Overland
High School teacher Jay Bennish has been suspended for making remarks
critical of the Bush regime in his classroom. Demand that the
suspension of Jay Bennish be immediately withdrawn and that he be
allowed to return to teaching, unimpeded by harassment or threats from
inside or outside the school.
Contact Overland High School Administrators:
Principal Jana Frieler jfrieler@cherrycreekschools.org
School Phone: 720-747-3700 FAX 720-747-3895
Superintendent: Monte Moses 720-554-4213
Sign and Circulate this Statement:
On January 31st, George W. Bush stood in
front of the world to deliver his State of the Union speech that
angrily defended his murderous war on Iraq, the Patriot Act and NSA
spying, and his whole ugly program. The next day, Jay Bennish, a
teacher at Overland High School in suburban Denver, stood in front of
his geography class and spoke a simple truth: Bush’s program of spying,
forced religion, unjust war and oppressive foreign policies is immoral
and a grave danger to humanity. In his critique of the Bush
Administration, Bennish commented, “I’m not saying Bush and Hitler are
exactly the same, obviously they’re not. OK. But there are some eerie
similarities to the tones that they use.”
For this, Bennish has been suspended and could be
fired from his teaching position at Overland High. A student who
complained about Bennish’s progressive views hid a tape recorder in
class and turned it over to the school’s principal. Right-wing bloggers
and media pundits have gone on a rampage to put Bennish at the center
of a witch-hunt atmosphere for the ‘crime’ of exposing the very real
crimes of the Bush regime.
In an act of inspiring defiance and large-mindedness,
150 students walked out of class to protest Bennish’s suspension,
demanding that Bennish continue teaching at Overland High and chanting
for peace. The students’ demands cannot fall on deaf ears and the
persecution of Jay Bennish must not go unchallenged!
At a time when critical thought and dissent are under
attack and a chilling atmosphere looms over academia, the suspension
and possible firing of Jay Bennish demands nation-wide, public
opposition. At a time when someone like University of Colorado Ethnic
Studies Professor Ward Churchill can be systematically attacked – in
the media and by people within the government – and nearly forced to
resign for political statements he has made, a precedent allowing for
the same or worse for a public high school teacher must not be allowed!
The firing of Bennish would represent a step toward a
future where electronic surveillance and fear are classroom norms,
where adherence to public policy is mandatory and dissenters whisper
behind closed doors in fear of a network of informants and spies. If
people can remain silent as a public school teacher is spied on, and on
that basis is suspended and could face firing for telling the truth to
his students about the horrors being committed by their government,
what will it take for people to step out? That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn ( or be forced ( to accept.
Will Bennish’s name simply get lost in a long list of
teachers and professors who have their careers come to an abrupt and
humiliating end for publicly opposing the Bush Regime, or will
thousands and thousands of people step out to oppose this unjust
suspension and all it represents?
The answer to that question is up to us.
Bennish not only dared to ask the questions all too
few are asking; he challenged his students to ask them, too. The
question of whether Bennish spoke the truth must enter into this
debate. His direct challenge to Bush’s “do as I say, not as I do” logic
and his encouragement for students to look beyond the surface in the
search for what is true, must be supported, not attacked! The World
Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime.
Please add your name to this statement and demand that the
suspension of Jay Bennish be immediately withdrawn and that he be
allowed to return to teaching, unimpeded by harassment or threats from
inside or outside the school.
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If you would like to see the above statement printed in the Denver
Post, please call our office at 866-973-4463 to donate specifically for
this purpose.