Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1996 06:54:43 -0800 (PST) From: jessea@uclink4.berkeley.edu (Jessea NR Greenman) Subject: NH State School Board Chairman Bashes NEA's Stand On Gays [the following is verbatim from NH education equity activist Randy Kottwitz, . We would like to add the following information: Governor Stephen Merrill (to whom Lamontague cc'd his letter) can be reached at George A. Lovejoy (to whom Lamontague cc'd his letter) heads the NH Senate's Education Committee. He represents (Dist 06) and can be reached at (603)332-4268 P.O. Box 28 Rochester NH 03866 Nils H. Larson, Jr. (r) (Graf. 08) (4-003) (to whom Lamontague cc'd his letter) heads the NH House Education Committee and can be reached at (603)744-2433 1755 Mayhew Tpke #7 Bristol NH 03222-7534 Education Elizabeth M Twomey (to whom Lamontague cc'd his letter) 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=3D 603-271-3144 fax=3D 603-271-1953 and TDD Access=3D Relay NH 1-800-735-2964. The fax number for Lamontague is also 603-271-1953, and there you can also reach all the other state board of education members, or write them by snail mail at Twomey's address, above. If anyone wishes to write to ALL NH's superintendents, as Lamontague did, let jessea know at and you will be sent the list of 67 district addresses. also, in your letters to NH state officials, please indicate your support for House Bill 1294: The New Hampshire Legislature voted 293-35 in Feb. '96 to send House Bill 1294, which would add the term 'sexual orientation' to the State's civil rights legislation, into extended study. The Judiciary Committee held hearings on January 18th, heard testimony from many people why this law was necessary, and from very few people opposed to it. The Committee had a split vote, with 9 members voting to send it to extended study, and 7 members voting to send it directly to the house. Significantly, no members voted 'not to pass' this bill. What does this mean? A subcommittee of members of the Judiciary committee will be appointed to study the bill and to submit a report to the legislature next fall. There will hopefully be hearings around the state where further discussion of the bill can take place. Based on the sub-committee's findings, they may recommend or not recommend passage of this bill. If recommended, the bill will be discussed in the early months of 1997. below begins the verbatim message from Randy Kottwitz] In recently uncovered correspondence from New Hampshire State School Board Chairman, Ovide Lamontagne, to NEA-NH, he criticized the state and national organizations' stands on NEA Representative Assembly Resolution B9. In addition to disagreeing with all but one part of the resolution, he misrepresented circumstances of recent events in Merrimack, NH, regarding adding creationism to the science curriculum and the School Board's implementation of anti-gay Policy 6540. He also chose this opportunity to express his opinions regarding firing of teacher Penny Culliton from the Mascenic Cooperative School District in New Ipswich, NH. The letter, sent last November to all school superintendents in New Hampshire, was written in response to a letter from NEA-NH advising its membership of an attack by Concerned Women for America (CWA) on resolution B-9. We'll allow Mr. Lamontagne's letter to express his opinions, but first will include a copy of resolution B-9 in case you are not familiar with its specifics: =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D B-9, Sexual Orientation Education The National Education Association recognizes the importance of raising the awareness and increasing the sensitivity of staff, students, parents, and th= e community to sexual orientation in our society. The Association therefore supports the development of positive plans that lead to effective ongoing training programs for education employees for the purpose of identifying and elimination sexual orientation stereotyping in the education setting. Such programs should attend to but not be limited to: a. Accurate portrayal of the roles and contributions of gay, lesbian, and bisexual people throughout history, with acknowledgment of their sexual orientation. b. The acceptance of diverse sexual orientation and the awareness of sexual stereotyping whenever sexuality and/or tolerance of diversity is taught. c. Elimination of sexual orientation name-calling and jokes in the classroom. d. (new) Support for the celebration of a Lesbian and Gay History Month as = a means of acknowledging the contributions of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals throughout history. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Here's Mr. Lamontagne's letter: =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D November 29, 1995 =46rederick P. Place, President NEA New Hampshire 103 North State Street Concord, NH 03301-4340 RE: NEA Position B-9: "Sexual Orientation Education" Dear Fred: A copy of your letter of October 10, 1995, addressed to "Colleague" of NEA-NH, sent to our State's Superintendents and enclosing a copy of what appears to be policy position B-9 "Sexual Orientation Education" adopted by the National NEA as well as a document entitled "Public School Teachers Must Educate All Students" were forwarded to me recently. I am writing to expres= s my objections to your letter and its enclosures. Your letter was written to your "Colleagues" as a response to a national fun= d raising letter sent out by the Concerned Women of America ("CWA") denouncing the National NEA's position supporting the celebration of Lesbian and Gay History Month in our public elementary and secondary schools as a means of acknowledging the contributions of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals throughout history. Your letter denounces CWA's fund raising letter apparently in an effort to distance yourself and your organization from the National NEA's clear endorsement of the formal recognition and celebration of a "Gay/Lesbia= n History Month." Policy Statement B-9 subsection (d) clearly calls for the establishment of such a month whether it is in October or some other month o= f the school calendar year. Your letter goes on in paragraph 3 to assert that this is but a continued effort on the part of some organizations to undermine public education and school budgets! The full text of your third paragraph reads as follows: "This latest campaign is a deliberate misstatement of our organization's position and is part of increasingly hostile attacks on public education and school budgets, including privatization, vouchers, and official ballot voting." I, frankly, do not see the logical connection between the move nationally towards privatization, vouchers (which was adopted by the State Board of Education in 1976 but was never implemented), and official ballot voting with the NEA's clear endorsement of "Gay/Lesbian History Month" as se= t forth in Policy Statement B-9 subpart (d) -- a criticism which I find quite justified -- has nothing to do with privatization, vouchers, and official ballot voting. However, Policy Statement B-9, with the exception of subpart (c), clearly evidences how out of touch and out of step the NEA is with respect to mainstream America, despite your efforts to paint the criticism forwarded by CWA as simply the position of a "fringe or extremist group." I personally find the NEA's Policy Statement B-9, with the exception of subpar= t (c) to be wholly unacceptable and I am quite concerned that your support of Policy Statement B-9 will only cause a greater dissonance between your organization and New Hampshire's citizens, taxpayers, parents and students. The third sentence of paragraph 5 of your letter of October 10, 1995, also underscores the falsity of your premise that opposition to the Policy Statement B-9 is motivated by extremism and is a minority view. You state: "In Merrimack, there was a push for the teaching of creationism as a science= , and the school board adopted a vague policy to prohibit any positive portrayal of homosexual lifestyles." What does the push by some individual in Merrimack to teach creationism as a science (which you conveniently omit to state was soundly defeated by the Merrimack Board as inappropriate for a public school curriculum) [EDITOR's NOTE: The Merrimack School Board NEVER VOTED on this issue.] have to do with the board's clear position prohibiting the positive portrayal of homosexual lifestyles? The very next sentence in your letter also underscores a fundamental misapprehension you apparently have regarding the role of the school board i= n New Hampshire vis-a-vis the work of teachers: "In Mascenic, a teacher has been fired for using books that have gay and lesbian characters." It is the school board's right to establish what will and will not be taught in the community schools. There is no independent judgment to be exercised by teachers absent a delegation of authority from the school board, especially in controversial areas. Once having taken a position, the school board's directives are to be followed. While I do not know the intricacies of the Mascenic case, it certainly appeared that the Mascenic teacher engaged in nothing less than "civil disobedience" by ignoring and violating the school board's stated directive in this area. It is the school board's right to define what teachers will teach (as the Merrimack School Board also did), an= d it is the teacher's responsibility to follow the school board's directives. =46inally, in your effort to "set the record straight," you have clearly demonstrated why parents across this country have lost faith and confidence in the NEA. Your organization has taken it upon itself to advance and promote a position regarding a positive systemic treatment of gay and lesbia= n lifestyles, which no doubt your members are expected to follow. It is one thing to teach "tolerance" of differences among people, but it is quite another thing to promote the activities and lifestyles of people who are "different" when they are engaged in conduct which is found to be morally an= d legally unacceptable by a majority of citizens. [EDITOR's NOTE: There are NO SODOMY LAWS in New Hampshire.] Tolerating the person engaged in such conduct is one thing; endorsing or promoting that conduct is quite another. I would be pleased to speak to you in greater detail about this matter or to address your governing board. Suffice it to say, however, that I am disappointed in your analysis of this issue and the continued support by NEA-NH of the national NEA's "Sexual Orientation Education" Policy Statement= . Very truly yours, Ovide M. Lamontagne OML/dms cc: Elizabeth M. Twomey, D.Ed. (w/enc.) Members State Board Education (w/enc.) Honorable Stephen E. Merrill (w/enc.) Honorable George Lovejoy (w/enc.) Honorable Nils Larson (w/enc.) School Superintendents (w/o enc.) =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D And here is Fred Place's reply: =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D December 6, 1995 Ovide M. Lamontagne, Chairman State Board of Education State Office Park South 101 Pleasant Street Concord, NH 03301 Dear Mr. Lamontagne, I have received your letter dated November 29, 1995 concerning NEA-NH's position on resolution B-9. I believe that my October 10 letter makes our state organization's position on this matter clear. In the future, communication between us would be enhanced if I were to receive your letters prior to reading about them on the editorial page of th= e Union Leader. If the time comes when you wish to talk about how all of us might work together to improve public education in our state, we would be most pleased to meet with you. Sincerely, =46rederick P. Place President =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D EDITOR's NOTE: Ovide Lamontagne has recently been renominated by NH Governo= r Stephen Merrill for another 3 yr. term as Chairman of the State Board of Education. Perhaps the citizens of New Hampshire should express their concern about a person with the opinions expressed above serving in this powerful position. [Merrill's email address is ] Please feel free to repost as appropriate *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ YOU MAY 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. "We have a power that comes from the justice of our cause." C=E9sar Chavez