EDITOR: I write to correct an error in the Feb. 10 article
headlined
“Special training slated in fall for students.” The student
training program established by the settlement agreement in Flores
v. Morgan Hill School District is not an optional program. The
program is mandatory for both students and staff in Morgan Hill
schools. The agreement is quite specific
on that point.
EDITOR:
I write to correct an error in the Feb. 10 article headlined “Special training slated in fall for students.” The student training program established by the settlement agreement in Flores v. Morgan Hill School District is not an optional program. The program is mandatory for both students and staff in Morgan Hill schools. The agreement is quite specific on that point.
The student training program established by the settlement agreement is designed to address the hateful harassment that gave rise to this lawsuit in the first place. It is not a sex education program of any kind. It is a program whose purpose is to keep students safe from verbal and physical abuse. It tackles the problem of anti-gay harassment by seeking to change student attitudes about such harassment and thereby change the over-all school environment for all students. To accomplish that goal, the student training will teach students how to recognize and respond to anti-gay harassment. The training will also address the very important school safety issues that arise when harassment is allowed to continue. A copy of the settlement agreement is available on the ACLU’s website at www.aclunc.org
Anti-gay harassment is an ugly fact of life for too many students at too many schools. It was most certainly an ugly fact of life for the six young plaintiffs in this lawsuit who were daily tormented by their fellow students because they were perceived to be gay. Lest there be any doubt that it remains a problem at Morgan Hill’s schools, your readers need only turn to a story in the same edition headlined “LO students: harassment continues.”
Surely no parent would want their own child to be either a victim of or a participant in anti-gay harassment. And just as surely no parent should want to keep their child out of a 50-minute class that teaches students that anti-gay harassment is wrong and will not be permitted in the Morgan Hill schools. The student training program is mandatory because both school safety and common decency demand it.
Ann Brick,
Staff attorney,
ACLU of Northern California
Editor’s note: MHSD Supt. Carolyn McKennan is quoted in the story as telling those attending a district meeting of Home and School Club representatives and principals that parents could have their children “opt out” from the training.
