Many students wondered if Rocky Svarvari was a homosexual. On April 16, Svarvari, who is HIV-positive, stood in front of a senior Current Issues class to speak about AIDS. According to many students who heard the presentation, Svarvari gave an informative and emotional speech on AIDS. Nevertheless, his second presentation was canceled and Svarvari was promptly escorted out of W. F. West High School. Last week, a Seattle television station picked up the story. Was Svarvari asked to leave campus because he is indeed a homosexual, or was it, as the school administration claims, because his presentation "didn't fit the curriculum"?

Svarvari escorted out

Many versions of Svarvari's departure seem contradictory. Svarvari said, "At the end of the talk, the nurse came back and asked me to leave. The vice-principal was there escorting me. [W.F. West Principal] Linda Smith came out to verify I was leaving and yelled 'thank you' very rudely. I felt she was totally unprofessional."

However, Smith said the decision to ask Svarvari to leave was difficult, but appropriate. "The call that I had to make, very quickly was, 'Did it fit our curriculum and the goals we've set aside for our speakers on the AIDS Virus?' And it did not, and that's a hard one," Smith said. "We had been very specific about our curriculum about what we expected from our speaker, and that was not followed."

The curriculum calls for discussion on AIDS and AIDS prevention. Smith contends that Svarvari "[went] away from what we wanted to do here."

I just want to identify what didn't work well, and let's not have it happen again."

The Current Issues teacher Mike Schaefer said, "The Social Studies Department was told by the administration that the district policy of not allowing speakers to discuss homosexual lifestyles was conveyed to the Health Department." Schaefer, after hearing Svarvari's presentation, immediately informed the administration that Svarvari was "talking about his lifestyle."

Svarvari believes that he was unjustly accused of breaking the high school's curriculum. "I felt that there was no iota of my lifestyle or pornography in my speech...No, I did not glorify homosexual lifestyle. I mentioned 'he' and 'partner' and that was about all," said Svarvari.

In fact, the only thing Svarvari was informed to talk about was AIDS, in general, and was not warned of subjects he was supposed to stay away from. "No, I was not told anything. I was told by Andi [Andi Greek, HIV/AIDS Coordinator for the Lewis County Health Department] that they did not want a homosexual speaker," said Svarvari.

Superintendent of the Chehalis School District Dr. Greg Kirsch has been investigating the occurrence and believes one of the major problems that led to the situation was that the W.F. West Administration didn't follow its own pre-approval procedure. "The first problem we ran into was that the building didn't follow its own administrative procedure for a pre-presentation conference. That's a flaw. If there had been a pre-presentation conference, I don't think that we would have had a problem [that] Thursday," said Kirsch.

Student reactions

This occurrence has stirred many strong feelings. The word discrimination enters many student's minds. Others believe the administration did the right thing in asking Svarvari to leave. Some students had been informed that the school district had a policy against homosexual speakers. While no such policy exists in written form, it has been a practice of the school to shy away from the controversy that might accompany such speakers.

Senior Stacey Ketchum believes that asking Svarvari to leave was an act of discrimination on the part of the administration. "I know the administration had to do it because it's their policy, but there shouldn't be a policy like that because it's discrimination," said Ketchum.

"I think it's very hypocritical of them to tell us to accept these type of people and then kick them out. It makes me wonder what they would do if they had a gay student."

Some students have even been disillusioned after witnessing what happened to Svarvari. "When you're little, you think the school is right, and when you get in high school you get smarter; you see that they're not always doing things right," said senior Sarah Blake.

After listening to Svarvari's speech senior Beau Fabergas felt Svarvari was asked to leave for the wrong reasons. "He was very efficient in getting his point across. He didn't try to influence us to veer into his lifestyle. I don't believe his lifestyle matters as far as getting AIDS across to kids; it just matters how good he can get his point across," said Fabergas.

Senior Mac Hogland also listened to Svarvari's presentation and felt it didn't matter that his speech touched on the fact that he was homosexual. "Basically his main point was talking about AIDS and how bad it was. He was just there to talk about how AIDS affects his life and others," said Hogland. "He had a lot of up-to-date statistics because he has it [HIV Virus] and so he does a lot of research."

When you're little, you think the school is right, and when you get in high school you get smarter; you see that they're not always doing things right."

Others think that the administration was right in asking Svarvari to leave if they were following a policy or if Svarvari was diverging from the set curriculum. "I think they did the only thing they could and should do. I think that the policy should either be changed or lived by," said senior Blair Chintella.

Bill Bode also finds no fault with the administration's actions. "I think, not knowing all the facts, I would say that our administration did the right thing because we had the policy and they had to follow it. It's not the speaker's fault; I still feel for him, but I'd have to say the school did the right thing," said Bode.

Senior Jeff Strumski feels the school did the right thing considering the alleged policy, but that if there is such a policy, it is not ethical. He said, "It was handled correctly because the policy is in place, but the policy is wrong," said Strumski.

Intolerance at W. F. West

According to some, this situation shows the general intolerance in Lewis County and at W.F. West. "It fosters hatred and intolerance. Unless the kids stay in Chehalis, they're going to deal with all types of people from all subgroups. What if they get a lesbian or gay boss? They don't want to deal with those situations," said Harvey Billmaier, the only openly gay teacher in the Chehalis School District.

Others think this occurrence shows that the administration can be hypocritical in their actions. "I think it's very hypocritical of them [the Administration] to tell us to accept these type of people and then kick them out. It makes me wonder what they would do if they had a gay student," said senior Tony Diethelm.

"I think, not knowing all the facts, I would say that our administration did the right thing..."

Some students even admit to being intolerant themselves. "You don't see that many [gay] people. I don't think people would be accepting. I'm sort of prejudice against them. Seeing two male or two female people kissing in public is gross," said freshman Breanna Langford.

However, Kirsch said there is "absolutely no connection" between intolerance at W. F. West or in Lewis County and why Svarvari was asked to leave. Although this occurrence may not have been the result of intolerance, it was still a mistake that Kirsch would not like to see happen again. Kirsch said, "I just want to identify what didn't work well, and let's not have it happen again. Sometimes schools make mistakes."