PORTLAND, Ore. -- After years of being called every bigoted slur in the book, shoved into restrooms, hit with a skateboard, driven at by a speeding truck and more, two Oregon teenagers can now say they successfully blew the whistle on systemic anti-gay harassment at their school.
And as a result the principal who, an investigation by the Oregon Department of Education found, made students read the Bible as punishment is leaving North Bend High School.
The School Resource Officer who, that same investigation found, told a girl she was going to Hell for being gay, is out, too.
And the North Bend School District has to pay $1,000 to a local gay rights advocacy group.
“I definitely think what we've done will make an impact,” said 19-year-old Hailey Smith, who graduated North Bend last year.
Smith and her then partner Olivia “Liv” Funk, in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, filed a complaint with the Oregon Department of Education about systemic, long-running harassment at the hands of students and staff.
Smith remembers a civics class, when the teacher had the students create their own political parties.
“We had to make our own political parties, and then we had to answer these questions, and some of them were kind of controversial,” she said. “’What are your beliefs on abortion? What are your beliefs on same sex marriage?’”
Smith said the teacher challenged students on similar topics, but only briefly, before moving on.
When it got to her group, she said, the conversation turned to same-sex marriage.
When Smith said she supported it, the tone changed.
“He was angry that I thought this,” she said. “He eventually ended up saying ‘Well, where do you draw the line? Do you let people marry their dogs, too? That's pretty much the same thing.'”
Smith said she stayed quiet for the rest of class.
Days later, she said, that same teacher approached her in the hallway and apologized, saying he didn’t know she was gay.
As he walked away, she said he yelled, “Well, don’t go marrying your dog!”
“It’s a pretty hostile environment,” said Funk, recalling slurs yelled openly in the hallway. “It was you know, ‘You're a faggot! You're a dyke! You shouldn’t be like that! You're going to hell.’”
Funk, who is set to graduate in the next few weeks, said she often felt physically threatened.
One time in particular, sticks out.
It happened during lunch in the parking lot.
“The principal's son accelerated really fast toward my partner and I at the time and yelled ‘Faggots!’ out the window,” she said.
Threats turned to actual violence one day, when a fellow student yelled a racial slur and hit her with his skateboard, injuring her wrist.
According to a press release issued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, the Oregon Department of Education received Funk’s and Smith’s report in 2016 and began investigating soon after.
It found other students had been harassed, too.
They cited a transgender student who was harassed and pelted with food in school common areas, as well as:
"A transgender boy was refused permission to play on the boys’ basketball team. One black student was forced to line up with his swim teammates from lightest to darkest skin color. Another black student was regularly subjected to racist slurs and name calling by his teammates, including the principal’s son, over his repeated requests that they stop using a modification to the n-word as his nickname. An exchange student from Spain was awarded the 'Best Mexican' award by the swim team."
They also found staff not only failed to stop the behavior, but added to it.
The ODE investigation discovered Principal Bill Lucero had students read Bible verses as punishment, and School Resource Officer Jason Griggs told Funk she was going to Hell for being gay.
The report said that happened after Funk reported an assault across the street.
Monday, months after that information began coming to light, a big announcement surfaced.
Days ahead of a closed-door hearing with the ODE, the North Bend School District settled the case, agreeing to reassign Lucero to another school in the District and request a new School Resource Officer from the North Bend Police Department.
On Thursday, Superintendent Bill Yester said staff are also eager to begin sensitivity training, adding North Bend High is a “good school”.
“We have a lot of students who come here from other districts and are very happy here,” he said. “This is unfortunate right now, but we will definitely work at it and solve these problems.”
Regarding the allegations against Lucero’s using Bible readings as a form of punishment, Yester said he know knew of one instance.
“A Bible reading is what I think what happened. He wasn’t forcing anyone to read it. He gave three choices, and the student read it, and the mother was there,” he said. “So it’s something we’ll have to deal with.”
Several students Thursday also described the accusation as “overblown.”
A Facebook page called “I Stand With Bill” racked up more than 600 likes in less than three days.
Videos posted Wednesday show students crowding around and hugging their ousted principal.
Smith and Funk said Thursday backlash has been tough.
Funk is still technically a student at North Bend but since she’s finished all graduation requirements, she refuses to go back.
Still, they say the community is largely supportive of their victory.
“Systemic change takes time, but it's better to get the ball rolling now then in 10, 15, 20 years,” said Funk.