Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 16:41:30 -0800 From: Jean Richter Subject: 3/28/2000 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. More on AT&T middle school diversity program 2. MO: Article on gay parents and schools ========================================================== From: SARATOGANY@aol.com Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2000 12:55:25 EST Subject: Corporations Taking Diversity Training to Middle School Students (AT&T) To: SARATOGANY@aol.com, bdm3g@gateway.net Msg fwd by: The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020 Email to: saratogany@aol.com "The Actual or Perceived GLBT Student Protection Project" CSS_NYS Note: Court TV did a broadcast on this program and you can access some of the video clips at http://www.courttv.com/diversity/video2.html. You can also search the Court TV website using the program title (in quotes). If anyone has seen the training package please let us know how to obtain. ========================================================= This message has been distributed as a free informational service for the expressed interest of non-profit research and educational purposes only. Debut of "Opening the Door to Diversity: Voices from the Middle School" Program Successful What Happened Around the Nation Contacts: LaRae Marsik or Tracy Hollingsworth, AT&T BIS, 720-875-5273 Englewood, Colorado - On October 26, 1999, Opening the Door to Diversity: Voices from the Middle School, inspired by AT&T Cable Services employee Michael Arnold-Keith, aired live on Court TV and AT&T Cable Services LO channels at noon (ET). The interactive classroom set at AT&T's National Digital Television Center connected middle school students in Littleton, Colo., with students in Hayward, Calif., Cheyenne, Wyo., and Chicago, Ill., via the AT&T@Home broadband Internet service. Every middle school in the nation received the program's curriculum materials, offering more than 15,000 schools the chance to participate in the event. "For nearly a year, AT&T BIS, AT&T Cable Services, and AT&T@Home employees worked to create a forum that would give middle school students the chance to discuss diversity in an open and interactive manner," said Lela Cocoros, Executive Vice President of Communications for AT&T BIS. "We are heartened by the overwhelming participation we experienced from local education leaders, political leaders, media, students, parents and employees, and are very proud of the success of Opening the Door to Diversity: Voices from the Middle School." Following is an overview of the AT&T events hosted around the nation. NATIONAL DIGITAL TELEVISION CENTER (Littleton, Colo.) Twenty-seven students from five Denver area middle schools gathered at AT&T's National Digital Television Center in Littleton and participated in the live program moderated by Al Roker and Catherine Crier. Students at several area middle schools, including Flood Middle School in Englewood, watched the program. In addition to Court TV, the NBC affiliate, KUSA-TV in Denver, carried the program live. CAREY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL (Cheyenne, Wyo.) The Governor of Wyoming issued a proclamation declaring October 26th Diversity Day for the state of Wyoming. At Carey Junior High School in Cheyenne, three students participated in the national program via streaming video over AT&T@Home. AT&T hosted 700 students for a local version of the national broadcast called "Voices from Wyoming." AT&T also brought three students from the Wind River Range Indian Reservation to participate in the discussion. The national broadcast aired on all Wyoming cable systems, and the local version was carried by the CBS affiliates in Casper and Cheyenne. KGAB-AM radio and all of its Wyoming affiliates carried the audio for the local and national shows. Attending dignitaries included the director of H.O.P.E. (a Hispanic organization), mayor of Cheyenne, Cheyenne chief of police, director of Youth Alternatives, president of the NAACP in Cheyenne, mayor of Laramie, Wyoming Representative Barbara Cubin and the Laramie County sheriff. EBERHART ELEM. SCHOOL (Chicago, Ill.) Three students from Eberhart participated in the live AT&T@Home feed to the NDTC. More than 20 other students chatted on-line with fellow students at NDTC. NBC's local affiliate in Chicago WMAQ-TV did a live simulcast of the program. VIPs attending included the superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools and numerous district-level officials. Also attending were representatives from the Chicago Human Relations Commission, the Eberhart School Council and representatives from Facing History, Facing Ourselves program, which is used in the school. The Chicago Public Schools newsletter will feature the project in its next edition. ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE SCHOOL (Richardson, Texas) This event involved a community screening of the program at St. Paul the Apostle Elementary School. A local guidance counselor led a roundtable discussion with students following the program. Two city council members and the city manager from Richardson attended the screening and participated in the discussion. Channel 52, the Hispanic channel, conducted an interview with a bilingual student. Channel 8 also hosted a town hall meeting Tuesday, Oct. 26, on Technology: Visions for the Future that included AT&T featuring the technology that was used during the "Opening the Door to Diversity" broadcast. BRODY MIDDLE SCHOOL (Des Moines, Iowa) 250 students from Brody Middle School in Des Moines participated in the program at the school. 100 of these students were from the school's Tolerance to Acceptance to Diversity (TAD) group, which is made up of students identified by the school as being at-risk for causing diversity-related issues; students who were identified by their parents as in need of more diversity education; and, students who asked to go through the school's diversity training program. Attending VIPs included a Des Moines city council member, four school board members and the district's middle school director. The Iowa program began with remarks from the school principal and AT&T Cable Services General Manager Mike Giampietro, followed by a short video on diversity and the live broadcast. Students held a 30-minute discussion following the program and heard from members of the school board about diversity issues facing their school district. As a follow-up exercise, the 250 participants in the live program committed to sit with someone other than a friend at lunch and talk about the show. AT&T will provide copies of the program for viewing by the rest of the student body and their parents. FLOOD MIDDLE SCHOOL (Englewood, Colo.) More than 300 students viewed the program in the school auditorium. The program also aired in three classrooms. The Englewood mayor, chief information officer and a judge attended the event. LINCOLN PLAZA (Downtown Reading, Penn.) Seventy-three people attended a VIP screening, discussion and lunch. The screening's audience included school principals, teachers, guidance counselors, elected officials and social services agencies. The system's LO production unit taped the program for distribution to schools. SALT LAKE CITY (Utah) The system's LO production department made the program available to area middle schools so they could tape the program for future use. Many schools are expected to utilize the curriculum developed in conjunction with the program. SOUTH MIDDLE SCHOOL (Hartford, Conn.) Selected students who worked with the lesson plans viewed the program in the school library and other students viewed an in-house telecast to classrooms. Hartford Mayor Peters and Connecticut State Attorney General Blumenthal spoke to students before the program aired, and State Commissioner of Education Sergi moderated a post-screening discussion. GREATER PORTLAND (Oregon) All systems in Corvallis, Eugene, Salem, McMinnville and the Portland Metro area carried the event "live," representing approximately 525,000 customers. In the Greater Portland Market the program aired on three separate channels: Court TV, the Educational Access Channel, and AT&T's Local Origination Channels. The Portland and Vancouver area systems repeated the program several times from the 26th to the 28th. The program was carried "live" in several school districts including Vancouver (45,000 students), Portland (58,000 students), and Beaverton (18,000 students). All major area school districts obtained copies of the curriculum materials and expect to use them in the coming weeks and months. WILDWOOD, NJ The city held an evening screening of the program. After the program was rebroadcast, seven local students participated in a diversity panel discussion that was shown on a local origination channel. AT&T Broadband & Internet Services is one of the nation's leading providers of video and broadband services. Formerly known as Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) prior to the Company's recent merger with AT&T, AT&T Broadband & Internet Services provides cable television entertainment and information programming services to more than 10 million customers across the country. The Company also provides a host of advanced services through its Digital Cable offerings and its high-speed cable Internet service AT&T@Home, and is actively developing cable telephony services. AT&T Broadband & Internet Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Corp. (NYSE:T), the world's leader in telecommunications services and technology. ================================================================================ ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, March 19, 2000 900 N. Tucker Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63101 (Fax 314-340-3139 ) (E-MAIL: letters@postnet.com ) ( http://www.stlnet.com ) Family Tree takes root in St. Louis to support parenting by same-sex parners EVERYDAY MAGAZINE * Group that drew 8 people to its initial meeting a year ago now has 45 families and 100 members. In the movie "The Next Best Thing," two best friends, a gay man and a straight woman, get drunk and have sex. When she finds out she's pregnant, the friends decide to live together and raise the child. As the tagline for the film goes, "theirs may not be the perfect family, but it's the next best thing." [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] Where gay parents can find support Here is a list of resources, phone numbers and e-mail addresses for gay parents and their children, and for people considering unconventional parenting arrangements: * Family Tree, a St. Louis-based support organization for gay parents and their children: 636-405-1350 * GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) St. Louis chapter: 314-995-4631; www.glsen.org * Family Pride Coalition, based in San Diego: 619-296-0199; www.familypridecoalition.org * COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere), based in San Francisco: 415-861-5437; www.colage.org * Alternative Family Magazine: www.altfammag.com * Gay Parent Magazine: www.gayparentmag.com * Family Diversity Projects, Inc.: 413-256-0502, based in Amherst, Mass.; www.familydiv.org ================================================================================= Jean Richter -- richter@eecs.berkeley.edu The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) These messages are archived by state on our information-loaded free web site: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/