Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 06:18:21 -0700 (PDT) From: jessea@uclink4.berkeley.edu (Jessea NR Greenman) Subject: Action Alert! Glendale CA School Board to vote on parental permission for student clubs [we seem to have a lower key version of the Salt Lake City (Utah) school board policy afoot in this situation in southern California... We need to educate school boards about the unique circumstances which obtain regarding LGBT clubs and their particular privacy requirements.] School district trustees in Glendale Unified School District (southern California) are considering a policy that would require teen-agers to get parental consent before joining many student groups; some assert this policy is being contemplated due to students' plans to form a gay and lesbian club at Hoover High School in the district. The Glendale Board of Education is expected to consider the proposal at its meeting on Tuesday April 2. Jeanne Bentley, president of the Glendale Unified School District board and a former guidance counselor, said parents have a right to know if their children are participating. "I would like to know what organization my child was involved in," she said. She added that, in her view, the needs of LGBTQ youth can be adequately addressed by guidance counselors and that students should seek out such school officials to discuss their "problems." Students interested in forming the club and the gay math teacher whom they've chosen as their adviser said that such a policy would scare off LGBTQ teen-agers at a difficult and confusing stage in their lives. Although the district's intended policy would require students in other clubs to obtain parental consent as well, some students believe says the proposed policy is directed at gay and lesbian teens. The tentative guidelines, drafted by the district's contract attorney, Dick Fisher, require parental permission for clubs involving not only gays but other groups such as those focusing on personal or psychological counseling, group or peer therapy, and discussions of student-family relations; religion; death or the afterlife; suicide; human reproduction; sexuality; sexual activity; birth control; abortion; sexually transmitted diseases; physical or athletic exercise; and clubs that require personal financial commitments exceeding $100. [sounds like a policy really designed to invade students' freedom of thought, association, and individual privacy, doesn't it? why not include the history club? after all, they get brainwashed in particular versions of history...don't the parents want to control what their children learn about history?? why not the arts? we all know how problematic the arts can be!! end of editorializing and sacarcastic remarks by The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project]. Although the policy deals with other groups besides LGBTQ, district spokesman Vic Pallos admitted that Superintendent Robert Sanchis asked for a legal opinion after the gay and lesbian students filed an application in October to transform their informal lunchtime support group into a regular club. However, Pallos asserts, for up to two years before the gay-club application came in, administrators had informally discussed adding parental permission requirements for various clubs. "We're trying to have communications with the home just so parents understand what students are involved with at school," said Pallos, noting that the district already notifies parents at the beginning of the year when course work is expected to touch on sex education, homosexuality, AIDS education or family life. [such notification is required by law in California]. Glendale Council PTA President Susan Hunt said she generally supports parental notification, but in this case believes permission slips would end student participation in a gay club due to their fears of coming out to their parents, often the precise reason they need peer support such as the club would provide. Sstudents do not have to get parental permission to participate in gay and lesbian clubs in the [nearby] Los Angeles Unified School District. Glendale's LG club advisor, who oversees the lunch-time meetings in his classroom, said the group is made up of 10 gay and lesbian students and a few heterosexuals who want to be part of a teen support group. THE BOARD IS SCHEDULED TO VOTE ON THIS POLICY TUESDAY NIGHT, APRIL 2nd. FAX NOW to the Glendale Unified School Board President Jeanne Bentley and Superintendent Robert Sanchis at FAX 818 548 9041 and also fax to Glendale News Press,Box 991,Glendale,CA,91206 -(Fax 818-241-1975, print run 7,500) Los Angeles Daily News,21221 Oxnard Street,Los Angeles,CA,91367 -(Fax 818-713-0057, print run 202,604) Los Angeles Times,Times Mirror Square,Los Angeles,CA,90053 -(Fax 213-237-7679, print run 1,344,200) (E-MAIL: letters@news.latimes.com) The snail (or fedex!) address is School Board President Jeanne Bentley and Superintendent Robert Sanchis Glendale Unified School District 223 N. Jackson Glendale CA 91206 and the telephone is 818 241 3111. 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ Jessea NR Greenman, The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/ " I don't want to live in a country that can't make it own television sets." Ross Perot *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ OK TO RE-POST. Jessea Greenman The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) CHECK THIS OUT FOR TONS OF INFO - - http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/ Please cc us (for our files) on correspondence you send or receive re our action alerts.