An art teacher at Fox River Grove Middle School said he was kicked out of class by school officials this week because he was teaching students about his vegan lifestyle. Dave Warwak, 44, said he was dismissed before the start of Wednesday's classes by Principal Tim Mahaffy and Superintendent Jacqueline Krause and told to stay away from school grounds. The dispute between Warwak and school officials stemmed from concerns Warwak had with lunchroom posters promoting the health benefits of drinking milk. Warwak, who excludes all animal products from his diet, said he urged school officials to remove the posters because he believed it promoted an unhealthy dietary choice. The posters "are brainwashing them at an early age," Warwak said Thursday. "I asked the food service guy to read something, but he didn't want to. They left me no choice, I had to tell kids the truth." Warwak said he distributed copies of the book "The Food Revolution," which promotes the health benefits of veganism, to several eighth-graders and provided excerpts to school officials. Mahaffy sent Warwak a memo Tuesday concerning the literature and his efforts at distributing them within the school. "If you share your opinions with colleagues and they are either not receptive or ask you not to discuss the matter with them in the future, I expect you to honor their request," according to the memo, which was provided by Warwak. The memo continued: "I am requesting that you not use your literature or ideas about what is an appropriate diet to influence the students against our school lunch program." Mahaffy said Thursday that Warwak still was employed by the district, but declined to comment further. This week wasn't the first time Warwak clashed with school officials over his diet. Warwak, who has been teaching at Fox River Grove Middle School for eight years, said he became a vegan in January. He began talking to kids informally about his diet and the need to respect animal life. An art display Warwak created using marshmallow Peeps that depicted the various ways people use animals drew some criticism from Mahaffy. In a series of e-mail exchanges, Mahaffy expressed concern the project went too far in advocating a meat-free lifestyle. "I don't like tying in the school's motto of respect and responsibility to a vegetarian diet," Mahaffy wrote in April. "I don't see the correlation, and I don't want to be fielding phone calls that we are pushing an agenda on the students or other staff that is not the opinion of the district." Warwak disagreed with the contention that he was trying to push an agenda. "I thought teachers were supposed to be influential in their students' lives and to bring them the truth," he said. "Animals have nothing to give me in return for what I'm doing. Kids get this. They don't want to be uncompassionate, disrespectful people." Warwak said he plans to meet with school officials Monday to learn the fate of his future with the school district, but he doubts he'll have a future in the district. "The ball is in motion," he said. "The premise is they're going to fire me."
Hmm, I have some mixed feelings about this. Well, first of all, was he preaching a vegan lifestyle during class? If so, he should have went about his objections with the school lunch program in an entirely different way. Art class isn't the time or place to be discussing a healthy diet, however, he does have every right to discuss his feelings on his own time. For example, if he handed out flyers or brought attention to the matter outside of class, I would see no reason for him to be fired. They do brainwash children with the constant posters of how milk is such a vital part of nutrition, and he has every right to bring out the truth. A lot of people are just ignorant and don't know, or care to know, where their food comes from. If more people knew, more changes would be made. Although I highly, highly doubt those in charge of the school lunch program would change their ways, at least he would be giving the students information they deserve to know. Going about it in an open-minded, professional manner is important, though. Nobody enjoys being preached to or feeling as though someone's beliefs are being pushed upon them.
Well i duno if this guy genuinely did anything wrong or not...he could have just opposed the milk thing and made a little fuss about a few other things and got fired for that. Or he could have been a bit of a nutcase (i doubt it though) Its hard to know without knowing the guy I was fired for being lactose intolerant (and when they found out i was vegan thats what finished me) back in June
I also have mixed feelings. His quotes make him sound a bit nutcasey. There's nothing wrong with being vegan, but the way he speaks about it makes him sound a bit nuts honestly, not to mention rude. Although obviously a vegan diet is much healthier and you can argue more moral, that does not mean people who do not adhere to it are "uncompassionate, disrespectful people". I don't know if it warranted him being fired, but we don't know what he said behind the scenes. A better way for him to have approached the issue of the milk posters was that many students and teachers are either allergic or have lactose intolerance and so that it leaves them out. I'm very allergic and so it makes me feel like crap when I get lectures that I'm not losing weight because I don't drink enough milk (I was just diagnosed with celiac disease so I'm gained weight like crazy because my intenstines are healing and absorbing nutrients and calories more efficiently now). I know I've faced discrimination for my dietary issues because no one wants to be responsible for sending me to the ER when they can't tell me every ingredient in everything served at work. However, I keep these issues as quiet as possible and don't draw attention to myself about it- just like I don't draw attention to the fact that I don't eat meat other than fish. And I certainly don't insult others for their food choices.
There's always a chance those quotes could be twisted and taken out of context. We can't go messing with the status quo now can we? I don't think what he was doing is entirely unreasonable, compared to how many other influences there are on students. Even then at that age (8th grade) students are more intelligent and autonomus than they're given credit for. It's not like they're little children being forced to read the pamphlets. I wasn't drinking milk then anyway, worked out for myself that it gave me a stomach ache and didn't taste great. And yeah peeps do contain gelatin, loving the irony there.
Im an education major, and I know for a fact when it comes to kids parents, and admin dont play games. Anything that might upset their parents will get you fired. If the admin thought that he was wrong, and was pressing his beliefes on young minds then the admin did what they thought was right. Teaching any kind of belief (creationism, evolution, religion, culture, belief) thats not in the curriclum can get you in trouble. as far as I know. but i feel sorry for the guy for the sad irony of the peeps thing, and for losing his job which is never fun.
