Should Have Stuck to Teaching Art

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Sep 25, 2007 8:30PM

You'll remember the story of Dave Warwak, the middle school art instructor in Fox River Grove who put down the paints, chalks and paste to passionately talk to his students about the virtues of the vegan lifestyle. If by "passionately" we meant "beat the kids over the head about how all hot dogs are sketchy-assed." When he was busted for doing that, he took the concept of "keeping it real" to Chappellian levels, demanding that the school district that employed him remove milk and animal products from lunch menus before he returned to work, and even threatening to file child endangerment charges with the McHenry County State's Attorney.

As of this afternoon, Warwak is now an unemployed vegan middle school art instructor. The board at Fox River Grove School District 3 voted unanimously to fire Warwak this afternoon. In a prepared statement, the board said that Warwak told his students "not to tell their parents, teachers or the school's principal what he was teaching and that he repeatedly refused to answer questions from school officials on that subject," and that Warwak turned his art classes into a bully pulpit for veganism and animal rights. Warwak, who spoke for himself at the board meeting, exhibited the grace and level-headed cool that have served him so well to this point and told the board "you are ruining my world and eating my friends." "Friends" like today's hot lunch at Fox River Grove School District 3. $2.35 for a ribwich and fries? And with a big coke (or milk)? You're only human. Chomp!

The silver lining to this story — besides waiting for Warwak to file a wrongful termination lawsuit — is that it frees him up in the interim to focus on his "often light hearted and humorous (paintings) with hidden commentaries about life and the true importance of our world." One wonders how he failed to combine the subtlety of his artist's statement with the fervency of his 9-month-old vegan beliefs? Maybe if he'd manage to reconcile the two, he could have found at least one impressionable mind, albeit one who can't spell his name.

Collage via this testimonial to Warwak's stance on Warwak's website.