Veteran school principal Janelle Rowe has opened up to News24 host James MacPherson after her 34-year teaching career came to an abrupt end following her refusal to take part in an LGBT event at her school.
The principal – who earlier on Monday spoke to The Daily Telegraph – was asked to host a Wear It Purple Day, which she claimed raised issues that were not appropriate for primary school children.
Wear It Purple Day is a day that encourages people to “create a safer, more supportive and more inclusive world for LGBTQIA+SB young people,” according to its website.
Speaking to News24 host James MacPherson on Monday, Ms Rowe said that in refusing to participate in the day she was trying to protect the staff from having to talk to the students about LGBT issues, saying that was best left to parents.
“My objection was the content that the teachers would have had to describe to the children,” Ms Rowe said.
“When we as educators spend time extrapolating days such as ANZAC Day or NAIDOC Day, we talk to the kids about what it’s about.
“We go into detail about the history and what the day is about. We provide activities. And that’s how I saw that where Wear It Purple Day was going to land, and I didn’t want my staff to have to talk about what each of the letters meant.”
Ms Rowe said the code of conduct among teachers is “not to talk about the sexual nature or sexual intimacies”.
“We’re told in our codes of conduct not to talk about the sexual nature or sexual intimacies, and so I was attempting to support my staff and also protect children from the content.”
Instead, Ms Rowe suggested the school take part in a ‘Bullying No Way Week’, which took a universal approach to the issue of bullying.
“Everyone is in a position where they may be bullied. Unfortunately, it’s quite rampant, and that was a more inclusive focus in my opinion,” Ms Rowe said.
When Ms Rowe’s stance on Wear It Purple Day it was brought to the attention of the education system’s higher-ups, Ms Rowe says she was summoned for a formal meeting where she says she was presented with “a list of allegations and topics that I had done wrong.”
“There was a phone call, there was an ‘I need to speak to you face to face’, there was a ‘bring a support person if you want to but come now’, and then I was told a list of allegations and topics that I had done wrong,” Ms Rowe claimed.
Ms Rowe said she was told that “half the staff were going to quit” and that she “needed to win the confidence back of staff” by relenting.
Asked by Mr MacPherson whether she was essentially asked to publicly endorse something that she conscientiously objected to, Ms Rowe replied: “Yes.”
Despite the aftermath of speaking her truth, Ms Rowe said she has no regrets, and feels that if one student was protected, and one parent felt advocated for, “then that’s great”.
“I don’t regret taking a stance because if I’ve helped one parent to feel empowered to speak up or if I protected one child from hearing something that might cause trauma or that just might give them, you know, difficulties in future life, then that’s great,” she added.
“Yeah, I’m upset that I’m not working. I really want to see children flourish and learn to read and write.”