds?” Tracy asked. Ms. Reynolds felt uncomfortable with the question. She paused and responded “Tracy, is there something you need help with?” Tracy appeared relieved. She confided that she and her boyfriend had been sexually intimate. She explained that after months of waiting they had had sex that was spontaneous and unplanned, and unplanned meant unprepared and unprotected. Tracy went on to say that she had been with her boyfriend for more than a year, that the intimacy was very important to him, and that she was comfortable and ready for this new level of a relationship, but she was concerned about becoming pregnant in the future. Tracy asked Ms. Reynolds about what she should do to make sure she does not get pregnant like a lot of other girls at Jackson.
Ms. Reynolds knew this was an uncomfortable subject and tried to explain that there were several appropriate information sources Tracy could pursue, preferably her family or even medical websites. Tracy said her mother refused to talk about sex, saying that Tracy was too young to worry about it, or her mother would just change the subject. Tracy did not dare bring it up with her father. As for other information, Tracy said she had already asked some friends and looked at some websites, but it was all confusing and conflicting, and she did not know who or what to believe. Besides, she added, there were not a lot of private computers around she could use to look this up. The tension in Tracy’s voice increased when she told Ms. Reynolds that Homecoming was coming soon. Tracy knew that the opportunity and pressure for intimacy would come with the approaching parties and festivities.
Ms. Reynolds listened to Tracy’s concerns and felt she needed time to think. She asked Tracy to talk to her tomorrow afternoon.
Ms. Reynolds pondered whether to get Tracy’s parents involved in this conversation. However, she recognized that Tracy anticipated her parents’ disapproval and unwillingness to talk about sex. Tracy trusted and shared her dilemma with her, so Ms. Reynolds tried to seek advice consistent with their relationship. She would take an honest interest in Tracy’s situation and use school resources to help Tracy find a solution. Ms. Reynolds decided to start with Ms. Louis.
The next morning before school, Ms. Reynolds sat with Ms. Louis and discussed Tracy’s situation with anonymity. She shared that this was the first time a student approached her with sexual concerns, and she inquired about options she could relay to her student. Ms. Louis did not provide any options but assured Ms. Reynolds that she had plenty of experience dealing with young ladies’ sexual questions and would be happy to make an appointment for this student. Relieved to be free of this responsibility and confident a visit with Ms. Louis would give Tracy a chance to converse with someone more comfortable broaching the topic of sexual health with a student, Ms. Reynolds thanked Ms. Louis for her advice and assured her she would send the student to her that afternoon.
Tracy was upset with the advice from Ms. Louis. She arrived at the newspaper office visibly frustrated, and in a quiet moment aside from the staff’s activities, Ms. Reynolds asked her how the counselor meeting had gone. Tracy broke down and said she did not know what to do. In tears, Tracy recounted her meeting. Ms. Louis told Tracy she was disappointed that Tracy would risk her future by having sex and that Tracy should consider her family’s views. Ms. Louis also told Tracy that she should not let boys take advantage of her. Tracy was afraid no one was going to help her and she would be at risk if she continued to be sexually active and not protected. Furthermore, Tracy reported that she did not feel bad about her choice to begin a sexual relationship with her boyfriend; it was something she felt ready for. She confided to Ms. Reynolds her fear that her boyfriend would lose interest and break up with her if she slowed things down or moved the relationship backward, but she also did not want to compromise her academic future. She was even more upset that Homecoming was soon and she had not found a solution yet. Tracy was near panic.
Ms. Reynolds was not naive about Jackson’s Homecoming traditions. She knew that it was a weekend when many students had a lot of independence, had parties, and spent a lot of time hanging out without their parents. She empathized with the amount of pressure that Tracy would feel to maintain the level of intimacy in the relationship, especially on Homecoming weekend. Ms. Reynolds, once again, asked Tracy to let her think about the situation and said she would talk to her again the next day.
As an experienced teacher, Ms. Reynolds was well aware of what it would mean in this school to jump into the role of advising a student on sex and birth control. Based on Tracy’s story, Ms. Reynolds was concerned about how students would receive more comprehensive sexual health when there was no alternative to abstinence at Jackson High. Ms. Reynolds was aware of the increasing teen pregnancy rate in Jackson, and she feared that the lack of a broader conversation about healthy sexual activity was contributing to more girls getting pregnant. To Ms. Reynolds, there was overwhelming evidence that many students were going to be sexually active despite anything parents or teachers would do, so did they not at least deserve to know the facts to make good, healthy decisions?
After some soul searching, Ms. Reynolds decided to view the matter as an education issue, and as such, she determined she needed to provide Tracy with tools to make her own choices now and in the future. That evening, she did some research online and found a nearby clinic in Grove City that provided low- or no-cost sexual health advice for women outside of school influences. She additionally dusted off a book she had on sexual health, one that described the risks of being sexually active as well as the various methods of birth control. With these resources, Ms. Reynolds felt more prepared to educate Tracy.
The next day, she asked Tracy to speak with her after school. She met with Tracy and gave her the book and the contact information for the clinic. Tracy asked whether she would sit with her while she called the clinic, and Ms. Reynolds reluctantly agreed, wanting Tracy to feel supported but not wanting to get too involved. When Tracy left, she had an appointment at the clinic, and Ms. Reynolds felt relieved. By going to the clinic, Tracy preserved her autonomy, would be encouraged to be a learner in dealing with a challenge of adulthood, and would receive real advice and tools about what to do to maintain a healthy and safe relationship with her boyfriend. After that afternoon, Ms. Reynolds did not talk to Tracy about the issue, and Tracy did not bring it up.
The Wednesday after the school Homecoming celebration, Joe McGinnis arrived at work to find Tracy’s parents, the Dimmicks, waiting for him. He ushered them into his office, trying to keep his open-door promise to members of the school community. Tracy’s father dropped a book on Mr. McGinnis’s desk with an unusual brusqueness. “Mr. McGinnis,” he said, “I think we’ve got a problem here that you need to take care of. This book came from one of your teachers.” The Dimmicks shared that Tracy’s mother found the book and other literature discussing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), methods of birth control, how to use condoms, and other sexual matters in Tracy’s room. After a confrontation, Tracy admitted that she had been sexually active with her boyfriend, had gone to a clinic, and was prescribed birth control pills, and that Ms. Reynolds knew about the whole thing. Tracy’s parents were livid. They were angry that a school employee knew about personal and important decisions Tracy was making and never talked to them about it. They were also upset that Ms. Reynolds gave Tracy advice that undermined the values they worked so hard to instill in their daughter.
The Dimmicks expressed appreciation for Ms. Reynolds’ curricular guidance over the years, but they insisted that she could no longer be trusted to serve the community. To them, being a good teacher meant preparing children for college, not teaching them morality and how to sneak around with boys. They made it explicitly clear that they expected Ms. Reynolds’s resignation or dismissal. Mr. McGinnis thanked them for bringing their concerns to him directly. He expressed regret that they were upset, assured them that he cared for their family, and resolved to investigate the matter and get back to them as soon as possible.
As Mr. McGinnis investigated, it became clear that this was going to be a bigger problem than he first thought. First, Tracy ignored the advice provided by the school counselor, advice that was given as a support to the board-approved health curriculum. The greater concern, though, was what Tracy did with the advice Ms. Reynolds gave her. Not only did Tracy go to a women’s clinic, but she took some friends with her for support. Tracy’s friends had seen and read the book Ms. Reynolds shared, and some girls were making their own appointments at the clinic. The guidance counselor, Ms. Louis, was also angry that her work to protect the girls at Jackson had been undermined by someone not trained in counseling. Mr. McGinnis knew that one family’s complaint could escalate to an uproar.
At the end of the day, he wandered down to Ms. Reynolds’s room. “Sally,” he said, “do you have a minute?” Ms. Reynolds spoke without hesitation, “I did the right thing, Joe.” He sat and listened while Ms. Reynolds retold the whole story.
All I did was give her a book and the clinic’s phone number, and I would do it all over again. We are teachers. Preparing them for adult life is part of our mission. Tracy was desperate, and if I hadn’t helped her, she would have endangered her health and her future.
Ms. Reynolds emphasized that having that conversation with Tracy was not a violation of any rule or policy and that this was an opportunity for the school to revisit its abstinence-only curriculum.
The burden of safe sex is falling on these girls, not the boys. These high school girls are the ones who shoulder the responsibility when “abstinence only” education fails. How many girls around here are going to have to drop out pregnant before we realize what we’re doing isn’t working?
She threw her hands up.
When Mr. McGinnis explained the Dimmicks’s concerns, tears welled in Ms. Reynolds’ eyes. “I really need you to back me on this,” she explained, her voice shaky. “We have got to focus on what is best for the kids.” She cared too much, she resolved, to let anyone run her out for doing what was right. After taking a deep breath, she laughed, “thank goodness for tenure!” she quipped. Mr. McGinnis resolved to continue to think about the issue and shuffled out.
The next day, Ms. Reynolds stopped by Mr. McGinnis’s office before school. This was an important fight, she explained, and she would not go quietly.
Teaching Notes
Joe McGinnis, principal of Jackson High School, is caught in the conflict between community values, parents’ rights, teacher speech, public health policy, and his own positioning within the community and faculty. He must decide whether and how to discipline a teacher and former mentor who, in the absence of a clear school district policy, supplied a student with information regarding sexual health. The parents claim the teacher exceeded her duties by providing morality education that contradicted parental and community values. The teacher asserts she acted in the best interest of the student’s health and academic future. Students analyzing the case must decide how Mr. McGinnis should act, setting a precedent for policy and culture within Jackson High School.
The case analysis can take several separate approaches. First, ethical paradigms and moral standings of the characters must be navigated for the principal to retain legitimacy and effectiveness in the decisions that must be made. Second, policy issues involving local control of schools, community values, and morality education are explored, and legal perspectives in decision making are considered. Finally, the controversy surrounding sexual health education can be analyzed in the context of gender politics and critical feminist theory.
Concepts for class discussions are supplemented with a brief review of poignant supplemental readings. Discussion questions and activities that include role-plays, models, and writing assignments are provided to assist students with sorting through the concepts targeted in this case.
Concepts for Class Discussion
Ethical and Moral Standings
To justify their actions, each adult looked at the Jackson High School case’s dilemmas through different ethical lenses. If one looks at the situation from other ethical vantage points, it becomes easier to understand the difficulties surrounding this case. Shapiro and Stefkovich (2011) explain that decisions in schools are made by negotiating four discrete ethics:
Ethic of Justice—Focuses on rights, law, freedom, and how individuals interact with the state or its institutions.
Ethic of Critique—Focuses on the process in which decisions and laws are made and examines the status quo by questioning inconsistencies in power and ethics.
Ethic of Care—Focuses on care, concern, connection, and relationships and maximizing good and benevolence.
Ethic of Profession—Focuses on acting in the best interest of students by synthesizing personal values, community values, professional standards, and professional judgment.
All four of these lenses influence particular actions of the characters, especially when shifting the focus from the student to the policy, the parents, the community, and the relationships within the case. When each actor employs a different ethical viewpoint to determine a course of action, conflicts can emerge from what was, from each actor’s perspective, a reasonable and moral stance. Unaligned ethics can yield more misunderstanding and antagonism.
In addition to ethical viewpoints, participants’ moral disengagement effects their actions. Bandura (2002) and his colleagues (Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 1996) draw from the psychology literature to identify and describe disengagement practices. Of the practices Bandura describes, three can be useful when analyzing this case: euphemistic labeling, displacement of responsibility, and dehumanization.
Euphemistic labeling occurs when an agent’s actions are described in positive or advantageous terms. Bandura (2002) notes that sanitizing language and euphemisms can “make harmful conduct respectable” (p. 104) by letting the participants and observers interpret actions as benevolent or directing mental images away from a more painful truth. Euphemistic labeling works because “investing injurious means with high social or moral purpose not only eliminates self-deterrents but also engages self-approval in the service of harmful exploits” (Bandura et al., 1996, p. 365). This form of moral disengagement can be difficult to detect because it can often be labeled as “protection.”
Displacement of responsibility occurs when agents rely on policies or a diffuse, faceless bureaucracy for decision making. Bandura (2002) explains, “Under displaced responsibility, they view their actions as stemming from the dictates of authorities rather than being personally responsible for them. Because they are not the actual agent of their actions, they are spared self-condemning reactions” (p. 106).
These forms of moral disengagement are made possible because decisions made by agents in this case may not have immediate visible consequences. As Bandura (2002) explains, “it is easier to harm others when their suffering is not visible and when destructive actions are physically and temporally remote from their injurious effects” (p. 108).
Discussion Questions and Activities
Which ethical lenses are employed through the case by Sally Reynolds, Joe McGinnis, Rhonda Louis, and the Dimmicks? How do these ethics systems clash?
Examine three dimensions of moral disengagement. Which agents, if any, are employing “euphemistic labeling” to morally disengage and distance themselves from effects of their decisions? What euphemistic labels are being used? Which agents are displacing responsibility to distance themselves from their actions? Which actions taken by agents in this case do not have immediate or visible consequences that distance the agent from his or her actions?
When considering the actions Joe McGinnis could take, identify which of those actions use moral disengagement and what form of moral disengagement may be in use.
Role-play a scene in which Joe McGinnis must defend Sally Reynolds’s actions. Then role-play a similar scene with Joe McGinnis advocating Sally’s dismissal. In each scenario, individual groups can utilize one of the following ethical frameworks (see Gorton & Alston, 2009, for descriptions of each ethical approach):
Utilitarian Approach (Consider which option will produce the most good and do the least harm.)
Rights Approach (Consider if everyone’s rights and dignity are respected.)
Fairness or Justice Approach (Consider which option is fair to all stakeholders.)
Common Good Approach (Consider which option would help all participate more fully in the community and society.)
Virtue Approach (Consider which option would display courage or compassion.)
Suggested Reading
Bandura, A. (2002). Selective moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Moral Education, 31, 101-119.
Bandura, A., Barbaraneli, C., Caprara, G. V., & Pastorelli, C. (1996). Mechanisms of moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 364-374.
Gorton, R., & Alston, J. (2009). School leadership and administration: Important concepts, case studies, & simulations. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Grint, K. (2005). Problems, problems, problems: The social construction of “leadership.” Human Relations, 11, 1467-1494. doi:10.1177/0018726705061314
Shapiro, J. P., & Stefkovich, J. A. (2011). Ethical leadership and decision making in education: Applying theoretical perspectives to complex dilemmas (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
Public Policy, School Policy, and Communities
Fine and McClelland (2007) delve into the racial and class chasms that result from sex education policies and their funding. Policy and collaboration efforts that promote women’s health and agents of sexual information go beyond legal confines. Public policy reinforces norms and provides descriptions of legal and moral boundaries circumscribing agents of information such as families, educators, and health care providers.
How far can schools go in socializing the student to norms and mores of society? Vergari (2000) argues with a lens of morality politics that when it comes to policies regarding sex education, there can be a compromise between two absolute positions. But in what form will the compromise be realized? With a review of public policies, and forms of coercion and resistance at either pole, the author looks at how legal and moral decisions cross paths and how state autonomy and local controls play a role in policy adoption.
To whom do public schools belong? Are they microenvironments and instruments of local control, thus completely reflective of local values and morality, or are they macroenvironments and subject to larger public good? Is the issue of comprehensive sex education one of purely local interest, or is there a compelling large public good that schools should consider?
Teen pregnancy is rarely considered an education policy issue. This may be because schools define teen pregnancy as anybody’s issue but theirs. Wanda Pillow (2004) explains that schools question whether teen pregnancy is “a school issue, moral issue, a family issue, a women’s issue, a local issue, a government issue, or a welfare issue” (p. 4.) It is conceivable that the same hesitation and confusion exists regarding sex education.
Discussion Questions and Activities
What is the responsibility of the school in educating students about sex?
Did Sally Reynolds act on behalf of a compelling public interest that overrides the local interest, and if so, should she be punished for it? How could Sally take further action to plead her case that the current policy is not sufficient? What steps should she follow to guard her position?
Some parents try to limit the scope of a public school’s mission by saying they know what is good for their children better than a school can know. What are the limits of this argument? When should this argument prevail?
Read Fine and McClelland (2007) as well as Vergari (2000). Create a sex education policy that fits your student population and community. How would this policy be received by the school board?
What arguments would you provide to convince opponents that your policy is important?
Suggested Reading
Fine, M., & McClelland, S. I. (2007). The politics of teen women’s sexuality: Public policy and the adolescent female body. Emory Law Journal, 56, 993-1038.
Peshkin, A. (1995). The complex world of an embedded institution: Schools and their constituent publics. In L. C. Rigsby, M. C. Reynolds, & M. C. Wang (Eds.), School-community connections: Exploring issues for research and practice (pp. 229-257). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Pillow, W. S. (2004). Unfit subjects. New York, NY: Routledge Falmer.
Vergari, S. (2000). Morality politics and education policy: The abstinence-only sex education grant. Educational Policy, 14, 290-309.
Critical Theory and Power Relationships
Popular culture has multiple references to teen sex. Foucault (1978) suggests that modernity is saturated with sex talk, often obliquely through euphemisms and double entendre. In media aimed at teen audiences, this sex talk includes narratives of pregnancy scares, those in which teens who have had sex fear pregnancy and confront a plethora of concerns, from moral guilt to public embarrassment. Wanda Pillow (2004) couches these references as morality tales demonstrating how “our girls” or “good girls” ought to behave; however, in popular culture “our girls” are often middle-class Caucasian girls. Popular culture distorts the consequences of sexual activity by promoting a notion that negative consequences of sex only happen to those without the strength or moral fortitude to abstain, a group Pillow observes is more typically depicted as being young women of color. Furthermore, Pillow (2004) notes that popular culture promotes “stigma stories,” which keep the sexually active teen girl in the public sphere, encouraging us to “both consume and condemn her” (p. 174).
These stigma stories and morality tales keep sexual activity in the public mind and promote sex obsession and sexual abstinence. Stigmatizing also introduces a means of controlling and imposing desired sexual behavior while maintaining a veneer of free will (Foucault, 1978). Communities that share these stigma stories control a narrative that establishes normed behaviors for sexual activity and suggests punishments for breaking from accepted sexual behavior. Although teen girls theoretically have freedom to make their own decisions about sexual activity, in reality these norms, stigmas, and punishments can be so powerful that they may be compelled through shame into expected behavior and into suppressing questions about sexual activity or gender (Pillow, 2004). The dominant narrative enables a variety of reactions designed to control female behavior and ignore the complexity of sexuality. Pillow (2004) observes a pattern of themes found in abstinence-only messages:
Discourse of alarm
Sex is dangerous/sex education is dangerous Sex is dirty/sex education is dirty
Discourse of heteronormativity
Reassertion of traditional gender roles Heterosexual marriage is the correct context for exploring sexual activity
Discussion Questions and Activities
In what ways can Joe McGinnis discipline Sally Reynolds without reinforcing the paradigm that women acting in their own best interest are acting selfishly? To what extent, if at all, might those disciplinary actions satisfy the Dimmicks’ or community’s needs?
How can Joe McGinnis acknowledge the voices of multiple factions and recognize their place in the organizational structure of the school without being patronizing or simply placating one or more parties, and without subjugating the least powerful members of the organization?
How can the conflicting messages of teenage girl sexuality described by Pillow undermine the authenticity of the abstinence-only message presented in schools? How might a perceived lack of authenticity erode the trust teens have in teachers and schooling, and limit the moral authority exhibited by faculty?
The abstinence-only message generally reserved for Caucasian teens. How does popular culture reinforce the “good girl” as White, and upper and middle class, and the “bad girl” as either non-White or from a different economic class? What is Jackson High School’s obligation, if any, to provide a more realistic and authentic narrative of sexuality?
Design a sex education policy that acknowledges the complexity of human sexuality and could meet the needs of (a) a socially conservative community, (b) an urban community, (c) a socially progressive community, or (d) a diverse community with no dominant ideology.
Role-play a school board meeting in which your new sex education policy is debated (see above activity). Include multiple voices in the debate, rather than a dyadic exchange. Incorporate traditional conservative and liberal roles, but also consider incorporating families with Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual, or Queer (LGTBQ) partners or children, people of color, or health professionals. What other stakeholders may have diverse and nuanced opinions on sex education policies?
Augusto Boal (Boal & Epstein, 1990) explains the Cop in the Head concept as internalized oppression that prevents the oppressed from speaking or acting. Although there are no physical constraints on the oppressed, the fear of social, cultural, or political punishments may prevent the oppressed from expressing their needs, wants, or desires. Furthermore, Boal suggests these Cops may be so internalized that we may not know they exist while we are speaking or acting.
Utilizing Theater of the Oppressed techniques designed to expose the Cop in the Head (see Games for Actors and Non-Actors or The Rainbow of Desire for specific techniques), act out scenes between Tracy Dimmick and Rhonda Louis, between Sally Reynolds and Joe McGinnis, or any other characters of interest in this case. For these scenes, audiences should be participatory and actively working to identify what characters may be thinking or feeling but goes unsaid during these kinds of conversations. Explore the relationships that cause these thoughts and feelings to go unexpressed.
Suggested Reading
Boal, A. (1995). The rainbow of desire: The Boal method of theatre and therapy. New York, NY: Routledge.
Boal, A. (2002). Games for actors and non-actors (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Boal, A., & Epstein, S. (1990). The cop in the head: Three hypotheses. Drama Review, 34(3), 35-42.
Fine, M., & McClelland, S. I. (2007). The politics of teen women’s sexuality: Public policy and the adolescent female body. Emory Law Journal, 56, 993-1038.
Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality (R. Hurley, Trans.). New York, NY: Parthenon Books. (Original work published 1976)
Gilligan, C. (1993). In a different voice (Rev. ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Pillow, W. S. (2004). Unfit subjects. New York, NY: Routledge Falmer.
Rodriguez, C. R., Rosselli, H., Taylor, E. L., & Thomas, D. (1997). Gender, schools, and caring: Feminist and womanist perspectives. In N. H. Berger, Y. G. Martinez, W. C. Morse, P. G. Osnes, & J. L. Paul (Eds.) Ethics and decision making in local schools: Inclusion, policy, and reform (pp. 123-148). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
Relationships and Positioning
Gary Yukl (2003) sketches a multidimensional view of the origins and varieties of power. Significantly, Yukl emphasizes that power in organizations is multidirectional, and his piece explores the ways in which the served affect the power of their leaders. Specifically, Yukl considers the differences between what he refers to as positional power and personal power, and he identifies the sources and qualities of those kinds of authority. Yukl’s piece highlights the importance and intricacy of positioning and explores in a manner especially useful for our case the influence of personal relationships on the exercise of leadership authority and power.
Discussion Questions and Activities
Using Yukl’s definition of position power, consider how the principal in this case is positioned. What are the sources of his authority? What does he control? How does that influence his decision?
Using Yukl’s definitions of personal power, consider the personal power of each of the major players in this case. What kind of personal power do they have over the student, Ms. Reynolds, and the community? How might that factor into the decisions and next steps for the principal?
After considering the principal’s next steps, make a plan of action for carrying out his response to this challenge. Create a “to do” list, draft talking points for important meetings, and so on.
Create a diagram demonstrating the major players here and their connections to one another.
Role-play a meeting between the principal, Rhonda, and Sally. Consider the power and control that each brings to the table. How might they assert that power?
Suggested Reading
Yukl, G. (2003). Sources of power and influence. In J. Ciulla (Ed.), The ethics of leadership (pp. 3-12). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Legal Framework for Discussion
Alongside moral and leadership principles, school leaders must consider the legal implications of their decisions as well. In some circumstances, legal authorities might be determinative. In others, they may simply provide a range of choices for acting. The dilemma Mr. McGinnis faces poses questions about teacher free speech, parent authority over the curriculum, and the authority that a school leader has—or does not have—to dismiss a teacher. Apply the following authorities to the challenge Mr. McGinnis faces.
Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006)
This U.S. Supreme Court opinion holds that public employees do not have First Amendment free speech rights to statements made in the scope of their employment duties. Applied to the case, it raises questions as to what it means to be an educator and whether Sally’s individual liberties are a factor in the decision as to how to address her actions.
Brown v. Hot, Sexy, and Safer Productions, 68 F.3d 525 (1st Cir. 1995)
This decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit rejected parents’ constitutional complaints regarding a school convocation on sexuality and sexual health. It emphasizes the authority the school holds in making choices about the content of the material it shares with students.
State Teacher Tenure Provisions
Typically, state statutory provisions establish the grounds and procedure for dismissal of a tenured teacher. It would be most useful to identify your state’s teacher tenure and dismissal statutes and to apply them to this scenario. There are, however, some general principles that apply in many states. As Thomas, Cambron-McCabe, and McCarthy (2009) observe, in most locales, the grounds for dismissal include immorality, incompetence, insubordination, neglect of duty, a justifiable decrease in the number of teaching positions, conviction of a crime, and other good and just causes. In addition, most states’ provisions require schools to afford teachers a full hearing—conducted either by a school board, an arbitrator, or an administrative law judge—to determine whether they may be dismissed by school administration (Thomas et al., 2009). Such hearings afford teachers procedural due process and can be contentious, costly, and time intensive. Framing the question of how to proceed in this way gives students an additional lens through which to consider the principal’s appropriate response to calls for Ms. Reynolds’ dismissal or resignation.
Discussion Questions and Activities
What are the legal issues implicated by this case?
Did Ms. Reynolds have a free speech right to give the student the information? This discussion necessarily implicates the question of the scope of the duties of educators. Are educators constant moral guides and models, or are their duties limited?
Given her tenure in the school, does the principal even have the authority to dismiss Ms. Reynolds?
Consider this quotation from Ciulla (2004): “Laws are moral minimums that do not and cannot capture the scope and complexity of morality.” How does the quotation relate to an analysis of the case?
Role-play a teacher dismissal hearing for Ms. Reynolds. Who would speak? What would they say? What would be the grounds? What would be the rebuttal regarding those grounds? Afterward, consider how morality is defined in this setting.
Suggested Reading
Ciulla, J. B. (2004). Ethics and leadership effectiveness. In J. Antonakis, A. T. Cianciolo, & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The nature of leadership (pp. 302-327). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Thomas, S. B., Cambron-McCabe, N. H., & McCarthy, M. M. (2009). Public school law: Teachers and students rights (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Using Literature to Enlighten Discussion
Harpham (2010) observes that the study of literature can have a unique and significant impact on the study of ethics. Students access narratives, emotions, and quandaries in analyzing literature that provide an opportunity to study ethics in a way that honors the complexity of contemporary life. The following are some recommended literary pieces and accompanying exercises that can illuminate student examination of Mr. McGinnis’s challenge in the case study.
Farenheit 451
In his 1950s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury paints a picture of a society dedicated to immediate gratification and avoidance of the unpleasant. While a war rages that no one discusses and housewives swim in the minutiae of their favorite soap opera–like dramas, “firemen” make it their business to stamp out information by destroying the few leftover caches of books. Comparison of the attitudes in the book, especially those of characters who view books as overwhelming information that should be paternalistically denied the masses, with the case details will inspire lively discussion regarding debates surrounding information sharing and paternalism in school and community life. At the same time, the book contemplates a future when sexual morality is a mere memory, which will likely inspire discussion about the maintenance of sexual morality and community standards.
What parallels can be drawn between the beliefs of Bradbury’s characters and the characters in the case?
What does the novel demonstrate about fear of dispersal of information? How does that apply to the case? Do parents and school officials have a role in protecting young people from information? How is that role defined?
What does Bradbury’s book demonstrate about the maintenance of sexual morality? Whose role is it? What happens when that function changes or breaks down? What are the signs of such a breakdown? What role, if any, does the school have in maintenance of sexual morality?
The Scarlet Letter
This story of Hester Prynne, an unwed pregnant woman struggling with the community’s repudiation of her pregnancy in 17th century Boston, raises questions regarding purity, honesty, leadership, hypocrisy, judgment, and gender. Transposing the case on the themes in The Scarlet Letter will no doubt raise questions regarding the gender politics and blame in the Jackson High School case.
What parallels and differences emerge between Hawthorne’s narrative and the case?
When it comes to sex outside of traditional marriage, to what extent are young women and young men in both narratives treated differently with respect to questions of blame, responsibility, and sexual morality? What perspective might that add to Mr. McGinnis’s decision making here?
What does Hawthorne’s book demonstrate about the maintenance of sexual morality? Whose role is it? What happens when that function changes or breaks down? What are the signs of such a breakdown? What role, if any, does the school have in maintenance of sexual morality?
Suggested Readings
Bradbury, R. (1953). Farenheit 451. New York, NY: Ballantine.
Harpham, G. (2010). Distance learning: How literature teaches ethics. Anglia: Zeitschrift für englische Philologie, 128(2), 181-196.
Hawthorne, N. (1850). The scarlet letter. Boston, MA: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
Much appreciation to Dr. Samantha Paredes-Scribner for providing access to many thoughtful readings and to open discussions during our course of Moral Dimensions of Leadership, and to Dr. Gary Crow for his helpful feedback in preparation for publication.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.