At a pair of meetings last week, the Riceville Community School Board listened to concerns from members of the community and later voted to separate the school from connection with a Day of Silence, which would have been held on Friday, April 25.
Board members passed a motion, at Tuesday night's special meeting, that said, "The Riceville Community School Board of Education, along with the Riceville Community School District, will not affiliate with the GLSEN Day of Silence. Students may meet by the bell before or after school, outside the school day, as has ben past practice. However, students may participate individually without disrupting the school day."
Board members approved a statement saying that Riceville Community School would not be affiliated with the Day of Silence. What individual students decide to do, though, they have a right to do.The Day of Silence is a student-led day, organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), when students of various ages take vows of silence to bring attention to the bullying experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and their allies.
At Monday's regular school board meeting, board members heard from the students who organized the day. Jessi Hobson and Krissy Ludemann stated that they felt the Day of Silence was about educating young people. "It is not about promoting homosexuality," Hobson said. "We want to promote diversity, and we want to promote understanding."The students added that the event was an optional one, and that they were not trying to force anyone to take part. They also explained that students who choose to participate in the day would choose not to speak in social settings. They would have had to participate in class and could not have used the day as an excuse to get out of class.
Parents at Monday night's meeting expressed disappointment in the school for initially allowing the event. Parents stated that they believed such issues were private and that events like the Day of Silence were detrimental to the school. They felt that parents should have been notified and that the school should cancel the day.
When the Day of Silence was initially brought to school administrators, Superintendent Tom Hamrick and High School Principal Greg Adams discussed the issue and also consulted with Matt Carver of School Administrators of Iowa. Carver's view was that some leeway had to be given to the students. The possibility of holding the Day of Silence had not been brought before school board members prior to Monday's meeting.
Hamrick stated on Monday that any blame for how the Day of Silence was handled should be laid on him. "I don't want any blame on Mr. Adams," he said. "I think we have a great community and great kids here."
Read more:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment