As required by the settlement of the Flores vs MHSD lawsuit,
training for administrators in the Morgan Hill School District took
place Tuesday to help administrators learn to recognize harassment
of students because of their sexual orientation or perceived sexual
orientation. Classified workers and seventh and ninth grade
students will receive training in the fall.
As required by the settlement of the Flores vs MHSD lawsuit, training for administrators in the Morgan Hill School District took place Tuesday to help administrators learn to recognize harassment of students because of their sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation.
Classified workers and seventh and ninth grade students will receive training in the fall.
Live Oak High Principal Nancy Serigstad, who will be leaving the district this summer to assume the Scotts Valley High principalship, said while the training was a “good start,” she thinks the issue is something that all administrators have to be aware of.
“The laws are pretty clear about what needs to be in place to support kids,” she said. “This is something we’ve focused on in my six years at Live Oak; it is not acceptable to harass anyone, whether it is because of sexual orientation or race or economic level or whatever … I’ve always believed schools are a microcosm of society, and right now, the issue of sexual orientation, with the gay marriage discussions, is of greater focus maybe. Just like desegregation in the ‘60’s.”
Serigstad said she thought the training session, which lasted from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., was “very productive and very focused.”
“I think it’s the right issues we need to concentrate on in order to create a safe environment for all kids,” she said. “We looked at scenarios, discussed terminology and had an opportunity to address questions and concerns. We talked about how much information do you give, because the point is not to talk about sex education. The point is harassment … This is not just because of the lawsuit, this is Ed Code. It is something all administrators are aware of. There was nobody at that meeting that didn’t get it.”
The lawsuit, filed in 1998 by former district students, charged that students were harassed repeatedly and in humiliating ways. When the district agreed to a settlement with the students, who were advised by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), school officials stated that the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing.
As a result of the settlement, Alana Flores, Freddie Fuentes, Jeanette Dousharm and three other former students will split $560,000 and see all MHSD staff and seventh and ninth grade students undergo separate training designed to combat anti-gay harassment. Another $540,000 will be used to cover costs and the students’ attorney’s fees, Superintendent Carolyn McKennan said after the announcement.
During the years the lawsuit wound its way through the courts, only former student Flores was willing to have her name used publicly.
Recently, Fuentes and Dousharm added their names to hers.
McKennan said Flores would receive $150,000; Fuentes and Dousharm, $100,000 each; two unnamed plaintiffs $80,000 each and the final student, $50,000.
McKennan said the district decided to settle without going to trial because, if it went to trial and the district lost, they would be liable for the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees, an amount estimated to be $3 million.
The $1.1 million, McKennan explained, will be paid by a Joint Powers Authority the district belongs to, a consortium of school districts that join together, essentially to share risks – a self-insuring agency. She said school districts are generally unable to secure insurance policies that would shield them from such lawsuits.
Tuesday’s training, including training materials and preparation by ACLU- and district-approved trainers Kanwarpal Dhaliwal and Jill Tregor of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, plus the actual presentation, cost $2,300, according to Assistant Superintendent Denise Tate.
Thirty-five district administrators attended Tuesday’s training. Trustees Jan Masuda and Shellé Thomas also attended.
“It was a very successful day,” Tate said Thursday. “The presenters engaged all the participants including the two board members in a very interactive training program. People were given an opportunity to actually put into practice the things that we were learning, particularly as it relates to investigating, reporting and remedying when instances or perceived instances of harassment occur.”
Tate emphasized the fact that Tuesday’s training and the upcoming training for other district personnel and students is not about sex education.
“While the training was focused on lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender and questioning persons (LGBTQ), perceived or actual, many of the skills we were learning were applicable to investigating, reporting and finding a remedy for any kind of incident,” she said. “I know that the administrators walked away feeling that this was an excellent training focused on school safety for all children. This is not about sex and sex education. We’re talking about setting the standard at our schools for respecting students.”
The district will offer similar training to classified employees, tentatively during the week of Aug. 16; Tate said plans had not yet been finalized. The district is also in discussions with the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers regarding training.
District seventh and ninth graders will receive one 50-minute training session; the curriculum will be developed by a committee composed of district representatives and interested parents.
“The training itself is tentatively scheduled to occur at the end of first semester or beginning of the second semester,” Tate said Thursday. “We still have to take the curriculum on the road, not slip in during the summer. Once the committee has developed the curriculum, there will be public forums and a 28-day period during which parents can go and review it.”
The committee won’t be formed during the summer either, she added.
“We anticipate taking the names of interested parents in August and then formulating the committee and really begin its work,” said Tate. “We don’t want to leave out someone who has a passion to participate.”
