Some 30 Claytonites and community members gathered on Wednesday for the August 24 Clayton Board of Education meeting. They were there to witness the much-anticipated second reading of the proposed revisions to Clayton School District’s non-discrimination policy, which, after a brief discussion, passed unanimously.
Notable was the crowd of students from CHS’s newly renamed Gay Straight Alliance, a good few of whom had prepared public statements urging the Board to pass the policy revisions based on what Clayton meant to them. Former student and GSA president Cooper Minnis, who was at the forefront of the initial push for the revisions, could not be at the meeting; however, his voice still made it that night. His speech was read by senior Nadia Diamond.
GSA sponsor David Hoffman kicked off the tide of speeches with one of his own, citing a remark Senator Jane Cunningham had made in the August issue of the CHS Globe, which stated that once the District began adding extra distinctions in its policy such as sexual orientation and gender identity, it would descend down what Hoffman referred to as a “slippery slope” and make itself open to a barrage of others, such as those who are “fat or ugly or have green eyes”.
“Show me a man fired because he was ugly,” Hoffman said in his statement. “Show me a case where a woman couldn’t visit her husband in intensive care because she was too fat.”
No opposition was expressed in the meeting.
Having heard an overwhelming student and teacher support for the cause, the Board then moved to discuss, and soon made short work of the decision.
Board member Brad Bernstein raised the issue of waiting another 30 days, out of tradition, since the policy had been changed in a minor fashion since its posting for the comment period. Though the Board admitted said changes were “all semantics” the option was nevertheless available. A motion was soon made to vote immediately, drawing no dispute, and earning the Board a standing ovation.
David Hoffman, the CHS Educational Technologist and sponsor the CHS Gay Straight Alliance, delivers a powerful speech at the meeting to encourage the Board of Education to pass the new non-discrimination policy.
