HOWLAND, Maine — Zach Sides didn’t know what quote he’d like to put under his photo in his high school yearbook until a friend suggested a statement that Sides thought was as impeccable as his attire.
The quote, “No wonder I dress so well. I didn’t spend all that time in the closet for nothing,” struck the 18-year-old senior at Penobscot Valley High School as fitting him very well.
“It pretty much just sums me up,” Sides said Tuesday. “People tell me I dress well, and I hadn’t even come out [as gay] to my parents at that point, so I spent a lot of time in the closet. It’s witty and sassy so it is perfect for me.”
Sides was surprised when his choice of words drew resistance from a school official, which is why he and several classmates spoke at an SAD 31 school board meeting at the high school Tuesday to bring attention to a decision, later reversed, to cut the quote from the Class of 2016 yearbook. Sides said he was grateful that Superintendent Michael Wright overruled Principal Carol Marcinkus, but the student said he didn’t want the discussion to end there.
“I am not concerned that it [the quotation] wasn’t going to be in the yearbook, I am concerned as to why it wasn’t going to be in the yearbook,” Sides said during the meeting. “I was told that it was a connotation, and the connotation is me being gay. I feel like it’s not fair that I should be censored just because I am basically saying who I am.”
“I am not asking for anybody’s job to be on the line here,” added Sides, a National Honors Society member and Youth Leadership Ambassador ranked fourth in his 41-member class. “I just want a more accepting atmosphere when I walk into school, if that makes sense. And I really want to look at policies that defend against discrimination based on sexual orientation, religion, gender, whatever.”
When reached at her office on Wednesday, Marcinkus said that all statements regarding the incident would be handled by Wright. During Tuesday’s meeting, Wright and board members expressed sympathy to Sides for the incident. Wright said that he ordered the quotation reinstated Friday night, almost immediately upon hearing of Sides’ complaint. Two fellow students helped Sides’ cause by contacting the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, a representative of which contacted school officials.
“This is the first year, as I understand it, that quotes have been allowed to be in the yearbook,” Wright said. “We didn’t have guidelines to look at. So I think one of the things we have learned from this is that we need guidelines” regarding yearbook quotations.
Sides said that when he asked Marcinkus why she ordered the quote removed, she responded by saying that she was personally offended by it. The quote can be found on the Internet in various places but with no one claiming to be its author.
Sides said he found her criteria to be inappropriate.
“Being principal of a public school, she is not supposed to have bias against anybody or any particular group,” Sides said prior to the meeting. Sides said that Marcinkus told him that no one should put anything in the yearbook that “we could regret or change our minds about later.”
“That’s what really struck a nerve with me, that we could change our minds about it. Accepting this isn’t really easy, but I am who I am. To say that we could change our minds? I have tried to change my mind,” Sides said. “It didn’t work.”
A member of the school board and a parent at the meeting expressed support for the school, administrators and the way the situation was addressed.
“I think we have a pretty good school,” school board Chairwoman Pam Hatch said. “I don’t think that we need to make any big adjustments.”
Lana St. Cyr, whose son is a student at PVHS and came out within the last two years, complimented Marcinkus for generally being quick to discipline students for anti-gay or other discriminatory behavior.
“Mrs. Marcinkus really has had our backs several times,” said St. Cyr, who called the yearbook dispute “a teachable moment” that students and staff could learn from. Sides said he would see what changes school administrators make.
“I don’t want anybody else to go through what I had to go through throughout this week,” he said.