Clovis Unified board needs to publicly address its policies for LGBTQ students | Opinion
It’s now October, and all things spooky are coming out. Store shelves are stocked with candy and skeletons, and your local school board is again choosing to duck under the covers, and hope it all goes away. Maybe they’re not frightened of ghosts and vampires, but they certainly are terrified of today’s boogeyman — the LGBTQ+ community.
In September, when the Clovis Unified School District was confronted by a scary LGBTQ+ story hour, or calls for written policies outing children, they could have put these items on the agenda to be discussed. Instead they ignored the latter and dealt with the former by taking away enrichment and social opportunities for CUSD students.
A quick recap of the five-plus-hour board meeting on Sept. 20: celebration of athletics teams, recognition for groundskeepers and custodial staff, musical performances, and requests to speak from more than 100 attendees. Not everybody made it to 11:20p.m., when the “agenda” items were finally addressed, so few were left to hold the board accountable when it went “scorched earth” on after-school activities and clubs.
Many don’t yet know what activities they have lost — Bricks4Kidz, the Boys & Girls Club, the Fellowship for Christian Athletes and the Good News Club are only a partial list. The activities that were lost will eventually be memory-holed and we’ll forget that we once offered such opportunities to our kids. It’s OK, though, because these caped crusaders have stopped the dreaded story hour that the LGBT Community Network was hoping to host. Best to take it all away rather than have inclusive policies that are associated with positive mental health and academic outcomes.
But this wasn’t even the hot topic, so what brought out the crowd? Of the 87 people who signed up to speak on “non-agenda” items, almost all were talking about a written policy forcing school officials to out students to their parents who start using different pronouns, or otherwise indicate they may be transgender, at school. The mix was about 50-50 for those who want the district to discriminate against students and those who think they shouldn’t actively make it more dangerous for a segment of the population already under threat.
What did the board think? I can’t say because despite this being the second meeting in a row with nearly every speaker focused on the same topic, the board did not put it on the agenda, and if it’s not on the agenda they can’t debate it, can’t vote on it … as if it doesn’t exist.
This board, which has spent the better part of five years courting controversy by “taking on Sacramento” and championing “local control,” has found itself stuck between a rock and a hard place. The loud minority has seen time and again that the district is willing to flout laws, and risk lawsuits, so now they’re back for more. Speaker after speaker stood up to make the case. Some seemed genuinely unhinged; others woefully misguided (“kids don’t have rights”), some shared their personal experiences with discrimination and hate. Lucky for them, the board could just whistle past the graveyard because, say it with me: Not. On. The. Agenda.
Bottom line: The trustees are afraid to take a stand. They can follow in Chino Valley’s footsteps by trying to push through discriminatory policies and get sued or, say CUSD will follow the law.
It’s simple: Put it on the agenda and have the “courage” to follow the law. You don’t even need to say it’s because you want LGBTQ+ kids to be safe. The rest of your actions and votes have already shown your true colors on the matter.
