Yoakley told the Student Press Law Center in Washington, D.C., that the transfer came after he refused a suggestion by Principal Steven E. Millsaps that he resign. Yoakley had been at the high school since 2000 and was chair of the English Department.
I unsuccessfully attempted to reach Yoakley after the transfer. In the SPLC story published Tuesday, he said he believed the transfer was in direct retaliation for a student-written feature in the 2012 high school yearbook about an openly gay student.
In addition, in February, the principal refused to allow the distribution of high school newspapers that contained a column about atheism by another of Yoakley's students. Later, the News Sentinel and other papers across the country ran the column.
The SPLC, which advocates for student press rights, said in its story that although Yoakley does not want to pursue legal action, he has grounds for a suit.
"If the change in duties is perceived as retaliatory," it can be the basis for a lawsuit, said SPLC Attorney Advocate Adam Goldstein.
"I'm not happy with the reassignment, but will make the most of it and use it as an opportunity to grow as a teacher," Yoakley told the SPLC. Yoakley believes the move was "designed to appease a small, but vocal, group of voters." Specifically, a group organized behind Loudon County school board member Van Shaver. Another, seemingly larger, group in the community has encouraged more tolerance.
As both a journalist and a former high school yearbook and newspaper advisor, I believe Yoakley has been doing exactly what he's supposed to do. As he told the SPLC: "I view the school yearbook and newspaper as student media. They make the editorial decisions, they decide the content and layout."
Earlier he had told the News Sentinel's Hugh G. Willett that he believed the student journalists should have the freedom to cover the stories that make the school "the school."
And the students get more than a grade. They get freedom, respect, trust, high expectations. They learn collaboration, research, problem solving. They refine their language skills, and they become comfortable with technology. They can also win contests and scholarships.
The only problem in Lenoir City is that high school students have accepted reality: Gay people are living amongst us in East Tennessee. And East Tennessee society as a whole hasn't accepted that as a reality. We see the growing pains of that all around us.
The city of Knoxville established policy earlier this year that city government will not discriminate against gays or lesbians in hiring or contracting, yet the mayor and most of the City Council proudly stood for a picture when a new Chick-fil-A franchise opened in my neighborhood. The corporation's WinShape Foundation, among other egregious practices, actively promotes reparative therapy that seeks to "free" people of being gay. The irony of the incongruence was overwhelming.
Then there is the matter of people who because of societal pressures have lived their entire lives repressing their true sexual orientation, only to have the reality come breaking through the facade in illegal ways that upend and destroy multiple lives.
Yoakley is by all accounts a good teacher. Expect him to be making waves in his new assignment. But don't expect that his transfer will make the gay and lesbian students disappear from Lenoir City High School.
Tenn.
adviser removed after yearbook publishes profile
of gay student
Superintendent claims student did not
give permission
Seth Zweifler, Student Press Law Center
TENNESSEE — A journalism adviser who was at the center of a controversy surrounding a yearbook article about an openly gay student has been reassigned.
Lenoir City High School English teacher James Yoakley was informed last week that he has been removed from the yearbook and newspaper and transferred to Lenoir City Middle School.
The school district’s decision comes about a month after the LCHS yearbook published a profile of then-senior Zac Mitchell. In the piece, titled “It’s OK to be gay,” Mitchell discusses his decision to come out as gay during eighth grade.
The story — which was packaged with a photo — also features direct quotes from Mitchell about an experience he had cross-dressing with a friend.
Yoakley, who served as chair of the school’s English department and has been advising for six years, believes the district’s move was in direct retaliation to the content.
“I’m not happy with the reassignment, but will make the most of it and use it as an opportunity to grow as a teacher,” he said in an email. “I think that because I had done nothing that warranted my dismissal and that since I refused to acquiesce to the principal’s suggestion that I resign, the system decided that the only way they could show that they had taken action was to move me to another school.”
The story prompted strong reactions from community members against its publication, with some circulating a letter demanding a response and encouraging others to “take a stand for our faith.”
A separate group — called “Take A Stand Against The Ignorance In Lenoir City” on Facebook — has encouraged more tolerance and openness by the district.
LCHS also made headlines in February when its administration refused to allow an editorial about atheism and the separation of church and state to appear in the Panther Press, the school’s student newspaper.
Yoakley believes last week’s reassignment was a move “designed to appease a small, but vocal, group of voters.”
Superintendent Wayne Miller, who made the decision, denied this, saying instead that the yearbook never obtained Mitchell’s permission to run the piece.
“Whether I think the content is appropriate or not is less the issue here than the fact that if we know we are going to publish controversial things and don’t bother to get the student’s permission, that’s a problem,” Miller said.
He added that “the courts have already been clear that these [student] publications are not open public forums ... and it was reasonable to think this story was going to create some issues.”
Yoakley, though, said Mitchell knew clearly that he was being interviewed for the yearbook, and had even openly expressed pride over the story soon after its publication.
Despite pressure from community members, Yoakley said the decision to allow the article was clear cut.
“I view the school yearbook and newspaper as student media. They make the editorial decisions, they decide the content and layout,” he said. “I have been the adviser for six years and have developed a philosophy that I think falls in line with student productions across the country.”
Though Yoakley does not plan to pursue any legal action against the district, SPLC Attorney Advocate Adam Goldstein believes both Yoakley and his students could have a strong case, even though nobody was fired.
“If the change in duties is perceived as retaliatory, it can still be the basis for a lawsuit,” Goldstein said.
He added that the minimal legal standard for determining whether a source has given permission to be interviewed by a reporter is whether a person of “ordinary intelligence” would recognize that what is happening is, in fact, an interview.
“If the school thinks that a graduating senior can’t tell when he’s being interviewed, then the yearbook is the least of their problems with their educational offerings,” he said.
According to Miller, this is not the first time that Yoakley has allowed “inappropriate content” to make its way into either the yearbook or newspaper. He believes Yoakley has not always exercised appropriate oversight over the publications, and hopes that his reassignment will allow him to be “more successful.”
Yoakley said sentiments like these have made him “stressed, anxious and worried” over the past few months.
“Every time my phone rang, an announcement was made or I received an email, I got sick to my stomach,” he said. “I never imagined this would create the controversy it did.”