INTERIM PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL DISTRICT CEO THOMAS M. BRADY

After a wave of protests, Philadelphia school district officials have removed the designation of “Gay and Lesbian History Month” from upcoming school calendars.

“The calendar will just stick to academic dates,” said Cecilia Cummings, a district spokesperson. “We won’t be listing any of the celebratory months.”

Last year, for the first time, school officials produced about 200,000 calendars designating October as “Gay and Lesbian History Month.”

The move set off a firestorm of protests, culminating in a recent decision to remove all celebratory-month designations from the 2007-2008 calendars, Cummings said.

“We retreated from the agony of the issue,” Cummings said. “It was an issue that the community was not ready to deal with in a safe way for kids. We saw a lot of anguish. We had children who were absolutely devastated by the behavior of adults. It was a very shameful period in the district’s history, the way that adults came to those meetings and berated students.”

She emphasized that other educational and support systems are in place for GLBT students, and they will remain — despite any pressure from critics.

Thomas M. Brady, the district’s interim CEO, supports the decision to discontinue the designations, though he said it was made prior to his hiring.

“I wasn’t here at the time, but it was a tremendous amount of attention and energy to a sideshow issue,” he said. “Not a sideshow issue to selected groups. But that’s not about why we’re here. I don’t mean to minimize the feelings [of GLBT students]. Although it was a very nice gesture — clearly, to take the resources, time, energy and effort away from what we’re trying to do, and place that on a side, not core, issue — even if I were here at the time, I would have recommended that we have a very simplified, academic-focused calendar.”

Brady, 57, arrived at the district four months ago, initially serving as chief operating officer. On July 1, he began serving as interim CEO, and hopes to get the job permanently, replacing Paul Vallas who resigned earlier this year.

Brady, who served in leadership positions at the public schools in Fairfax, Va., and Washington, D.C., comes from an extensive military background; his last military assignment was commanding officer of Fort Belvoir, Va.

Brady doesn’t plan to actively crusade for GLBT students to be less marginalized in society. But he supports their civil rights and wants them to have a safe, effective learning environment, he said.

“We’ve really got core issues that we’re trying to address,” he told PGN. “I want to move the basics forward. That’s where we’re at. [The GLBT community’s] issues are very important. But they’re not within the box I’m looking at. The clear priority to me is the core mission of the school district and the resources necessary to do that. The other issues are important, but not as important as what I’m looking at.”

Brady said he doesn’t support a GLBT-studies program in the schools at this time, but has “no problem” with designated sections of high-school libraries devoted to GLBT-related books.

“If the books were going to be in the library anyway, the categorization — one simple reference point — I wouldn’t have a problem with. But we don’t have enough books in the libraries and we don’t have enough librarians. So we have to focus on our core mission.”

He added that he would strenuously oppose any harassment or violence directed against GLBT students and staffers.

“I fully support people being treated fairly and equitably under the law,” he said. “Every student deserves a safe environment, a nurturing environment and a learning environment.”

Brady, a married father of five, said he has many gay friends, though he’s not aware of any GLBT family members.

Brady also said he would decline any invitation to serve as grand marshal in the city’s annual GLBT pride parade, saying that it could distract attention from the district’s core mission and open the floodgates for similar requests from other groups.

When questioned about the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy banning openly gay GLBT servicemembers, he expressed support for the policy.

“I’m not into lifting ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” he said. “I’m very comfortable with where it is now. Fifty years from now and we’re having this conversation, it would be different.”

When told that many GLBT servicemembers report harassment due to the policy, Brady responded: “I never saw that. That’s intolerable. Heaping anything on anybody because of what they are is absolutely intolerable. In my myopic view of the military, my entire time in the Army, there wasn’t a case where the person was heaped on.”

For Philadelphia schools, Brady believes he’s the right person, at the right time, for the permanent CEO position. He recently bought a home in Society Hill and said he plans to settle here permanently.

“This is the greatest small city I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said.