School Censors Student's Harvey Milk Project

What the hell is going on in California? Did people there somehow get stupid all of a sudden?

Given the current atmosphere in California regarding gay rights, you would think that people would think things through before making ignorant decisions.

Mt. Woodsen Elementary School 6th grader Natalie Jones was called into the principal's office to discuss a school project she had been working on. The subject of the powerpoint presentation was Harvey Milk, the first gay man elected to a political office in the U.S. Principal Theresa Grace decided that before she could give her presentation, students would have to get permission slips from their parents.

Huh? Why would they need to do that? The answer?

Because Harvey Milk was gay.

Grace cited a district policy that requires parental permission for students to learn anything about sex.

Wait. I thought this was about Harvey Milk. Not about what he did in the bedroom.

In the end, Natalie was allowed to give the presentation but not in the classroom. She gave the report to 8 of the 13 classmates during their lunch period.

"Harvey Milk was an elected official in this state and an important person in history," says Natalie's mom, Bonnie Jones. "To say my daughter's presentation is sex education because Harvey Milk happened to be gay is completely wrong."

Is it just me or is anyone else worried about what kids are being taught by the discriminatory actions by the adults around them?

I am not a fan of the ACLU, but I'm glad to know they are backing Natalie and is considering suing the Ramona School District. They would like to see Natalie receive an apology and to be able to give her report in class. They also want the district to clarify their sex education policies so something like this doesn't happen again.

It is sad that it will take a lawsuit, or the threat of one, to make the district wake up. They have a principal teaching her students that learning about a gay leader is considered 'sex education'. It is scary to me that someone who is that ignorant is in charge of students' education.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 29, 2009 and is filed under , . You can leave a response and follow any responses to this entry through the Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) .
Filed under ,

2 comments

Anonymous  
May 30, 2009 at 12:35 AM

I think part of the problem is there's another school i believe in Cali that parents are freaking out because the school is trying to 'force' kids into accepting gays and lesbians and taught from kindergarten about the results of bullying because someone happens to be gay, and not all the parents want their kids being told they HAVE to accept it, or to have the teaching in the classroom and feel that it's something that needs to be taught and discussed at home..


although I think this school took this a little to far since it was just a report on the man. It may have felt that maybe one of the students would be upset about it and complain to their parents and they would've had a potential yet frivolous lawsuit on their hands anyways. I think they should've let the students decide in the classroom whether or not they wanted to hear the report and if they didn't, then send them to the library or outside until it's over.

LisaW  
June 2, 2009 at 4:20 PM

Was this presentation mostly about the fact that he was gay or about his political career? I'm relatively sure that the main part of her report was about the man himself and what he accomplished during his career. I'm not clear on if she made a huge point of his being gay. Either way...it shouldn't have been any problem. After all, this is 2009...come on people. wake up! Your kids are gonna be exposed to this anyway...it might as well be in the classroom.

Newer Post Older Post