Public Policy

By Public Policy Chair

Rosemary Cunningham

cunninghamrt@comcast.net

Georgia / Michigan School News

Text Box: Georgia School District Backs Away from Single Sex Classrooms, For Now According to the Associated Press, Superintendent Shawn McCollough’s plans to segregate schools in Georgia’s Greene County have been dropped. The plan to create single-sex classrooms throughout the entire school district was developed in response to poor test scores, high drop out rates, and teen pregnancies. Although the plan was approved by the school board, parents fiercely opposed it. According to federal law, such single-sex classrooms are allowed, but only with the consent of the students’ parents. Under this plan, however, the parents were not given the option of publicly funded coeducation for their children, thus making its implementation illegal. As reported in the Feb. 29 edition of Washington Update, even Leonard Sax, the head of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education, was not supportive of McCollough’s plans. At a meeting to be held on April 14, the plan will be officially dropped, and parents and teachers will be asked to give their input. Although the initial plans have been aborted, there is still talk about creating some single-sex schools in the county. In a related story, the Arizona state legislature passed a bill last week reiterating a federal law that allows single-sex classrooms, but many question the need for such legislation and for the programs themselves, the Arizona Republic reported. A school district in Tucson last year abandoned their single-sex classroom program after determining that there were no significant advantages to it and that the classes “allowed for less flexibility and created scheduling conflicts for some students.” Calvin Baker, the superintendent of the Vail Unified School District in Arizona, said, “The teachers reported that they did not notice a significant difference one way or another. While single-sex classes may be good for some students, it is not the no-cost silver bullet that will fix education.” AAUW believes that such segregation

Text Box: without proper attention to civil rights protections can perpetuate gender stereotypes, increase discrimination, and hinder both girls’ and boys’ opportunities in the classroom. Michigan High School Sports Group Pays Big in Discrimination Ruling According to the Detroit News, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Michigan High School Athletic Association must pay $7.4 million in legal fees racked up in a decade-long court battle to maintain a sports scheduling system that discriminated against girls. As reported in the April 7, 2007 edition of Washington Update, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take on the case of Communities for Equity vs. Michigan High School Athletic Association. The lawsuit, first filed in 1998 by a pair of Michigan moms, claimed that Michigan’s practice of slotting several girls’ high school sports at different times of the year than high schools and colleges in the rest of the country was discriminatory. In December 2001, a U.S. District judge ruled the sports seasons discriminated against girls in violation of Title IX, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, and Michigan’s Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act because, among other things, the current seasons were two to three weeks shorter than those of girls everywhere else in the country and of the boys’ seasons. The switching of seasons last September for girls’ basketball and volleyball and girls’ and boys’ tennis and golf affected nearly 56,000 girls and 16,000 boys in hundreds of school districts throughout the state. ACTION: AAUW believes that Title IX’s impact on women’s athletic participation is one of the country’s greatest success stories. It has changed the playing field dramatically for girls and women in sports. AAUW believes that expansion of athletic opportunities for girls and women must continue at both the high school and college levels. If you haven’t yet done so, please use AAUW’s Two-Minute Activist online to urge your representatives to cosponsor the High School Athletics Accountability Act (H.R. 901).

Text Box: This critical legislation would require high schools to report basic information on the number of female and male students in their athletic programs and the expenditures made for their sports teams, helping us all know how well Title IX is being enforced in our high schools and where we might need to make improvements. The House is currently working on adding provisions of this bill in the No Child Left Behind Act, and an increase in the number of cosponsors will demonstrate support for including the provisions in NCLB. For more information, read AAUW’s position paper on Title IX in school athletics and a new report by the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education on Title IX at 35. Resources for Advocates Lifetime Network Aired “North Country” Lifetime Television aired the empowering drama “North Country” on Saturday, April 5, at 9PM (ET/PT). Based on a true story, “North Country” features the story of a single mother who moves back to her hometown in hopes of providing her children a better life. When a friend encourages her to take a mining job, she refuses to tolerate the harassment that she and the other female miners encounter from their male coworkers. Despite being at odds with her community and her family, she rallies her female colleagues and stands up for what she believes. “North Country” is based on a book, Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law, written by AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund 2007 Speaking Out for Justice Awardees Laura Leedy Gansler and Clara Bingham. The movie was shown and discussed at the 2007 AAUW National Convention in conjunction with the awards and the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund dinner. If you missed the April showing of the movie, you might like to check out the DVD from the library.