More non-academic indoctrination from Bedford Schools

Wellness Day

in celebration of Earth Day

On Thursday, April 22, 2004

At Fox Lane High School

At 8:05—9:00 am

in the Mary Lou Meese Theater

Proudly Presents:

Keynote Speaker: Kevin Jennings

Kevin Jennings is recognized as a leader in both the education and civil rights communities and currently serves as co-founder and Executive Director of GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

Mr. Jennings spent a decade teaching high school history at the Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island (1985-87) and at Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts (1987-1994), where he also served as Chair of the History Department. In 1992, Mr. Jennings was named one of fifty "Terrific Teachers Making a Difference" by the Edward Calesa Foundation, and in 1993 was selected as a Klingenstein Fellow by Columbia University for his outstanding leadership in independent school education.

Mr. Jennings is best known for his work creating safe schools for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students. In 1990, he founded GLSEN, bringing together teachers, parents and community members to end anti-lgbt bias in K-12 schools”. Mr. Jennings became GLSEN’s first Executive Director in 1995, relocated its national headquarters to New York, and has led its rapid growth from an all-volunteer group to its status today as a national education and civil rights organization with nearly seventy chapters around the country and a national staff of more than twenty-five.

Newsweek recognized Mr. Jennings’ leadership by naming him to its “Century Club” as one of “100 people to watch in the new century.” Mr. Jennings was also chosen by President Clinton to participate in the White House Conference on School Safety and the White House Conference on Hate Crimes. He is a frequent commentator in local and national print and television media, appearing often on ABC’s 20/20,

NBC’s Dateline, Fox News and the O’Reilly Factor, CNN and ABC’s Nightline.

Mr. Jennings is the author of several books. Most recently, Mr. Jennings published Always My Child: A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Your Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender or Questioning Son or Daughter. Mr. Jennings also wrote and produced the historical documentary Out of the Past, which won the 1998 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary.

Mr. Jennings graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, where he was chosen by his classmates to deliver the Harvard Oration at

the 1985 Commencement. He received his M.A. from Columbia University in 1994, and in 1999 received his M.B.A. from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University. Mr. Jennings’ upbringing, however, was far from such elite institutions. The youngest of five children born to a Southern Baptist evangelist, Mr. Jennings grew up largely in the rural South. He became the first person in his extended

family of thirteen aunts and uncles and nearly fifty cousins to attend college when he entered Harvard in 1981. Mr. Jennings remains deeply involved with efforts to create change in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where his late mother Alice was an active volunteer with GLSEN/Winston-Salem and AIDS Care Services of Winston-Salem.

Mr. Jennings has received rave reviews from high school audiences across the nation including local high schools such as Mamaroneck, Yorktown, and Horace Greeley