Some Martin Murphy parents are upset they were not notified
earlier this month before their seventh-graders received mandatory
training on sexual identity and gender identity harassment, in
compliance with the settlement of a lawsuit.
Morgan Hill – Some Martin Murphy parents are upset they were not notified earlier this month before their seventh-graders received mandatory training on sexual identity and gender identity harassment, in compliance with the settlement of a lawsuit.
Students received the training during the school day, then a recorded message was phoned to the students’ homes, informing the families the students had taken part in the program.
Several families phoned the District Office to complain.
The training program, according to Assistant Superintendent Jay Totter, is not the problem with the parents who contacted the district, it was the lack of prior notification.
“The district developed a training packet for students that speaks to safe schools and non-discriminatory practices for all students,” he said.
The theme of the training is not sexual but focuses on teaching students not to harass other students because of differences or perceived differences.
The lawsuit, Flores vs. Morgan Hill Unified School District, was settled in January 2004. It was filed by a group of Live Oak High students and their families.
Totter said he has met with parents and believes their concerns have been addressed. He said the district did not purposely avoid giving prior notification to parents, but when he came to the district last year, the training had already been provided, and he inherited the information about the program. There was no standard notification letter with the program, he said, so he did not send one out.
“We anticipate providing an advance notice to all parents at the start of the next school year,” he said. “We will make the training materials available if parents want to review them and if they chose, prepare their child in advance for the training.”
The training, designed for seventh- and ninth-grade students, is mandated by a settlement agreement between the school district and the American Civil Liberties Union. The agreement does not allow for parents to “opt-out” their students, as the district allows with the sex education program.
Parent David Faulk told board members he was not in opposition to the training, but was disturbed by the lack of advance notification. He told school board trustees at the Sept. 11 school board meeting that he believes parents need to be prepared in case their children have questions about the training or want to have a discussion about the training.
“I believe the school district should act responsibly and notify parents,” he said. “We need to be involved in the education of our children…The school district should provide us with the opportunity to be involved.”
Filed in April 1998, the lawsuit named former district superintendent Carolyn McKennan; Bob Davis, who was interim Live Oak principal at the time; Delia Schizzano, assistant principal; Maxine Bartschi, assistant principal at Live Oak; Rick Gaston, Live Oak assistant principal; Larry Carr, now a city councilman but then president of the school board; and past school board members Susan Choi, Del Foster, Jan Masuda, Tom Kinoshita, John Kennett and Rick Herder; and Don Schaefer and Frank Nucci, principal and assistant principal at Martin Murphy Middle School.
The settlement of the lawsuit included a training program for district administrators, staff and students to combat anti-gay harassment and a $1.1 million damage award to pay the cost of attorneys and split between the six plaintiffs.
The money to pay the damage award was paid by a Joint Power Authority the district belongs to, a consortium of school districts that joint together essentially to share risks.
