Iowa School Board Overturns Committee Recommendation, Bans Book (GLBT)

by Bill Tubbs
  


The
United Methodist Church defrocked the Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud
on a 7-6 vote for being honest about her sexual orientation….The
church's decision appears to be, at best, an effort to achieve unity by
sacrificing reality and truth.



[That] very week, the networks, who flooded the airwaves all fall with half-truths
disguised as political ads, rejected as “too controversial” a 30-second
commercial of the United Church of Christ which showed a bouncer
standing guard outside a church and choosing whom to allow into
services. Among those rejected are people of color and a same-sex
couple.




Just when you think all the issues are national, the school board of
the Pleasant Valley [Iowa] School District sent shudders through
academia with a 4-3 vote to overturn a committee's recommendation that
it is OK to continue using the book, “The Misfits” by James Howe, in an
elementary classroom. Parents protested when they learned that Linda
Goetz, a sixth-grade teacher at Bridgeview Elementary in LeClaire, was
reading the book aloud in an effort to curb name-calling. Their
objection? One of the characters is gay.

(click here to read the entire story)

“Bullying in Our  Schools: Power and Empowerment”




The GLBT Youth in Iowa Schools Task Force is one of several
sponsors of this conference which will take  place on Thursday,
January 27, 2005, at the Scheman Conference Center  in Ames.




This conference is designed to help school teams (including youth and
community) create plans to prevent bullying and harassment 
against all students, including those that are gay, lesbian, bisexual,
and transgender (GLBT).  




Sessions will help team members learn what works, how to
effectively intervene when bullying happens, and how to recognize the
many forms that bullying can take.  A special strand is being
offered for middle school and high school youth team members, in addition to a strand to address bullying/harassment against
diverse  populations (GLBT students, students of color, students
with  disabilities, religious minorities).




Click here for more information and to register your team




Brad Clark


Project Director,


GLBT Youth in Iowa Schools Task Force


PO Box 1797


Des Moines, IA  50306-1797


Contact Brad here:
Send an e-mail


Click here for more contact info:
www.iowasafeschools.org

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