Recap of January 30th WBC Picketers

Dear Gunn Community,

Because most parents and students were not here on Friday January 30, several of you have asked that I send out a brief summary of what occurred when Fred Phelps's WBC came to picket the Gunn campus. Here is that summary.

We had a late start to school on Friday so that students and teachers would not have to run the gauntlet of the WBC hate signs and shouted slogans. Most students and parents heeded the recommendation that the best response to this group is really no response (because they crave publicity and they get it when the press turns up in force to cover counter-demonstrations), and chose to stay home. Thank you for your cooperation. It really helped. However, there were students who wanted to exercise their right to free speech and who let us know that they would be coming to counter the picketing.

About 30 staff turned up at 7:00 am to monitor the front of the school and make sure that any Gunn students who chose to come to counter-demonstrate stayed safely on our campus, and to monitor the Georgia and Miranda entrances to make sure that non-students did not enter. By 7:15 am they were all in place ready for the picketers and the school marquee was displaying appropriate quotations. PAPD was present on campus and police cars were on Arastradero.
At about 7:15 am quite a large number of students from local high schools (Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Gatos, Saratoga, and Fremont) arrived with signs and banners. A sizable number of Gunn alumni as well as members of local community groups showed up, including a contingent from a church in Los Gatos. All these people arranged themselves on the sidewalk in front of the library and along the edge of the road. Thus, the faces that were shown on the news and on the videos posted on Youtube are not only those of Gunn students and staff. Gunn students were all, by prior agreement, on the grass (i.e. on campus) behind them. At 7:15 am the Gunn GSA students (Gay Straight Alliance members) marched out with signs and began to sing. Many people joined them as they sang songs such as "Give Peace a Chance," "Lean on Me," and "This Little Light of Mine." Most students and staff were wearing T-shirts with slogans that supported and celebrated our diversity and unity. That was also true for many, many of the students at school that day. There was a great sense of camaraderie. All those who turned up to support Gunn were friendly and peaceful. At no point did any Gunn student cross the street to engage the picketers although a group of students with a camera from Los Altos High school did so, as did some adult community members.

The WBC pickets turned up promptly at 7:25 am as expected. They demonstrated for 30 minutes and then packed up and moved to the Stanford campus. By then, other Gunn students had started to arrive at school and were drawn to the entrance of school. We allowed them to gather and continue singing. The students were appropriate and supportive of each other. We began to shepherd them to class at about 8:20 am. By 8:25 am all was quiet at the front of the school and we started a normal day. We had an excellent rally at lunch time in the quad. The theme was "All you need is love" and many students performed. All in all, what began as negative and hateful turned into a truly great celebration of unity and diversity! It was the best community-building activity I have experienced in twelve years at Gunn.

The Gunn community is very grateful to PAPD, District Office staff, OUTLET and many community members for the support we received. The picketing passed without incident. It was a great "teachable moment" for us and the incident sparked great conversation and discussion.

Noreen Likins

Here is a link to a Youtube video of the event
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hTjRuSlVM8