[the below is from <IAProject> in Iowa...The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project
would like to reiterate that Letters to school board members
can be sent to:
Board of Education, Central Campus, 1800 Grand Ave.,
Des Moines, IA 50309.
The Des Moines school board FAX number is 515-242-7579. ]

"Over 5,800 signatures were collected by the Concerned Students of Des Moines and presented to the Des Moines School Board on April 23, 1996. These signatures were from individuals who favored keeping the sexual orientation clause in the employment non-discrimination policy of the Des Moines schools. The signatures were presented to the Des Moines School Board by the two co-founders of the Concerned Students of Des Moines, Kit Murray and Sara Dirks, in front of a standing room only supportive audience.

In addition, the school board was presented with a list of 16 organizations which support the current non-discrimination policy. These groups include: the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, Concerned Students of Des Moines, Des Moines Education Association, American Association of University Women, Jewish Community Relations Commission, AIDS Project of Central Iowa, American Friends Service Committee, Progressive Alliance, Iowa Civil Liberties Unition, Women's International League for Peace & Freedom, Iowa Citizen Action Network, Democracy Network, Citizens United for Sensible Government, PFLAG, and the National Association of Social Workers.

Twenty-one business and community leaders signed a letter supporting the current policy, as did 71 clergy members from the Des Moines area. Thirteen former school board members (nearly every living school board member) urged the board to retain the current language which prohibits discrimination based on age, race, creed, color, sex, marital status, national origin, religion, disability, and sexual orientation.

Notable speakers supporting the at the open forum included: Alicia Claypool, chairperson of the Interfaith Alliance, students Kit Murray and Sara Dirks, Mary Winterstrum, chairperson of the Des Moines area PTA, and Tim Tutt, a third grade teacher in the district.

Murray and Dirks urged the board to continue basing hiring decisions on a teacher's ability to teach, not on such things as restaurants at which they eat, cars that they drive, or the gender of the person they choose to love. Claypool brought a message to the board from the mainstream communities of faith which urge tolerance and respect for all individuals. The PTA sent the message that hiring should be based on fitness to teach, and Tutt presented an allegorical story about a male teacher who was single, who didn't have a girlfriend, and whose sexual orientation was questionned by curious parents.

The board has taken no action on either re-affirming the policy or rescinding it."