School's out: high-powered Chicago attorney Joseph Paolucci brokers multimillion-dollar investment deals without breaking a sweat. So why couldn't he get the headmistress at his sons' school to call him back?As general counsel for Chicago billionaire Saro Zell's real estate investment company Equity Group Investments, Joseph Paolucci is used to having his phone calls returned--pronto. So he couldn't believe it when the headmistress head·mis·tress n. A woman who is the principal of a school, usually a private school. Noun 1. headmistress - a woman headmaster at his sons' Chicago private school refused to respond to his complaints that the boys were being harassed for having gay dads. In May 2006, 8-year-old twins Harry and Joey, whom Paolucci adopted from Romania with his partner, Thomas Hitchcock Thomas Hitchcock (November 23, 1860 - 1941) was one of the leading American polo players during the latter part of the 19th century and a Hall of Fame horse trainer and owner known as the father of American steeplechasing. , in 1999, carne home from Chicago City Day School crying because classmates Classmates can refer to either:
Up to that point the family had had no problems at the school. Indeed, when the boys enrolled in 2001, Paolucci recalls headmistress Galeta Clayton telling him there was a "zero-tolerance policy Noun 1. zero-tolerance policy - any policy that allows no exception; "a zero-tolerance policy toward pedophile priests" policy - a line of argument rationalizing the course of action of a government; "they debated the policy or impolicy of the proposed legislation" " for antigay remarks from classmates. So shortly after the incident, he sent Clayton a letter asking her to prevent such behavior in the future. But he never heard from her. In fact, she didn't respond to a subsequent letter or a phone call. When the 2006 school year began this past September, teachers told Paolucci the headmistress hadn't informed them of his complaint. He sought out Clayton again, to no avail. But in February, Harry and Joey were harassed a second time, says Paolucci. He demanded a meeting with Clayton, and this time she agreed. But instead of offering her concern and support to the dads, Clayton informed them that the boys would no longer be allowed to attend the school after the 2006-2007 year. When Paolucci and Hitchcock asked how she planned to deal with the harassment, Clayton responded, "There is nothing to talk about." "Having invited our family knowingly into the City Day community nearly six years earlier, we were shocked at her reply," says Paolucci. "Had Mrs. Clayton offered any information or showed even a modicum mod·i·cum n. pl. mod·i·cums or mod·i·ca A small, moderate, or token amount: "England still expects a modicum of eccentricity in its artists" Ian Jack. of compassion, we would never be in the situation we are in today." Fed up with Clayton, Paolucci and Hitchcock went over her head to City Day's trustees, who in April backed the decision to effectively expel the kids. That was the same month Zell made headlines with his $8.2 billion purchase of the Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune Chicago Tribune Daily newspaper published in Chicago. The Tribune is one of the leading U.S. newspapers and long has been the dominant voice of the Midwest. Founded in 1847, it was bought in 1855 by six partners, including Joseph Medill (1823–99), who made the paper and Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Morning daily newspaper. Established in 1881, it was purchased and incorporated in 1884 by Harrison Gray Otis (1837–1917) under The Times-Mirror Co. (the hyphen was later dropped from the name). , among other media properties. By day Paolucci was coordinating the biggest deal of his life. By night he and Hitchcock were weighing their sons' schooling options. The admission period at most schools they were considering had passed, but they were able to secure places for the boys at St. Clement School, within walking distance of their home in Chicago's Lincoln Park Lincoln Park, city (1990 pop. 41,832), Wayne co., SE Mich., a suburb adjacent to Detroit, on the Detroit River; inc. 1921. It is a residential community in an area marked by a significant decline in industry. neighborhood. Paolucci and Hitchcock filed a complaint with the Chicago Commission on Human Relations human relations npl → relaciones fpl humanas alleging discrimination, but it was dismissed on the grounds that the commission lacked the authority to intervene. Paolucci hasn't ruled out a civil action against the school: "We don't want to do anything to expose the boys to anything damag ing, but we feel it's essential that the school be exposed for what it did." Neither Clayton nor her attorneys responded to multiple requests from The Advocate for comment. Meanwhile, getting used to the idea of a new school has been bittersweet bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries. for the boys. "When we told Joey that he would have to switch schools, he threw up and cried about it," Paolucci says. But, he adds, "they're excited that they can wear a uniform." 
if this idiot was less into himself and how persocuted he is, he could actually raise his kids like upstanding citizens instead of how they are.. You're gay. SO? It doesn't make you special.. Your kids were being teased over it? So? It doesn't make them special. Your sexuality isn't a handicap, quit waving it like a flag and be a parent
It is amazing how bigoted people want to act like this society isn't doing the same thing to gays that it did to black, and continues to do to a lot of other minority groups. "It doesn't make them special."? Your idiocy isn't a handicap, stop leaning on it like a crutch and get a valid opinion.<br><br>If this had been discrimination over a protected class it would have been nipped in the bud. The fact that it isn't explicitly illegal doesn't make it OK. You're straight? Well stop acting so entitled because sooner or later you're going to be put in your place. |
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