Memphis, TN - Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union say Daphne Beasley, the principal of Hollis F. Price Middle College High School in South Memphis, went way beyond her role as educator.

The ACLU says in September 2007, Beasley asked her staff to give her the names of students who were couples, heterosexual and homosexual, because she wanted to keep an eye on them to cut down on public displays of affection.

She's accused of publicly posting the names of those students, including two boys, Andrew and Nicholas, who had just started dating. The ACLU says that in doing so, Beasley revealed their relationship to other students, teachers and even their parents.

In a letter sent Tuesday, April 29, 2008 to Memphis City Schools, the ACLU says the principal's actions violated the students' constitutional rights to equal protection, freedom of expression and association, due process and privacy.

"Our first reaction was wow, this is unbelievable that a principal has gone this far," says ACLU attorney Christine Sun. "The constitution protects all of us from the government intruding in our private lives when there isn't a reason to do that. This was morally and legally wrong."

One of the young men, Nicholas, an 11th grader who just made the Dean's List, spoke with Eyewitness News Everywhere.

"It was actually frightening," he says, "to see a list with my name on it where not just other teachers could see but students as well."

Nicholas says his teachers and other students treat him differently as a result of Principal Beasley's decision and that he and Andrew have both had to deal with verbal assaults. Nicholas was also not allowed to go on a trip to New Orleans to help rebuild homes because, as one of his teacher's explained, he would "embarrass" the school by engaging in gay affection.

"I really feel that my personal privacy was invaded," Nicholas says. "I mean, Principal Beasley called my mother and outed me to my mother!"

The ACLU wants the school district to create new policies that would prevent these types of acts from happening again. The group is also asking for compensation for Andrew and Nicholas and for an apology from the principal.

And the final demand from the ACLU says attorney Sun: "Some sort of reprimand to the principal because this type of thing should not be happening at any school."

Eyewitness News Everywhere requested a response from MCS. Van Davis Turner Jr., the associate general counsel for the Memphis City Schools Board of Education, released the following statement: "We take all allegations of invasion of privacy and discrimination seriously. At this time, we have not completed our internal investigation of this matter. Once we have completed our investigation, we will submit a formal response to the ACLU, directly addressing the issue. We look forward to working with the ACLU to amicably resolve this matter, if possible."

The ACLU wants a reply from MCS by Friday, May 9th or legal action will be pursued.

Hollis F. Price Middle College High School opened in 2004 in a collaborative effort with LeMoyne Owen College. Students can earn a high school diploma and two years of college credit. About 150 kids are enrolled right now in grades 9 through 12.

MEMPHIS, TN - A Memphis principal is accused of outing two male, gay students at Hollis F. Price Middle High School.

Principal Daphne Beasley is accused of ordering teachers at the school to inform her of all heterosexual and homosexual student couples. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Beasley hung the list up on the wall of her office, in plain view of teachers and other students. Beasley is also accused of calling the parents of gay students and telling them their son or daughter was gay.

The ACLU also claims that two students, Nicholas and Andrew, were told they could not study together or walk together while on school grounds.

The ACLU sent a letter to the Memphis City Schools board, demanding that Beasley be reprimanded for her actions. They also demanded of the MCS board to implement new policies that would prevent "these types of acts from occurring" and to make sure all principals and staff members knew of the policies.
They want Nicholas and Andrew to be compensated, as well as an apology issued to the two boys.

Memphis City Schools responded Thursday, May 1, via school attorneys, with the following letter:

“Memphis City Schools is committed to providing its students with the best possible learning environment. Hollis F. Price Middle College is an accelerated high school, which is located on the historically black LeMoyne-Owen College campus. Eligible students may enroll in college classes in pursuit of completing the first two years of college while attending this high school.

Because we have high school students on a college campus, we have to carefully monitor the activities of our students. We are at all times
proactive in assuring that our students are provided a safe, nurturing and disciplined learning climate. Unfortunately, in fall 2007, we received numerous complaints from LeMoyne-Owen College faculty and staff that some of our student couples were involved in explicit sexual behavior in public view on the college campus.

In light of this information from LeMoyne-Owen faculty and staff, the principal of Hollis F. Price made several general announcements to the student body that this behavior would not be tolerated. Regrettably, the improper behavior continued. Therefore, the principal felt it appropriate to notify the parents of those children she knew to be involved romantically. This was done in an effort to gain the support of the parents in reinforcing the message that such behavior is in violation of Memphis City Schools’ Student Code of Conduct. The principal did not list any information other than students’ names on her personal call list, and she certainly did not specify the sexual orientation of any student. Additionally, the list was never posted publicly anywhere at the school.

It is the position of Memphis City Schools that the principal did act in an appropriate manner in order to correct a serious issue at the school and that Memphis City Schools has not subjected either of these students to
discriminatory treatment.

In the coming days, we will submit a formal response to the ACLU. We look forward to working with them to amicably resolve this matter.”

MEMPHIS – A public high school principal who posted the names of two boys on a list of students believed to be couples, revealing their relationship to their parents as well as other students and teachers, violated the students' constitutional right to freedom of association, the American Civil Liberties Union charged today. In a letter to school board officials in Memphis, Tennessee, the ACLU demanded today that the school reprimand the principal and take steps to ensure such actions never happen again.

In September of 2007, the principal at Hollis F. Price Middle College High told teachers she wanted the names of all student couples, "hetero and homo," because she wanted to monitor them personally to prevent students from engaging in public displays of affection. The two students now represented by the ACLU, Andrew and Nicholas (who have asked that their last names not be revealed), were two A students who had been seeing each other for a short time and were attempting to keep their relationship quiet and private. The principal heard about them through another student, then wrote their names on a list she posted next to her desk, in full view of anyone who entered her office.

One of the boys' mothers personally witnessed the list when she met with the principal a few days later. "I couldn't believe it when I went to meet with the principal and that list was right there by her desk where anyone could see it," said Andrea, Andrew's mother. "African American people face enough obstacles to succeeding in this world and I want my son to have every opportunity he's worked so hard for. Our schools should be helping our children do well, not tearing them down for something like this."

Although the boys had never been observed by any school staff engaging in any sort of display of affection, the principal called Nicholas's mother Nichole. According to Nichole, the principal said things like "Did you know your son is gay?" repeatedly and went on to say that she didn't like gay people and wouldn't tolerate homosexuality at her school.

Both students say they've had to deal with verbal harassment from both teachers and students since word got out around the school about their principal's actions. According to Nicholas, he also suffered another consequence of the principal's discrimination. He had submitted extensive paperwork and several recommendations from teachers for a school trip to New Orleans to assist in rebuilding efforts. Having a long history of community service, he was considered a shoo-in to be selected to go before the incident, but then a teacher told Nicholas some faculty were afraid he might "embarrass the school" or engage in "inappropriate behavior." A few days later, another student who hadn't even applied to go on the trip was selected in his place.

"We never bothered anyone or did a single thing at school that broke any of the rules," said Nicholas, a junior and honor student. "Every day I feel like they're still punishing me, and I'm worried that this is going to hurt my chances to get into a good college."

"The principal's outing of these two students to their families, classmates, and teachers is unacceptable. Its only purpose was to intimidate not only these students but all gay students at Hollis Price," said Hedy Weinberg, Executive Director at the ACLU of Tennessee. "Educators should be focused on educating their students and not on harassing them because of their sexual orientation or the people with whom they associate."

School officials have already confirmed the existence of the list to the ACLU in prior meetings held in an attempt to resolve the matter privately. In today's letter to the Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioners, the ACLU points out that the principal ordered the boys not to even walk or study together at school.

"This is a public high school that runs on taxpayer dollars. As such, it is part of the government and must obey the Constitution in dealing with the students entrusted to its care each day," said Bruce Kramer, a partner at Borod and Kramer in Memphis and cooperating attorney on the case. "This school has no business singling these boys out and taking away educational opportunities against them simply because they were dating."

The students and their mothers are represented by Kramer as well as Christine Sun of the ACLU's national Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project.