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Monday, September 13, 2010

Saline Schools Non-Discrimination Policy, Part II

Thanks to Kyle Feldscher for a summary of the Saline school board policy committee meeting tonight, where they discussed the expansion of a non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Read my earlier post here. Read about tonight's meeting here.

A few thoughts.
First, thanks to AAPS board member Glenn Nelson for sharing the AAPS experience:
He said he believes it's important for the Saline board to add that language to its policy because it would contribute positively to the county’s reputation, has been beneficial in Ann Arbor and because the students from Saline are so passionate [in support of ordinance expansion]. (Annarbor.com article.)

Second, Saline school board member Chuck Lesch implied that Saline couldn't expand their policy because the state of Michigan didn't include gender identity or sexual orientation in their list of "protected classes."
The state of Michigan does not prohibit Saline (or any other public body) from adding additional classes for protection. Lots of local public bodies have expanded lists of protected classes. Think of the state's law as a floor, not a ceiling.

Third, Saline school board member Paul Hynak said that the root of the problem is bullying. I would submit that bullying and issues of sexual orientation and gender identity do intersect, but not all sexual orientation problems in schools are related to bullying, and not all bullying problems in schools are related to sexual orientation. In other words, if bullying needs to be brought under control, let us bring it under control in all cases. That's important, but it is at least partially a separate issue.

So--tomorrow night, September 14th, the full board will discuss this issue.
6:30 p.m., Liberty School media center, 7265 Saline-Ann Arbor Road--turn out to support the students and support the expansion of the non-discrimination policy!

The issue may be voted on September 28th, 6:30 p.m., Liberty School media center, 7265 Saline-Ann Arbor Road.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Ruth,

    Has the meeting for the 14th been confirmed? Just trying to find info. - I can't seem to find it on Saline's website, although this may be what they intend.

    Thanks,
    Topher

    ReplyDelete
  2. The meeting on the 13th was a policy committee meeting. The meetings for the 14th and 28th are the regular (twice-monthly) board meetings, and I believe they are still scheduled to meet tonight and on the 28th. And yes, they were hard to find on the web site.

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  3. Couldn't make it to last night (Tuesday)'s meeting. Could we have a recap, pretty please? :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was not there. Fortunately, Annarbor.com has a recap. Read about it here: http://www.annarbor.com/news/saline/saline-school-board-discusses-non-discrimination-policy-with-students-and-community/

    ReplyDelete

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