Vegan Teacher - Please support!
A recent story in the media about a teacher who has been suspended from his classes for encouraging students to learn about Veganism. I will repeat, suspended for encouraging students to learn. Please help make sure this doesn't stand, read on to find out how. Just copy & send the letters below the news articles.
Background story from: the Daily Herald
Fox River Grove Middle School art teacher Dave Warwak has been suspended with pay for urging school officials and students to learn more about veganism.
Warwak said he received a letter from the school district on Thursday instructing him to stay away from school grounds "except to return (school) materials to the district office."
The brief letter does not mention the length of Warwak's suspension or how officials plan to handle his future tenure with the school district.
The letter also makes no explicit mention of pay. Warwak said he was told by school officials he would be suspended with pay.
"I had my check deposited last night, so they're still paying me," Warwak said. "This letter is their way of saying, 'We're in control.' Now they're looking at ways to defend themselves or smear me, and they're coming up empty on both fronts."
Tim Mahaffy, the school's principal, confirmed Warwak is still an employee of the district, and the school district is conducting an "investigation" into Warwak's tenure. Mahaffy declined to comment further on the art teacher's tenure.
Warwak threatened to sue school officials earlier this week after he was removed from his classroom for teaching his students about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle.
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.
Warwak told school officials on Monday that unless the middle school served exclusively vegan lunches, which contain no animal products, he would pursue a case against the school for violation of the Illinois school code.
Another story from Fox News
Dave Warwak has been a teacher at Fox River Grove Middle School for eight years.
The 44-year-old became a vegan in January and believes the school is "feeding poison" to students. He also believes the school's posters featuring milk are wrong.
Warwak won't return until the posters are removed, he said. He's looked into filing child-endangerment charges because he claims it's wrong to promote animal products as part of healthy diet.
Warwak was asked to leave the school last week because he talked about animal-cruelty issues, he said.
The school's superintendent, Jacqueline Krause, said Warwak wasn't fired.
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Teacher Info:
Name: Dave Warwak
City of residence: Williams Bay, WI
Dave@inslide.comEmail Dave here
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Support Mr. Warwak by sending the following letters to him and to the media
Thank you letter to Dave Warwak
Dear Mr. Warwak,
I am sending you this letter of gratitude for your recently taking a stand to educate children about the various positive reasons for considering Veganism as a lifestyle. It is a special, if rare, occurrence to see in the mainstream media someone who is passionate and well versed about this issue. It's great to see others covering such realities as the truth about factory farming, animal agriculture, the ensuing environmental destruction, and the stripping of compassion from the hearts of our citizens, especially children.
I support your motion to shed light on the facts about living compassionately. While there are many reasons to go Veg, the horrible and cruel conditions of the so-called animal 'production' industry are the closest ones to the hearts of children.
I encourage you to continue to speak out whenever possible. And to continue use the current wave of attention to tactfully communicate the shared position of those who have been enlightened about these issues.
Kind regards,
(Your Name)
School Name: Fox River Grove Middle School
Email the school principal & superindendent, Tim Mahaffy & Dr. Jackie Krause
Letter to the School Principal
Dear Mr. Mahaffy,
On behalf of concerned citizens, I'm writing to express concern over the recent disciplinary actions taken against Dave Warwak, an art teacher at your school. According to news reports, Mr. Warwak was disciplined for informing children about the cruelty of the meat industry and the enormous health benefits of going vegetarian.
It's a sad day when a teacher is punished for telling students the truth: that by going vegetarian, they will dramatically improve their health while saving animals from cruelty so extreme that it would warrant felony cruelty-to-animals charges in the state of Illinois if the victims were dogs and cats rather than chickens, pigs, and cows. In a time of growing violence in schools, a teacher who is bringing a message of compassion should be applauded, not punished. Students in every school should have teachers like Mr. Warwak to tell them that the "chicken nuggets" they consume in the cafeteria were once living, breathing animals who were crammed into filthy sheds and pumped full of drugs before having their throats slit while they're still conscious.
Mr. Warwak was also apparently distributing copies of John Robbins' book The Food Revolution, which documents not only the cruelty of the meat industry but also the environmental and health benefits of a vegetarian diet. In these days of skyrocketing childhood obesity, we hope that Mr. Warwak's students will take the book's message to heart: According to the American Dietetic Association, a vegan diet is appropriate for all ages and vegans have lower rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity than meat-eaters do.
Sincerely,
(Your Name)
(Credit to Bruce Friedrich for the letter to T. Mahaffy)
Also watch these news videos:
FOX News Video
And this WGN Interview from Youtube (first 45 seconds)
To summarize: Although Mr. Warwak may not be the best candidate for a vegan media campaign, given his very passionate methods of speaking his mind, I hope folks will see through the tactics to the issues. I feel the core problem is our educational system partnering with animal agriculture and thereby creating less healthy children who are more detached from other living beings.
Thanks from VegSarasota!
VeganTeachers.com will be coming soon!
posted by Raylon @ Monday, September 17, 2007
3 comments
3 Comments:
Seems we have revolution here in America erupting under our noses and there is not much we can do about it. This revolution pits compassionate children against their uncaring parents. The revolution even has a name, “Vegan America – Revolt!” The revolution was born from incidents surrounding Dave Warwak and his persistent attempts to teach Humane Education at Fox River Grove Middle School. Warwak said, “I can’t understand why they are fighting so hard against something so good. The World is behind us and prepared to help. There is every reason in the world for the school to go vegan and not one single reason to do otherwise” PETA’s Vice President, Bruce Friedberg is offering to help Fox River Grove Middle School with its transition to a vegan diet “We'll pay for food for a week, get vegan chefs in to help and consult, whatever”. The “Chicago Animal Rights Meetup Group”, “Mercy for Animals”, and other groups around the world are prepared to step in and help Fox River Grove Middle School become the first vegan public school in America. The “CARMG” is embarking on a campaign to educate the youth of America. The group’s president, Shalesh Kumbhat and Warwak are very enthusiastic about the group’s new focus. The campaign consists of passing out small business cards to children wherever they may be. Thanks to Kumbhat’s efforts and his extensive connections, animal rights groups, vegetarians, vegans, and humane educators all over the world will be passing out business cards to children wherever they may be. Warwak said, “Groups are hitting the streets, during times when children are most likely to be out and about. Groups are already planning on a full force presence on Halloween. Even vegans who stay home will be passing out vegan candies accompanied by a message of love.” Warwak, then went on to say, “So far today, I passed out 34 cards!”
The business card’s front reads:
Remember the Santa Claus lie?
One lie is so big, some people prefer to keep it hidden.
So hidden, some never find out!
Do you want to live a lie?
The back reads:
Go to your favorite search engine.
Look-up “Factory Farming” Look-up “Vegan”
“Naming a rock, a banana, does not make it food”
http://inslide.com/respect
Thanks for the comment,
I think it is a great goal to have a school convert to all vegan food. It is obviously a big step though, so I think allowing a compromise of the inclusion of vegan options would be a wonderful move in the right direction as well. It is important to reward compromise and not demonize institutions unwilling to turn 180 degrees overnight. It does more for the public perception when we work with those who may be less informed.
Approaching kids directly is an interesting tactic, I think teenagers who are more likely to be able to understand the nature of manipulation are a great group to reach out to. In my experience only the brightest of young children can grasp the enormity of this subject, so I encourage compassionate, moderated techniques when addressing the youngest of children.
I have nothing against Vegans, but this guy is an ART TEACHER. So teaching vegetarianism during ART CLASS seems very off-topic. I went to public schools, and I recall how some wacko teachers would take their class as a forum to indoctrinate students into whatever crap they were into. I hated it then, and I can imagine that there are kids who wanted to learn ART and who complained about the extraneous bullshit. Somebody in ART CLASS must have complained.
I bet you won't post this comment, and that will show how much you are just like the school system.
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