An email expressing concerns over Chick-fil-A’s involvement on campus, in staff meetings and the career fair, was sent to all staff members on March 10 by English teacher Brett Webber, on behalf of a larger group of teachers. The email, whose subject was “Open Letter to MHS Administration,” cited concerns regarding Chick-fil-A’s founder and the CEO’s practice of supporting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation as recently as 2021.
By allowing the mascot on campus, the school is giving the approval to advertise Chick-fil-A’s values to students, the email said. It called upon MUSD to reject Chick-fil-A and not allow them to have any presence on campus.
“As the educators of our community, we must take a stand against Chick-fil-A and any other company that publicly holds and profits from bigoted values,” the email said. “This is not “politics” which can be ignored; people’s lives and feelings of belonging and well-being are at stake.”
After the email was sent, no official decisions have been made in relation to Chick-fil-A, and there is currently nothing in the works involving Chick-fil-A, Maneja said in an interview. In the past, Chick-fil-A has reached out to athletic teams and student clubs and has been involved in the career fair, he added.
“If an individual is providing us resources that have otherwise not been provided in the past, but also is a symbol of hate for a lot of students and staff members, how do you balance between the two?” Maneja said in an interview. “I think the difficult part of my role is not to instill my own personal biases or values but to respect the diversity of values that we have on this campus.”
Students’ shock seeing the Chick-fil-A cow on campus during the career fair was like seeing a symbol of hate, Webber said in an interview.
“To take a marginalized group already striving for a sense of belonging, striving for inclusion, striving to feel comfortable at their high school, and then to allow an organization that, as recently as 2021, openly, publicly, financially supported organizations who go against them – it is incomprehensible to me that that would be allowed,” Webber said.
The owner of the Milpitas franchisee of Chick-fil-A, claims he is here just to feed and support the community, Maneja said in an email sent to all staff members.
“Who else is going to come to me to offer food to our staff because they appreciate them supporting our community?” Maneja said in the email. “Show me that I don’t need this community partner who has given and showed their commitment to the new CFA values”
Chick-fil-A broke his trust, and trust is a very easy thing to lose and is very difficult to regain, Webber said in an interview. Students should do their research on the topic of Chick-fil-A, he said.
“Would we believe someone who used to do something four years ago, five years ago, who now says I no longer do it?” Webber said in an interview. “I do not trust Chick-fil-A as an organization, right from their CEO, all the way down. I don’t trust them.”
Social studies teacher Ana Pardo also expressed her disappointment with Chick-fil-A’s involvement, Pardo said. Because Chick-fil-A is a private company, the profits of the company will eventually reach the owners who have been consistently donating to anti-LGBTQ+ causes, Pardo explained.
“It’s as simple as not inviting this company in particular to sponsor our events,” Pardo said. “Because we ask them to sponsor our events in any way, we give the impression that we are at the very least shrugging off where their money goes. To me, that signals to members of the LGBTQ community in our school or in our district that we don’t care.”
Webber claimed that a ruling was made by Superintendent Cheryl Jordan that MUSD would not be affiliated with Chick-fil-A and that that precedent has been followed up till now, he said.
“There hasn’t been established school policy that says to what extent Chick-fil-A works here,” Maneja said in an interview. “I know in 2020 the district made a decision to not work with Chick-fil-A for a teacher appreciation initiative … That was a decision made for that context, but nothing else has been discussed since then about what Chick-fil-A will do, especially since Milpitas opened a franchise.”
According to Jordan in an email interview, the MUSD Equity Policy is what one should refer to in matters such as these. She did not respond to further follow ups.
Formalizing a relationship with Chick-fil-A could be good for MHS because it allows the community partner to help MHS promote a safe, inclusive environment for students, Maneja said in an interview.
“The responsible thing is to establish a relationship with them, not with a closed door, not with fully open arms, but with this constant evaluation of ‘if an organization is meeting our values,’” Maneja said in an interview. “So I think in this situation, we have evidence that he (Johnson) is in support. That doesn’t take away from the concern that people have, and so I think it all equally needs to be weighed. This isn’t about making a decision that everyone’s in support of or making the decision that’s easiest.”
People always believe that they will do the right thing when the time comes to it, but, more often than not, most will do nothing because it’s easier, Pardo said.
“It’s really hard to stand up, to make a principled stand when things are difficult,” Pardo said. “If somebody is offering you things for free, the easy answer is to take it. It is a very tempting answer. But, if by taking that you make others feel excluded, should you take it?”