Cape Cod Times:

Teachers' anti-war message draws fire
By Cynthia Mccormick

June 15, 2010 2:00 AMSOUTH YARMOUTH — Some students are calling for the firing of two Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School teachers who held an anti-war sign during a school assembly Friday.

History teacher Marybeth Verani and English teacher Adeline Koscher made their silent protest during the part of the assembly in which school officials recognized graduating seniors who are entering the military.

"They not only imposed their political will, they imposed it at the wrong time," said D-Y junior Andrew Bowles Jr., who organized an after-school protest yesterday that drew about 30 students.

Parents and other community members have flooded the high school principal's office with about 40 e-mails and phone calls criticizing the teachers' actions.

"I honestly feel (the protest) was misplaced," said D-Y parent Joanne Schuman of Yarmouth. "I think they should have been removed from that event."

Some individuals have voiced support for the two teachers, who were put on paid leave until at least tomorrow, Verani said.

She said she and Koscher were not trying to undermine the students but "to address the expansion of military recruitment of children in our schools.

"I think we're supposed to open the door for differences of opinion," said Verani, a longtime peace activist. "We're not all in lock-step agreement on everything."

The protest unfolded during the senior last assembly, when the high school gathers to recognize graduates for a variety of achievements. For the last five years the recognition ceremony has included the awarding of plaques to students entering military service, said Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School principal Kenneth Jenks.

"Most schools don't recognize students who go into the military," he said.

When D-Y resource Officer Nicholas R. Pasquarosa Jr. addressed the crowd, comparing the volunteer enlistees to a sheepdog standing between the flock and a wolf, Verani and Koscher stood on the bleachers and held an "end war" sign while everyone else sat.

What to many was a sign of respect for the students was to the protesting teachers a recruiting moment, said Verani, who noted that assistant principal George Morrison, a National Guardsman, attended in military fatigues.

"This was a captive audience," she said, adding that the plaques should have been given out at an after-school awards ceremony that was not compulsory attendance for all students.

Verani and Koscher tucked their sign away and sat while the names of the six students entering the U.S. Marine Corps, Army and National Guard were announced.

They remained seated while the rest of those at the assembly gave the students a standing ovation.

"Standing and applauding is a sign of support for the decision these people have made," Verani said. "I want them to be home and alive and well and going to college and dating and having kids and coaching Little League."

The protest struck the wrong note with many attendees, Jenks said.

"Large numbers of students and faculty were upset," he said. "This is a recognition ceremony, not a classroom debate."

Heightening the reaction was the attendance of Yarmouth police Lt. Steven Xiarhos, who lost his son, U.S. Marine Cpl. Nicholas Xiarhos, to a roadside bombing in Afghanistan in July 2009.

Nicholas Xiarhos, a 2006 D-Y grad, was among the first group of students to receive a plaque recognizing their military service.

Jenks would not comment on what sort of discipline Verani and Koscher might face. "We're reviewing our options," he said. "The reality is we follow due process."

Bowles, who plans to join the Air Force ROTC when he graduates, said he wants the teachers fired.

"I'm sick of seeing people tarnishing the memory of our troops," he said as fellow students waved the American flag and sang the national anthem on Station Avenue.

James Kinney of West Barnstable, who knows Verani and wrote a letter to the editor of the Cape Cod Times in her support, defended the teachers.

"I think that it's important to show dissent," he said. "I think that's the highest form of patriotism."

Maureen Tuohy-Bedford, whose son Evan Tuohy-Bedford just graduated and has joined the U.S. Marine Corps, wouldn't let the protestors ruin Friday's assembly.

"The ceremony was beautiful," she said. "So many people did the right thing."