UPDATED — 12:55 April 21, 2010

Editor’s note: The number of absent students has been updated.

Two years after protesters led by the Reverend Ken Hutcherson and counter-protesters brought regional and even national attention to Mount Si’s Day of Silence, the day came and went quietly this year.

Except for a few incidents, Mount Si High School’s campus was empty of protesters, and quite a few students, too.

About 29 percent of students — 432 of them — were absent because of the Day of Silence April 16. In total, 456 students were absent not only because of the Day of Silence, but also because of field trips, college visits and pre-arranged absences.

In 2008, about 34 percent of the 1,410 student body missed a full day of school on the Day of Silence. In 2009, that number fell to about 23 percent of a 1,399 student body. On a normal school day, about 9 percent of students are absent.

Though absences were higher than last year’s, Taylor said the day was an academic one like any other.

“Our promise to the parents and to students is that this is a normal curriculum day,” he said. “There is no Day of Silence activity that occurs in the classroom.”

Overall, the Day of Silence “went very smooth,” Taylor said.

The Day of Silence is a national youth movement that draws attention to the silence that many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people encounter in their daily lives, according to a Mount Si Day of Silence flyer. The day started in 1996 at the University of Virginia, and Mount Si students began participating in 2006.

About 150 students participated this year, wearing tie-dye and choosing to be silent during the school day, Taylor said.

There were two incidents during school hours. In the first, a teacher removed an offensive sign someone had posted on the freshmen portables. In the second, a student was suspended after making inappropriate comments to classmates, Taylor said.

In the week leading up to the Day of Silence, many of the student-made posters detailing the day were torn down. The student club, the Gay Straight Alliance had posted signs underneath the posters saying, “This is why we need the Day of Silence,” said senior Morgan Myers, a Gay Straight Alliance officer.

Myers chose to participate in the day.

“It went really well,” Myers said. “The only problem is high absenteeism.”

A lot of his friends decided not to come to school April 16, “which is a frustrating thing,” Myers said. While students do choose to skip school because of their opposition to the Day of Silence, Myers said there were probably some that “are using to get out of school. The vast majority just wants to skip.”

Students who participated were required to attend information meetings held by the Gay Straight Alliance. If called on in class, they were required to answer the question.

Junior Phill Caua-Peltan, who went to school but did not participate in the day, said he saw participants writing answers on paper or white boards they carried around. Taylor said he noticed students texting to each other on their cell phones so they could remain silent.

“I scrawled a couple of things on a hot dog wrapper during lunch,” Myers said. “A friend had a couple of questions about the Day of Silence.”

Caua-Peltan said the day had gotten better over the years.

“It’s way better. The whole Reverend Hutcherson thing, they just blew it out of proportion,” he said.

Junior Aly Lupica said the Day of Silence was more respectful than the one held in her old high school in Michigan, which she attended last year.

“At my old school, a lot of my friends got picked on,” Lupica said.

Freshman Keaton Schott said he liked the day, but thought it should be expanded to involve a stance against all types of bullying, not just bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

About 60 percent of the Day of Silence participants were freshmen, Myers said. One of them, freshman Taylor Pearlstein, said she got involved because “I’ve always been interested in human rights and equality for everyone.”

She said quite a few nonparticipants were trying to get people like her to talk, while others wouldn’t look her in the eye.

“I was surprised that some of my friends would come up to me and wouldn’t talk to me or wouldn’t look at me,” Pearlstein said.

Still, she said she respected people who held ideas different from her own.

“I respect that and it’s nice to know they’re still there supporting other views and beliefs,” she said.

Laura Geggel: 425-392-6434, ext. 221, lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

Nearly one-fourth of Mount Si’s student population was absent from school on the Day of Silence April 17, but there were no protests on the edge of the school’s property like there were in 2008. 

Snoqualmie Valley resident the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, who led the 100-person protest last year, explained why he chose to encourage absenteeism this year, in lieu of holding a protest.

“We want it to be about the kids,” Hutcherson said. “Last year, they made it about me standing outside. We don’t want them to use it as part of the argument this year.”

While nearly one-fourth of the students did miss school, there were fewer absence’s than last year. Of the 1,399 student population, 23 percent of students were absent, missing three or more periods. On a normal school day, about 9 percent of students are absent. In 2008, about 34 percent of the 1,410 student body missed a full day of school.

“It’s good to see there was less student absenteeism than the previous year,” Mount Si Principal Randy Taylor said, adding that no athletic teams had to cancel games due to attendance issues.

Taylor reported he was aware of two incidents that happened during school hours on April 17. In the first incident, Taylor spoke to two students who were wearing T-shirts with profane language. 

“We gave the kids the option of either taking it off or going home for the day,” Taylor said. “They elected to go home.”

The second incident was reported after school, in which one student said something inappropriate to a student participating in the Day of Silence. Taylor said the incident would be documented in the student’s record.

“We’re real pleased it was an uneventful day,” Taylor said. “The GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) was able to hold their activity, and at the same time, instruction carried on as normal.”

About 100 Mount Si students participated in the Day of Silence, an event started in 1996 at the University of Virginia that has spread across the nation. Students participating choose to remain silent to promote tolerance and draw attention to harassment gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face.

So as not to disrupt the education process, students participating in the Day of Silence are required to talk if a teacher calls on them in class. 

“I thought it went really well,” GSA officer and senior Leigh Macaulay said. “Obviously, it was calmer than last year.”

Still, this year’s Day of Silence did not happen without controversy. Some Mount Si students asked the GSA to incorporate the Day of Silence into the Day of Respect, but the GSA declined. 

In the week leading up to the Day of Silence, a group of parents and community members, including Hutcherson’s wife Pat, distributed flyers just outside school property asking that students be absent on the Day of Silence. 

In an interview with the SnoValley Star, Hutcherson referenced an online SnoValley Star survey, in which the multiple-choice answer, “(The Day of Silence) should be done away with,” received 90 percent of 534 votes.

“These are the same people that vote on bonds,” Hutcherson said.

Hutcherson called the Day of Silence “a disruption” and said it divided students at Mount Si, where his son is a freshman. The day should be held before or after school or incorporated into the Day of Respect, he said.

“My kid was called a son of a bigot yesterday,” Hutcherson said. “Don’t tell me there’s not pressure.

Phillip Garding, president of the Coalition to Defend Education, said his children stayed home on the Day of Silence in 2008 and 2009. Last year, Garding said he heard many teachers did not teach regular lessons because of the high absentee rate.

“It is a disruption to the school day and last year many teachers, from what my children heard, kind of gave up and showed movies.”

Mount Si senior Zach Whetsel did not attend school on the Day of Silence.

“We’ve been trying to work things out for the last three years,” Whetsel said. “It’s something that hasn’t got any better. We asked if the Day of Silence could be part of the Day of Respect and they didn’t want to do it. I just feel that both sides aren’t being listened to.”

One group said it received all sorts of feedback concerning the Day of Silence. At the April 16 meeting, the Snoqualmie Valley School Board acknowledged the hundreds of comments they had read or heard from community members. School board President Marci Busby said the Day of Silence activities were not in violation of board policy 3220, “which describes a student’s right to expression as long as the expression does not substantially disrupt the operation of the school.”

Education was paramount and Busby said students should attend class.

“While we respect the opinions of individual parents and students, it is our hope that all students will choose to attend school tomorrow,” Busby said.

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

Members of the Mount Si Gay Straight Alliance maintain it is a meaningful and necessary day for the members of their club and for the students at the high school.

Other students agree the Day of Silence is allowed under the first amendment, but argue the day causes controversy and divides the community. Those students are asking the GSA to incorporate the Day of Silence into the Day of Respect.

Junior Trey Botten is one of a group of students who would like to see changes made to the day.

“There is never a day I will support the oppression of homosexual individuals,” Botten said. “That’s not why we’re trying to take away the Day of Silence. Because of what the Day of Silence has become in the Snoqualmie Valley, there is really no need to bring it back here.”

Police keep watch over protests at last year’s Day of Silence at Mount Si High School.

The Mount Si High School GSA started the Day of Silence four years ago. The event first began at the University of Virginia in 1996 and has since spread across the country. Last year, about 200 Mount Si students chose to remain silent to raise awareness of the prejudice, harassment and discrimination gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning students regularly face in their schools and communities. 

Participating students wear bracelets and carry talking cards explaining their silence. If a teacher calls on them in class, students are required to speak. 

GSA Co-President Caitlin Donnelly said the day helps bring attention to issues such as name-calling in the high school community.

“You hear, ‘that’s so gay, you’re a faggot, you’re a dike,’” Donnelly said. “Someone, whether they intend it or not, is using part of who you are as an insult.”

Senior Lazerous Honeywell confirmed some of the students participating in the day the first year had a difficult time.

“They received a lot of flak from people,” Honeywell said. “Just getting called names in the halls. It drives me nuts. It shouldn’t happen, I’m not happy that it does, but stuff like that happens.

“It really got bad after Hutch came,” he added, referring to the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, who led a 100-person protest outside the school during last year’s Day of Silence. 

The day had a rocky start when it debuted at Mount Si during the 2005-06 school year. Some teachers chose not to talk, but later learned they were required to vocally teach their lessons. The GSA set up tables near the school’s front doors and asked students as they came in if they would like to participate in the Day of Silence.

“One of the big problems they were having is students felt like they were more forced to participate in the Day of Silence, rather than make it a personal choice,” Botten said. “There should never be a time in a public school setting where students should feel divided at the school.”

Now, all participants are required to attend an informational meeting with the GSA before the day.

“We go over that this isn’t a day to change people’s minds, it’s just a day to reflect on raising awareness,” Donnelly said. “We encourage them to be very non-confrontational. They must report any incident they see.”

Donnelly also said she felt the day was not as stigmatized as some thought.

“I find it interesting that some kids think you have to choose a side,” Donnelly said. “I feel that it’s a viewpoint that’s been manufactured by people who don’t want the GSA to do this. It really is quite easy to be neutral; you just don’t address it.”

But students like Botten and Honeywell said they would like to reach a compromise with the GSA, rather than choose a side or remain neutral. By rolling the Day of Silence into the Day of Respect, the Snoqualmie Valley and Mount Si could overcome this dividing issue, they said.

The Day of Respect is a day in May now organized by Diversity And Respect Team. Last year, the ASB led the Day of Respect and held an assembly honoring the first victim of the Columbine school shooting, Rachel Scott, and her ideals of respect.

Botten and Honeywell said the day encourages respect to all students, including those in the GSA. Honeywell and Conservative Club President and senior Zach Whetsel asked GSA Co-President and senior Alex Olson if she would consider integrating the Day of Silence into the Day of Respect, but Olson said she respectfully disagreed.

“Although I fully support the Day of Respect, the Day of Silence is its own separate day,” Olson said. 

Donnelly used an analogy to explain the club’s position.

“If you mom or your aunt has breast cancer, you’re going to organize a walkathon for breast cancer,” Donnelly said. “Not an all-life-threatening diseases walk.”

“We feel very strongly about this one issue and we’re going to have a day for it,” Olson said. “We want this day to be separate.”

Olson said she hoped the Day of Silence would become less stigmatized as the community became more familiar with it.

“Hopefully, people will get past their own prejudices and see this is a day of respect for everybody and for each community member to recognize the struggles of other people and understand that,” Olson said. “That understanding can definitely one day bring people together.”

No more athletic waivers

During the 2007-08 school year, Mount Si High School allowed student athletes to miss school on the Day of Silence, but still participate in school-related sports. This year, school administrators will not grant Day of Silence waivers for student athletes.

Principal Randy Taylor said the reason for this change had to do with safety concerns.

Last year, 22 percent of athletes used waivers, far lower than the 47 percent absentee rate of students who missed one or more periods of school that day.

“The reason for parents exercising this option, at least they indicated this to us, was for safety reasons,” Taylor wrote in an e-mail. “We learned from last year the ‘protest’ was peaceful and small.”

Because the protest did not influence the classroom environment, Taylor said there was no reason to believe it would this year.

If students miss school on April 17, they will be unable to participate in school-related sports, unless they have a note confirming they missed school due to a doctor visit or a court-related appointment.

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

Mount Si’s answer? Yes.

At a March 12 Snoqualmie Valley School Board meeting, the Hutchersons and another parent asked about the validity of holding the Day of Silence during school hours.

“We never said we did not want the Day of Silence. Never.” Ken Hutcherson said. “We said you can make it before school or after school, because the school day should be for learning.”

The Rev. Ken Hutcherson at last year's protest of the Day of Silence at Mount Si High School.

Mount Si Assistant Principal and Activities Director Beth Castle and two students from the Gay Straight Alliance explained the decision. Castle said the GSA had recently invited her, Principal Randy Taylor and Assistant Principal Cindy Wilson to one of their meetings previewing the April 17 Day of Silence. 

“The day at school at Mount Si last year was what we thought was very successful,” Castle said. “I know that you’ve probably been aware that there was a high absentee rate. We talked about that and hope that is not the case (this year).”

Castle said other circumstances, such as the outside protests, could have contributed to the high absenteeism. 

The Mount Si GSA began participating in the Day of Silence, an event started in 1996 at the University of Virginia that has spread across the nation. Students participating choose to remain silent to promote tolerance and draw attention to harassment gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face.

So as not to disrupt the education process, students participating in the Day of Silence are required to talk if a teachers calls on them in class. 

Last year, about 200 students participated, but more were absent. About 9 percent of students miss school on any given day, which equals the percentage of students who missed school on the 2007 Day of Silence. On the 2008 Day of Silence — when Hutcherson held a protest — about 34 percent of the 1,410 student body missed a full day of school.

Castle said she hoped the absentee rate would not be as drastic this year.

“(The GSA) mentioned their foremost goal that day is not to cause a disruption in the educational environment of the classroom, but to simply bring awareness of bullying and harassment,” Castle said.

School board director Rudy Edwards asked if the Day of Silence could be combined with Mount Si’s Day of Respect. Castle said that while both days promote tolerance, different groups organize them.

“The Day of Silence, again, is a student-club activity,” Castle said. “It is not school-sponsored.”

“The community is not getting that,” Edwards said.

“I think the club is hoping the community will understand and get that,” Castle said. “They have the right to do that activity on that day.”

School board director Craig Husa clarified the students’ rights to free speech during school hours.

“Everyone has different opinions and very strongly held beliefs on many sides of many different conflicts,” Husa said. “To keep that right of free speech which is here and keep it from disrupting the learning process is a challenge for the school district. All we can do it try to preserve the right of free speech and try to maintain the learning process.”

Hutcherson reiterated that, free speech or not, he did not want the Day of Silence to be held during school hours.

“When we work together parents, we get the bond passed,” Ken Hutcherson said. “But if you bring the Day of Silence in here…you may never get another bond passed because this is so disruptive in this community.”

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

Immediately after the SnoValley Star began publishing in March, the Snoqualmie Valley provided many interesting stories to report on.

Just in the first month, there was another run made at a second high school, a debate over a soccer field, an agreement signed that ended a long-awaited moratorium and a heated public discussion over a hospital.

From a state playoff run by the Mount Si football team to a bizarre robbery at a local fast-food chain, the year continued to provide intriguing story lines. Five, however, stood out among the rest. Here is a run-down of the top five stories of 2008.

While the Rev. Ken Hutcherson and others came to Mount Si High School to protest the Day of Silence April 25, others were on hand to support it.

March – School bond

fails again

For the third straight time, a bond put forth to voters that would have provided a second high school in the Valley failed. And, once again, it was close — less than 2 percent shy of the 60 percent super majority needed to pass.

The district was asking for $189.6 million to fund land and construction costs for a new high school. The total also would have funded a sixth elementary school, roofs and heating systems for several existing schools and a new school bus parking facility.

In the end, 58.6 percent (4,510 voters) voted for the bond, while 41.3 percent (3,178 voters) rejected it.

In 2009, the district will attempt a much smaller bond. The $27.5 million they’ll ask for this time around will not include plans for a new high school.

March 13 – North Bend ends building moratorium

After almost a decade-long ban on building, the city of North Bend worked out its water problems and ended a self-imposed moratorium.

The problem began in 1999 when North Bend learned municipal pumps were drawing down the nearby Snoqualmie River. As a result, the city imposed upon itself a moratorium on new construction.

Eight years later, North Bend reached a deal with Seattle that would allow the city to access 1.1 million gallons of water a day, paving the way for the ban to be lifted. But an appeal to the agreement was filed by local rancher and tree grower Ewing Stringfellow, who was concerned the new operation would lower the water levels on his property. To avoid a months-long court case with Stringfellow, the city decided to pay him $40,000 to end his appeal.

In November, North Bend officially lifted a portion of the moratorium and began accepting plans for development.

April 25 – Day of Silence

gets noisy

The Rev. Ken Hutcherson and about 100 members of the Antioch Bible Church converged at Mount Si High School to protest the school’s annual Day of Silence.

The Day of Silence, held at 255 middle schools and high schools across Washington on an annual basis, is an event meant to draw attention to the harassment gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face. Participants remain mute throughout the day.

About 40 parents and 30 counter-protestors arrived opposite Hutcherson’s group to show their support for the event. Many of them held signs either in support of the event or in opposition to Hutcherson’s group.

Five Snoqualmie police officers were on hand to watch over the groups, but no incidents were reported. More than 600 students, however, were absent from class.

Earlier in the school year, Hutcherson arrived at Mount Si to speak during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day assembly. He was booed by one teacher and questioned publicly by another for his opposition to gay rights. Hutcherson later requested both teachers be fired.

May 15 – John McCain

visits the Valley

Republican nominee John McCain made a campaign stop in North Bend to talk about environmental issues at the Cedar River Watershed Education Center.

McCain was joined by a panel of environmentalists and business leaders. He pushed the need for clean energy, specifically nuclear energy, and criticized his Democratic rivals for their “never having written” pro-environmental legislation.

Republican nominee John McCain traveled to the Cedar River Watershed in North Bend on May 15 to discuss global warming.

McCain talked about environmental issues for more than an hour.

“I’m not new to this issue,” he said, “but I’m always learning.”

In November, McCain lost his bid for president to Barack Obama.

Nov. 6 – Snoqualmie Casino’s grand opening

After much planning, construction and the spending of $375 million, Snoqulamie Casino finally opened its doors.

Included in the casino are 170,000 square feet of space, 1,700 slot machines, a cigar lounge, a ball room, a night club, a fine dining restaurant and much more. The casino, owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe, also employs 1,300.

Jessica Simpson performed for a small crowd on opening night and then again for a larger crowd the following night. Lots of other entertainment, including boxing matches, have been planned at the casino, located right off I-90 at exit 27.