Conway Springs teacher will return to job Monday

Conway Springs teacher Tom Leahy, who was on leave for two weeks after showing a controversial anti-bullying film, will return to his teaching position Monday, district officials said.

In a written statement, officials said he “will be allowed back in the classroom with some safeguards in place to make sure the students in the classroom are okay which is our number one concern.”

Superintendent Clay Murphy would not provide details on the safeguards or elaborate on the written release.

The one-page statement, sent to Conway Springs parents and media Friday, was issued on behalf of the district and Leahy, Murphy said, and would be “our final statements on this issue.”

“We will have no further comment on the topic,” it says.

Leahy confirmed by phone Friday that he did not plan to comment further.

Leahy, a social studies teacher at Conway Springs Middle School, has been on leave since mid-October, after he showed students “Love Is All You Need,” a short film that depicts a fictional world in which heterosexual children are bullied by homosexual classmates.

Earlier this week Leahy had planned to resign his teaching position, saying he had “upset too many people.” On Thursday, he said he had opted not to resign and wanted to return to the classroom.

According to Friday’s statement, “many rumors have floated around” that district officials and Leahy wanted to address.

“It was posted that Mr. Leahy had been fired – this never happened,” the statement says.

“It was also posted that Mr. Leahy was being forced to resign. That never happened. … There was never a forced resignation in this process.”

According to the statement, “The school district and Mr. Leahy agreed that he would be on leave for 10 days from the classroom. During this leave, both sides consulted legal counsel and facts were gathered and rumors were eliminated to make sure all information was available prior to making any decisions.”

Since an Eagle story was published Monday detailing Leahy’s plan to resign, the teacher received “an unbelievable amount of support” from students, parents, community members and people across the country, he said.

The Tyler Clemeni Foundation, an anti-bullying organization, launched a national petition Friday in support of the teacher, saying the community should “use this controversy as a way to raise awareness about bullying and intolerance.”

A local online petition asking district leaders to reinstate Leahy had garnered nearly 2,500 signatures as of Friday evening.

Leahy has said he did not get his principal’s permission to show the film. Nor did he send a note home to parents to give them the opportunity to opt their children out of watching it.

“Mr. Leahy has stated that he knew the film might be controversial and has agreed that he should have checked with the administration prior to showing the film,” Friday’s statement says. “He also agrees that some of his comments made in the classroom after the film added to the controversy.”

Neither Murphy nor Leahy would offer details about those comments.

“The fact is that the vast majority of complaints were about the graphic suicide scene and some of the comments made after the film had ended,” the statement said.

Leahy said he no longer plans to speak to Conway Springs school board members at their regular meeting Monday night. It was unclear Friday whether board members would address the topic.

This story was originally published November 7, 2015 at 12:29 AM with the headline "Conway Springs teacher will return to job Monday."