Grossmont District Controversies (April 2002)

[More goings-on from my old high school district:]

From:SARATOGANY@aol.com
Date:Fri, 29 Mar 2002 08:14:51 EST
Subject:CA:Parent doesn't want daughter sharing school restroom with lesbians

Message from:
The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020
John Myers, Director of Operations and Programs
Email to:SARATOGANY@aol.com
The Real or Perceived Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Student Protection Project
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San Diego Union-Tribune, March 28, 2002
P. O. Box 191, San Diego, CA, 92112-4106
(Fax:619-293-1440 ) (E-Mail:letters@uniontrib.com )
( http://www.uniontrib.com )

District denies discrimination complaint by student's dad

By Jill Spielvogel, Staff Writer

EL CAJON - A parent who doesn't want his daughter sharing high school restrooms with lesbian students has filed a discrimination complaint against the Grossmont Union High School District.

Paul Scott's complaint, filed last month, alleges discrimination and intolerance of him and his daughter by "not addressing a very clear right of privacy violation that requires my child to share restrooms, dressing rooms and showering facilities with those who by their own, and societies (sic) definition, are attracted to the same gender (homosexual students and staff)."

After receiving the complaint, the district conducted an investigation as required by state law. Last night, trustees accepted a district report that found there was no discrimination.

Scott has spoken at board meetings and written letters to the district about the issue for more than a year. There has been no allegation that students or staff have made sexual advances to other students in restrooms, trustee Ted Crooks said.

Scott said the district has ignored his concerns and the issue has adversely affected his family. He declined to comment yesterday and did not attend the meeting.

Superintendent Granger Ward said the district has responded to his concerns. But he said what Scott wants - separate restrooms and locker rooms for students and staff who are or are perceived to be gay or lesbian - would be illegal.

"We do not see a resolution that he finds acceptable that is legal and appropriate," Ward said.

Crooks said the district has acted lawfully. It has spent time and money on this issue that could have been spent on education, he said.

Trustee Gary Cass, however, said he will ask if there are some accommodations that can be made for students with modesty concerns. He expects the issue in Scott's complaint will be resolved in the courts, Legislature or some other level of government.

Once Scott is notified in writing of the board's decision on his complaint, he has 15 days to appeal to the state Department of Education.

FYI
GROSSMONT UNION HIGH
P.O. BOX 1043
LA MESA, CA 91944-1043
Phone:(619)644-8000
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This message has been distributed as a free informational service for the expressed interest of non-profit research and educational purposes only.

Subscribe at saratogany@aol.com

John Myers
Director of Operations and Programs
(518) 587-0176

From:SARATOGANY@aol.com
Date:Sun, 31 Mar 2002 09:05:11 EST
Subject:CA:" (school) District will not be hijacked by homosexual activists"(good read)

San Diego Union-Tribune, March 21, 2002
P. O. Box 191, San Diego, CA, 92112-4106
(Fax:619-293-1440 ) (E-Mail:letters@uniontrib.com )
( http://www.uniontrib.com )

Commentary: Fighting hatred and violence

By Janet Castanos

Imagine for a moment that you are a high school student who is perceived by your peers to be gay or lesbian. Everyday you go to school where you are taunted and teased. Every day you are shoved around. Every day an incident occurs that makes you feel less than human:

Gum is thrown in your hair.

Your lunch is stepped on.

The contents of your backpack are emptied into the garbage can.

People spit at you.

Do you feel safe and secure in this type of environment?

Is this an environment conducive to effective learning?

Perhaps we should be asking ourselves if adults in positions of leadership should be turning their backs to this type of activity and merely respond, "Oh well, kids will be kids!"

As a parent and educator for over 25 years, I feel it is imperative that the schools provide a safe, secure learning environment for my most precious gift, my children. This cannot occur as long as hatred of any type is allowed to be a part of our school environment.

The Anti-Defamation League has developed an anti-hate program that teaches students to treat their peers with the same kindness and respect that they themselves would expect to receive. This program includes issues of hatred toward those with different ethnic or racial backgrounds, different religious persuasions, and different sexual orientations (real or perceived).

The program encourages students to understand that the similarities between us are much more significant than the differences.

There are some school board members who would choose to delete a certain portion of this program because they believe that it promotes a particular lifestyle. They believe that the schools should just target hate in general without getting specific about any particular group. This may sound reasonable on the surface but, in reality, it ignores the most pressing social issue in our schools today - hatred and violence toward those perceived to be gay/lesbian.

Ask any school administrator and he or she will tell you that the most maligned group in our schools today are those students who are perceived to be homosexual. These are the students who are traditionally left out of the pursuit of a safe learning environment. Our students often do not report this harassment and violence as hate crimes because they are embarrassed, frustrated and fearful of further retaliation.

It is up to the caring adults in the world to get specific about the individuals we want to protect; otherwise they are ignored. Would Jesus have turned his back on these people? Would Gandhi? Would Mother Teresa? Would Martin Luther King? No, they would embrace them.

It is important to remember that we don't have to condone any lifestyle, but we do need to recognize that our fellow human beings are the targets of hate and that has to be unacceptable for any caring individual.

We don't have to condone any lifestyle, but we do have to care about the safety of each and every student in our schools.

We don't have to condone any lifestyle, but we do have to provide a learning environment that is free from harassment, abuse and physical confrontations.

Our children who say "I don't have a prejudiced bone in my body" yet hate someone simply because of their perceived sexual orientation have got to learn that this is prejudice, this is ignorance, and this is behavior that will simply not be tolerated in any of our schools.

It takes loving, caring, compassionate adults to address this behavior responsibly and effectively in order to wipe it out.

We owe this to our community.

We owe this to our children.

We owe this to our future generations.

We can only do this with effective and moral leadership - leadership that cares deeply about he personal safety of all our children.

· Castanos is a college administrator who serves as a board member for Heartland Human Relations and Fair Housing Association. She can be reached via e-mail at Janet-Castanos@hotmail.com.

Commentary: District will not be hijacked by homosexual activists (March 28, 2002)

By Gary Cass and Priscilla Schreiber

Editor's note:A recent move by the Grossmont Union High School District to have a film promoting tolerance edited to exclude a segment on discrimination against homosexuals was criticized in a commentary by Janet Castanos, a board member of the Heartland Human Relations and Fair Housing Association. Today, two Grossmont trustees present an opposing view.

The truth always seems to be the first victim when the politically correct crowd unleashes its hateful attacks on anyone who might dare disagree. Ironically, these "Titans of Tolerance" cannot tolerate dissent of any kind against their rigid, liberal ideology.

When a school superintendent makes a decision that they do not agree with, they threaten, they curse and abuse school board members, deluging them with hate. Sadly, they do this while blind to their own intolerance for what is generally considered to be normal and decent. As is most often the case with liberals, tolerance is a one-way street.

This campaign of hate against the Grossmont superintendent and board was coordinated by a homosexual activist organization outside the district, aided and abetted by the liberal media. Members of the organization sent e-mails throughout the county encouraging homosexual activists to stir up trouble. Many of the protesters who showed up at the board meeting were not citizens of East County, but were professional homosexual activists.

For the record, the decision to remove a portion of the assembly presentation by the Anti-Defamation League that pertained to homosexuality was an administrative decision. There was no specific vote by the board to remove it. However, there was a 5-0 vote a few months back that made it a policy of the district not to promote any kind of sexual lifestyle. Grossmont Superintendent Granger Ward and Granite Hills Principal Georgette Torres are to be commended for doing their jobs supporting the spirit and intention of board policy.

The 5-0 vote of the board was intended to do two things.

First, it was to remove the controversy that surrounds the debate over sexual orientation, to get it out of the classroom and back into the realm of the family. Sexuality is not a trivial matter. Sexual decisions can have devastating consequences. Parents are best suited to help their children sort out these extremely private matters.

Grossmont is Proposition 22 country. It overwhelmingly supports the natural family and heterosexual marriage. The homosexual activists think they know what's best for our kids.

Second, the 5-0 vote of the board was to protect the district against potential litigation. One parent has filed a complaint with a local school board because it does not protect his heterosexual daughter. The parent objects to his daughter having to undress and use restroom facilities with those who openly profess to be sexually attracted to girls. The father considers it degrading. Also, parents, whose children were subjected to pro-homosexual propaganda against their wishes, are suing another school district.

Homosexual activists don't want tolerance. They demand that their lifestyle be accepted and celebrated. Parents just want a decent education for their children.

If kids are being picked on, existing policy already makes any kind of assault or threats of violence against any student a punishable offense. Who the student is makes no difference.

For the record, there have been no assaults or harassment of homosexuals reported in the Grossmont district. Does that mean kids don't say cruel things? No. Should we hold up a standard of civility that simply asks all students to be decent to each other? Absolutely.

At the core, this is an issue of promotion of a lifestyle, not protection. It is nearly impossible for the majority of society to identify the 2 percent to 3 percent of the population that is dealing with homosexuality unless the struggling person makes it an issue.

Students struggling with sexual identity issues need help. Parents, clergy and psychologists are there to help. No one wants any child to suffer, but schools have their hands full just getting test scores up. Do we need daylong programs to tell students to keep their hands to themselves and their mouths under control? Can't we just get back to education and enforce existing policy? For a few activists and their allies in the media, this is intolerable!

Grossmont is considering a bond measure for the November ballot that would require the support of 67 percent of the community. Radical ideologues are manipulating a handful of students and in the process are alienating a large part of the community needed to pass a bond. Homosexuals are determined to hijack the schools for their ends. The district suffers as a result.

The Grossmont school board will not be pawns for those who have such dangerous designs on our kids. The board voted 5-0 to get past the issue. The superintendent did the right thing, but these homosexual ideologues, aided and abetted by the media, just won't back down.

· Cass and Schreiber are members of the Grossmont Union High School District Board of Trustees.
============================================================================
This message has been distributed as a free informational service for the expressed interest of non-profit research and educational purposes only.

Subscribe at saratogany@aol.com

John Myers
Director of Operations and Programs
(518) 587-0176

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Last updated 4/23/2002 by Jean Richter, richter@eecs.Berkeley.EDU