Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 16:33:10 -0700 From: richter@eecs.berkeley.edu (Jean Richter) Subject: 6/24/97 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. RI: Regents ban discrimination against LGBT students 2. VA: Need info on Hertford County book-burying ================================================================ State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Department of Education Shepard Building 255 Westminster Street Providence, Rhode Island 02903-3400 Telephone: 401-277-4600 Fax: 401-277-6178 TTY: 800-745-5555 Voice: 800-745-6575 May 30, 1997 TO: Superintendents FROM: Peter McWalters, Commissioner RE: Board of Regents Policy Statement on Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation The Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education recognizes that full access of all people and groups to educational opportunities and full participation in educational experiences should be the policy and practice of educational agencies. All individuals and groups must be afforded the opportunity to participate fully and thereby reach their maximum potential. Barriers to student participation which are based on sexual orientation must be identified and removed. Certain students, because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, have been subject to discrimination through abuse, harassment, or exclusion from full participation in educational activities. These conditions undermine the goals of Civil Rights activities in education; i.e., to remove barriers, promote nondiscrimination and support the provision of equal educational opportunities. The Board also recognizes that all students, without exception, have the right to come to school and feel safe. Therefore, it is the Policy of the Board of Regents that no student shall be excluded from, discriminated against, or harassed in any educational program, activity or facility in a public school on account of sexual orientation or perception of same. The policy shall apply to admissions, guidance, recreational and extra-curricular activities as well as all public educational programs and activities. Each local school district is urged to review programs, services and activities to assure that such offerings are conducted in a manner that is free of inadvertent or intentional bias. Each local school district is also urged to prohibit harassment based on sexual orientation through the development and enforcement of appropriate student and staff behavior and disciplinary policies. Staff of the Rhode Island Department of Education will be available to assist school districts in the development and implementation of appropriate policies consistent with the Regents' Policy Prohibiting Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation. ==================================================================== [we believe Hertford County is in Virginia, not North Carolina] Date: Mon, 02 Jun 1997 16:40:14 -0700 From: Robin Jacobson Organization: People For the American Way Subject: Desire info @ Hertford Co, NC book-burying Concerning the situation in which thousands of books out of a shipment of donated books, some deemed "objectionable," some not even looked at, were buried in a landfill by the school superintendent, does anyone know: 1. the titles of some/all of the books destroyed? (the "Front Page," the alternative paper out of Raleigh, reported that some were about homosexuality, but no one seems to know what was really in those boxes) 2. what the "media specialists," i.e. librarians, who examined the books, were instructed as to how to separate the books into grade levels, what was objectionable, and most importantly, what to do with the objectionable books. Some reports say that the books were to be put aside for college use, some reports say that they were instructed to put the books aside for destruction. Thanks for any info. This will be used in a sensorship in education project that we are developing here at People for the American Way. My e-mail address is yfuchs@pfaw.org. Thanks, Yael Fuchs, research at PFAW ================================================================== Jean Richter -- richter@eecs.berkeley.edu The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) CHECK OUT OUR INFO-LOADED WEB PAGE AT: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/