Tevlin: When civics, the holidays and fashion collide

At the start of last week, while writing about the resignation of Minneapolis public schools Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson, I thought about how fortunate I was that my career trajectory did not lead me in the direction of running a public school district.

By the end of the week, I had similar thoughts about being the principal of a high school in the year 2014. Life has just gotten too complicated.

I come to that conclusion following a memo from Bloomington Jefferson Principal Kevin Groebner to parents over "misinformation regarding events at school [Friday]."

The memo was forwarded to me.

"Late last week, the Jefferson Multicultural Student Group presented a proposal to sponsor a 'Blackout Day' this Friday, December 19th, which would encourage students to wear black to raise awareness of recent events in the African-American community across the U.S.," the memo said. "This event coincides with Ugly Sweater Day."

Uh-oh. Civics, the holiday spirit and fashion had just collided.

On Monday, Groebner discovered that some in the multicultural group had planned as part of Blackout Day to protest police brutality, which is also the thrust of protests nationwide this weekend, and that the kids planned to raise money to support protesters of police brutality.

"I said that was too hot of a topic," said Groebner. "We are trying to open discussions, not close them. We came to the understanding that we were not going to talk about something that will inflame people."

Instead, they drafted the following message: "Based upon recent events in the African-American community around the country, the Jefferson Multicultural Group's purpose for Friday being Blackout Day is to emphasize that ALL lives are valuable. There will be a fundraiser tomorrow. Those funds will go to the businesses that were damaged in the Ferguson riots."

Groebner figured that would be the end of the discussion. But in this day of social media Twitter lit up with discussion of the controversy, with some students promising to dress up in white to counter any antagonism toward police.

That's when Groebner drafted the letter to try to calm the situation.

"Some of the kids wanted spirit week because it's the last week going into the long vacation," Groebner said. "The multicultural group said their Blackout Day had to be Friday to coincide with the Mall of America protest on Saturday. I finally weighed in and said, who cares, let's do both."

"I said, "This is a public high school; as long as they don't disrupt school, the kids can do that,' " said Groebner. "Kids want to express their opinions. If you try to quash that, it just gets worse. This is the kind of world we live in in the public schools."

Even more complicating was the notion that some of the multicultural group wanted to observe a day of silence. The school agreed, except in the case where a student had to participate in class.

Friday promised to be a day in which the chosen fashion choices might be an expression of festivity, a political statement or just a nod of support. Or the student's attire might mean nothing at all.

So Groebner included in his memo something he never could have dreamed writing when he was studying to go into education administration:

"The events tomorrow are voluntary and students are not required to participate by wearing black or an ugly sweater," the memo said. "If students do not wear black, it is not to be interpreted as nonsupport for the multicultural group's goal. If students do not wear an ugly sweater, it is not to be interpreted as anti-holiday."

On Friday morning, I talked to Groebner, who said things were going pretty well.

"A lot of kids are wearing black, both black and white kids," he said. "Some kids are wearing red and Santa hats. Very few are wearing white."

Groebner said he invited the multicultural group to examine racial issues in an educational setting on a later day, perhaps even inviting law enforcement officers in to participate on a panel.

I told Groebner I didn't envy his job, which he says is generally a good one. He did seem to have retained a sense of humor through it all.

"Momma don't let your babies grow up to be principals," he said.