Anti-harassment education, specific to harassment due to sexual
orientation or perceived orientation, for Morgan Hill School
District employees is likely to begin this summer, said Assistant
Superintendent Denise Tate, and training for district 7th and 9th
graders will likely begin sometime next fall.
Anti-harassment education, specific to harassment due to sexual orientation or perceived orientation, for Morgan Hill School District employees is likely to begin this summer, said Assistant Superintendent Denise Tate, and training for district 7th and 9th graders will likely begin sometime next fall.
The district, which already provides harassment training, according to Superintendent Carolyn McKennan, is required to initiate a special program as a result of the settlement of a lawsuit filed by six former district students who claimed they were harassed by other students because of their sexual orientation.
The students alleged the district did not protect them from the harassment or adequately punish the perpetrators.
While the district agreed to the settlement, it did not admit to wrongdoing.
District administrators will attend training in June, after the close of the school year, and other district employees, including bus drivers, yard duty employees and custodians, will likely attend training in the fall.
The district is in the process of interviewing candidates to conduct the training sessions.
Some parents in the district have expressed concern since the terms of the settlement in January were made known that the training for students would focus on alternative lifestyles or in some way promote homosexual behavior.
During a recent district meeting of Home & School Club representatives and district principals, McKennan told attendees they could choose to “opt out” their students from the training, which entails one 50-minute session during a student’s 7th and 9th grade years.
“You can always opt out of a program,” she said. “It is not specifically a part of the written settlement agreement, but you can always opt out.”
Shool district Attorney Mark Davis said McKennan is correct.
“She’s right in terms of, number one, you as a parent can retain the right to opt your child out,” he said. “What we plan to is what was done in Visalia (California) to the extent that any parents who asked to have their students opted out would be asked to attend training at sites that explained in detail the nature of the training the students would receive.
“If they still chose to opt out, they would be asked to speak with a school administrator who could give them additional information if needed.”
Visalia, located near Fresno, is the only other school district that has been required to do a specific training session on harassment based on sexual orientation.
Davis said in Visalia, there were only five “opt outs.”
“Once the parents saw that the training was not in any way supporting a gay lifestyle, they were willing to let their students go through it,” he said. “There was an initial concern, based on not knowing the nature of the program, but then when people took the time to learn, they were okay with it. And parents should be paying attention to what their child is going to be exposed to.”
The ACLU, which represented the students, acknowledges the right of parents to choose for their children not to participate, Davis said.
“The ACLU recognized the right to opt out, but had a concern that, say if 90 percent opted out, that would indicate the district was expressly or by implication telling everyone to opt out, and would that indicate an unwillingness to comply,” he said. “Assurances were given that we would provide an objective description of the training so parents could make their own decision, but we couldn’t force them to not opt out.”
