Date: Sun, 5 May 1996 07:37:01 -0700 (PDT) From: jessea@uclink4.berkeley.edu (Jessea NR Greenman) Subject: UT Action Alert||NYC school elections May 7||Merimack NH board conducts secret meeting Date: Sat, 4 May 1996 11:07:12 -0700 (PDT) From: cdorchard@earthlink.net (Charlene Orchard) Subject: UHRC Action Alert The Utah State Legislature, the Governor, and the Salt Lake School Board are sending a terrible message to the world with their recent actions. In order to obliterate the Gay/Lesbian/Straight Alliances, they are legislating bigotry and intimidating teachers into submissive silence. The theme for Salt Lake's 2002 Winter Olympics is, ironically, "The World is Welcome Here." Help us send a message to our elected representatives and the organizers of the 2002 Winter Olympics: THIS IS THE PLACE: FOR BIGOTRY, INTOLERANCE, INJUSTICE, FEAR AND HATRED NOT ALL OF THE WORLD IS WELCOME HERE Join us in sending this message as we observe the Olympic Torch. WHEN: Friday, May 10, 2:45 p.m. WHERE: "This Is the Place" Monument (At the mouth of Emigration Canyon and next to Hogle Zoo, 2600 E. Sunnyside, Salt Lake City) Organized in part by: Utah Human Rights Coalition, Citizens' Alliance for Hate Free Schools, ACLU of Utah, and U.C.A.N (Utah Community Action Network) Charlene Orchard Co-Chair, Utah Human Rights Coalition P.O. Box 521242 Salt Lake City, UT 84152-1242 801-484-5291 cdorchard@earthlink.net ------------------------------------------ New York city voters go to the polls Tues. May 7 to vote in schoolboard elections. The last school elections, in 1993, were riddled with the controversies regarding the "Rainbow Curriculum" and issues around homosexuality and condom distribution. Back then, and possibly in violation of the law, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese handed out about 100,000 Christian Coalition voter guides. The New York Times reported in its April 29 issue that this time around, the Archdiocese plans to hand out its own voter guides but use the CC candidate survey as a "guideline." The "good guys" in the current election are affiliated with "Good Schools '96", which bills itself as "a broad citywide coalition of groups, organizations, and individuals who support strong public schools and equitably financed education and who are working together with like-minded people in each of New York City's 32 school districts." Check out THEIR voter guide on the Web at http://goodschools.org Additional candidate comments are available upon request. Call (212) 944-5820 for more information. Tell your friends in NYC to vote for "Good Schools '96" candidates and to consult their voters' guide for information or call the phone number given above. ----------------------------- From: RLKottwitz@aol.com Date: Sat, 4 May 1996 14:30:34 -0400 Subject: Merrimack NH School Board Holds Unannounced "Public" Meeting For Immediate Release -- May 3, 1996 For more information, contact: Ken Coleman (603) 883-3254 fax: (603) 881-4877 SCHOOL BOARD HOLDS UNANNOUNCED "PUBLIC" MEETING Locked Doors, Lack of Public Notification Raise Questions Merrimack, NH -- On May 1, 1996, the Merrimack, NH School Board held a non-public session to discuss disciplinary issues. Immediately after that business was concluded, Chairman Chris Ager called the Board into an unannounced "public" session at approximately 10:00 PM. The doors to the meeting room were kept closed, and the outside doors of the building had been locked several hours earlier. Board Member Brenda Grady and Vice Chair Ken Coleman objected that this was an illegal public meeting, and repeated their objections several times. CENSURING DISSENT Despite the objections, Chairman Ager then introduced a motion to censure Coleman for statements Coleman had made during the previous public meeting of the Board on April 15, 1996. "Given the highly unusual and suspicious circumstances of the surprise late-night meeting," Coleman observed, "I have reason to believe that this was an attempt by the Majority Bloc of the Board to generate unfavorable public perceptions of me. At the same time, they did not want to allow the general public to hear the flimsy reasons and lack of rationale for their action against me." BACKGROUND Briefly, the Board has been dealing with problems resulting from enacting the anti-gay Policy 6540, proposed by Ager, and written by Rev. Lou Sheldon of the California-based Traditional Values Coalition. The Sheldon-Ager policy is nearly identical to a failed amendment to the Education Funding Act of 1994, sponsored by US Senators Bob Smith (R-NH) and Jesse Helms (R-NC). A group of parents, teachers, and civil liberties organizations has entered a suit in US District Court, claiming the Policy violates the First & Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution. The Board's frequent irregular procedures and failure to follow District policies also form the basis of several complaints in the suit. CHAIRMAN AGER MAKES BAD FAITH AGREEMENT At a non-public session with the School District's legal counsel, Coleman and Grady, who had opposed passage of the Sheldon-Ager (Smith-Helms) Policy, agreed not to disclose information regarding the District's response to the suit -- but on the condition that the Board and its Chairman would adhere to established policies and procedures. Again, Coleman and Grady raised the question several times, and were solemnly reassured each time that the Board and its Chairman would follow established policies and procedures faithfully. SUBVERTING THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS On April 15, 1996, the Superintendent presented to the Board the administrative guidelines for implementing Policy 6540. During discussion, Ager refused to bring to the floor two motions previously put on the table expressly for discussion on April 15. Ager refused to allow the members to make any other motions in regard to the original Policy. Coleman reminded Ager that this was a clear violation of the Board's own policies and procedures, several times. Ager refused to permit a vote on whether to accept or reject the guidelines. He also refused to allow amendment of the Policy to conform to the guidelines. Coleman and Grady both objected to the Superintendent's guidelines because they violated the actual words of the Sheldon-Ager (Smith-Helms) Policy, and failed to address many of the major issues raised by the Policy. Finally, Ager refused to allow the Board to vote for or against the guidelines, and declared them adopted by imperial fiat. SECRET STRATEGY & PUBLIC POLICY Coleman reminded Ager that this was a gross violation of policies and procedures and Roberts' Rules of Order. He pleaded with Ager to permit the two tabled motions to come to the floor for debate. Ager refused. Obviously the reason Ager used this unprecedented method of stifling dissent to adopt the guidelines was to benefit the lawsuit. By bringing the matter up and adopting it at the same meeting, he once again violated the Board's Two-Week Rule. When Ager incorrectly stated to the public that these procedures had no bearing on the lawsuit, Coleman felt an obligation to inform the public that this was not the case. Weakening the Policy with these guidelines was indeed the Board's strategy to diffuse the impact of specific complaints in the Federal suit in hopes of making the Policy easier to defend. Since the guidelines have no official standing, the Policy would remain in place, waiting to be used at the whim of the Board, thus amplifying the fear among faculty of unintended insubordination. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE DELAYED When members of the public asked the next day (May 2, 1996) for minutes of the public portion of the meeting, the Superintendent's office claimed that only the non-public portion had been tape recorded. The printed minutes of the meeting would not be available until May 6, 1996, the day of Ager's last meeting as Chairman. Ager is leaving the Board in disgrace because widespread community displeasure with his administration has made re-election untenable. As a parting gesture of contempt for Coleman's opposition to his Machiavellian rule, Ager converted a non-public meeting into a late-night unannounced "public meeting." The only item on the agenda was a spiteful political attack against Coleman. -END- [The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project adds: School Board and Superintendent Contact Information: Merrimack School Department 36 McElwain St. Merrimack NH 03054 phone (603) 424 6200, fax (603) 424 6229. Elizabeth M Twomey is NH's state Commissioner of Education and can be reached at New Hampshire Dept. of Education State Office Park South 101 Pleasant Street Concord NH 03301 phone= 603-271-3144 fax= 603-271-1953 and TDD Access= Relay NH 1-800-735-2964. Inform her of the incident and ask her to investigate further, with an eye to taking appropriate action. ] *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ 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.