A Seattle high school teacher has been accused of berating a student for describing herself as “straight” — saying it was “offensive” because it suggested LGBTQ people must be “bent.”
The student’s mother, who has not been identified, filed a formal complaint against Ian Golash, chairman of the social studies department at Chief Sealth International High School.
She claims that at the beginning of the school year, Golash provided students with a “Social Identity Wheel” worksheet asking them to reflect on various identities — including race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation.
After his son labeled himself as “straight,” Golash allegedly told the boy the term was “offensive,” he alleged in an email to teachers and Principal Ray Garcia-Morales sent in September but obtained this week by KTTH.
“It is inappropriate to dictate what terms students can and cannot use to identify themselves,” he wrote.
Golash denied mentioning his son, but confirmed saying he preferred not to use the term “straight” because “it implies that not being straight is ‘crooked’, which can have negative connotations.”
Ian Golash, chairman of the social studies department at Chief Sealth International High School, is accused of telling a student that it was “offensive” to use the term “straight.” Washington Superior Court for King County
The mother further claimed Golash told her tenth-grade son that he was a “product of the patriarchy” during a discussion about Florida “banning ethnic studies” — possibly a reference to the state banning Advanced Placement courses on African American studies.
She said her son was not present when the class watched a video on the topic, and told the teacher she did not know why the state legislature advanced the ban.
“I was told that instead of talking about the topic and giving him real information and answers, he was told that he was a ‘product of the patriarchy that teaches boys not to care,'” she wrote in another email to principals and teachers.
“You missed an opportunity here to teach your student about current events and instead humiliated him as a man.
One mother claimed that at the beginning of the school year, Golash provided students with a “Social Identity Wheel” worksheet asking them to reflect on various identities — including race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH
“To assume that he grew up in a patriarchal household is a huge mistake,” he added.
In response, Golash insisted that the comment was not “directed at one student” but related to a class discussion the previous days and “the behavior of several men in the class.”
“I’m certainly not making any inferences about your household,” he said. “I’m referring to the power system we all live in.”
The same mother previously accused an ethnic studies world history teacher in a previous complaint of giving her son a failing grade on a quiz when he labeled two statements “true” — The first that “All men have penises” and the second that “Only women can get pregnant. “
Seattle Public Schools said at the time the quiz was meant to encourage inclusion and align with lessons taught in ethnic studies classes.
The course description states that students will “investigate… global economies, societies and cultures.”
The school district is already investigating two separate complaints against the teacher — one for a failed quiz and another for an incident in which he allegedly taught antisemitic curriculum. Head Sealth International High School
“Mr. Golash has introduced many controversial topics into the classroom and instead of inviting open, constructive and honest conversation, he is providing a source of bias that only aids in pushing his own ideological agenda,” the boy’s mother told “The Jason Rantz Show.”
“Mr. Golash instructs his students what to think instead of how to think,” continued the unidentified mother. “This in no way provides an identity-safe classroom that allows students to feel seen and valued.”
She claimed her son had to “self-censor” because of Golash’s teaching methods, which she described as “intolerant.”
The mother had withdrawn her son from the Golash class, he said.
The Post has reached out to Sealth International High School Head Principal Garcia-Morales for comment.
Seattle Public Schools said in a statement to The Post that it does not comment on pending litigation.
But the school district is already investigating two separate complaints against the teacher, according to KTTH — one for a failed quiz and another for an incident in which he allegedly taught antisemitic curriculum.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
