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Alabama School District Agrees to End Illegal Sex Segregation
Policy Change Comes After Notice From ACLU
MOBILE, Ala.
The
Mobile County School System has agreed to stop sex segregation in
public schools after being notified by the American Civil Liberties
Union that its sex segregated programs were illegal and discriminatory.
Late last evening, the Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County
approved a settlement agreement changing the policy.
"While schools might think that sex
segregated classes will be a quick fix for failing schools, in reality
they are inherently unequal and shortchange both boys and girls," said
Emily Martin, Deputy Director of the ACLU Women's Rights Program. "We
hope that now Mobile County will focus on efforts that we know can
improve all students' education, like smaller classes and more teacher
training and parental involvement."
Without notifying parents, the
Mobile County School System segregated by sex the entire student body
of Hankins Middle School by sex for the 2008-2009 school year. The
policy went so far as to bar boys and girls from even speaking to each
other in school hallways. Outraged parents contacted the ACLU in
November 2008, after the school denied their earlier requests to resume
coeducational classes. At least seven other schools in Mobile County
also segregated students by sex; some of these schools did not provide
a coeducational option for students or parents.
Under the settlement agreement,
Hankins Middle School will immediately cease to segregate students by
sex in elective classes, at lunchtime and all other nonacademic events.
Beginning in the fall of 2009, all courses will be integrated in every
school in the county and no school will institute any sex segregated
programs for the next three years. For the 2012-2013 academic year and
two years thereafter, if Mobile County plans to institute new
single-sex programs in any school, it must first notify the ACLU before
implementing them.
Under the sex segregation program at
Hankins Middle School this year, teachers had been instructed to treat
boys and girls differently. At a teacher training, teachers were
informed that boys should be taught about "heroic behavior" but that
girls should learn "good character." Teachers were told that male
hormone levels directly relate to success at "traditional male tasks"
but that when stress levels rise in an adolescent girl's brain, "other
things shut down." A story in the Mobile Press-Register reported that a
language arts exercise for sixth grade girls involved asking the girls
to use as many descriptive words as possible to describe their dream
wedding cake, while the boys were asked to brainstorm action verbs used
in sports.
According to Mark Jones, whose son
Jacob attends Hankins Middle School, the school principal told him that
the changes at Hankins were necessary because boys' and girls' brains
are so different that they needed different curriculums.
"Segregating boys and girls didn't
make things any better for our children; in fact, it made things
worse," said Jones. "Our kids were basically being taught ideas about
gender that come from the dark ages."
In a letter sent to the school board
in November 2008, the ACLU and the ACLU of Alabama informed the Mobile
County School System that mandatory sex segregation in public schools
violates Title IX of the Education Amendments, the Equal Education
Opportunities Act and the U.S. Constitution. The Mobile County school
board initially seemed receptive to halting single-sex programs in
county schools, but it wasn't until the ACLU threatened to file a
lawsuit that the school board finally agreed to reintegrate.
"I really wish the school had
checked in with parents before it went ahead and separated all the boys
from the girls," said Terry Stevens, whose son attends Hankins Middle
School. "I'm happy that next year the school will be integrated but
very disappointed that my son will have had an entire year without any
academic classes with girls. The real world is integrated, and it's
important to both me and my son that he learn in a coed environment."
A recent review of existing data by
the U.S. Department of Education showed that there is no consistent
evidence that segregating students by sex improves learning by either
sex. Yet, school districts across the country are experimenting with
sex segregated programs, which all too often rely on questionable
"brain science" theories based on outdated gender stereotypes that
suggest that teachers should treat boys and girls radically differently.
"We're very pleased that the Mobile
County school board agreed to end mandatory sex segregation," said
Allison Neal, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Alabama. "These
programs are not only clearly against the law, but also diminish real
life experiences and diversity in public schools."
In addition to the ACLU,
organizations that have opposed sex segregation in schools include the
national NAACP, the National Education Association and the American
Association of University Women.
Attorneys who worked on the
settlement agreement include Martin and Lenora Lapidus from the ACLU
Women's Rights Project and Neal from the ACLU of Alabama.
A copy of the settlement agreement is available at: www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/39130lgl20090324.html
More information on the ACLU Women's Rights Project work on sex segregation is available at: www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/34504res20080228.html
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
(212) 549-2666LATEST NEWS
Texas Gov. Spent $221 Million on Migrant Busing 'Political Stunt'
"Our schools are starved for resources with a $32.7 billion surplus, yet Gov. Abbott has no problem spending $1,841 per person for a political stunt," said one Texan.
Sep 05, 2024
Since April 2022, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has spent over $221 million in taxpayer money transporting nearly 120,000 migrants to six Democrat-led cities outside of the state, the Washington Examinerrevealed Thursday.
"That's roughly $1,841 per person," noted Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council who has previously criticized Abbott's "dehumanizing" bus scheme and other elements of the governor's Operation Lone Star.
"By comparison, a bus ticket to New York costs about $215, while a flight costs about $350," he highlighted. "It would have WAY cheaper to just give migrants money for tickets. Abbott's effort not only made it a political stunt, it lined a contractor's pocket."
As the conservative Examiner reported:
A public information request filed to the Texas Division of Emergency Management showed that the state made more than 750 payments totaling $221,705,637 to transportation companies since the start of operations in April 2022 and August 2024.
Nearly all of the costs were picked up by the state's 30 million residents, with a small portion, $460,196, donated from outside parties. Less than 1% of the $221 million was picked up by nontaxpayers.
The Examiner noted that the almost 120,000 migrants bused north are a "small number" of the more than 5.3 million people who crossed the southern border illegally but have been allowed to remain in the United States since January 2021, according to a U.S. House Judiciary Committee draft report the outlet exclusively obtained earlier this year.
While the busing reportedly stopped earlier this summer due to lack of demand, Abbott's office said last month that since 2022, his taxpayer-funded scheme had transported over 45,900 migrants to New York City, 36,900 to Chicago, 19,200 to Denver, 12,500 to Washington, D.C., 3,400 to Philadelphia, and 1,500 to Los Angeles.
"The overwhelming majority of migrants didn't want to stay in Texas. They wanted to go elsewhere. So if the question was the most efficient way to help them leave the state, the answer would be just buy them tickets and not pay millions to bus them to NYC," Reichlin-Melnick said Thursday. "They are able to live wherever they want while they go through the court process. It's just that many people used up every last cent to get here, so a free bus from Abbott was a very enticing option."
"I've been on record saying that most migrants were extremely happy with the free buses. Despite a lot of lies out there about migrants being bought tickets, the reality is that nearly all migrants have to purchase transportation away from the border, making free buses a godsend," he added. "The problem with the buses has always been that they weaponized migrants by going to only a small handful of politically charged locations (regardless of where migrants wanted to go), and that they were a big waste of money given the cheaper option of donating bus/plane tickets."
In addition to the busing stunt, Abbott has come under fire in recent years for installing razor wire and buoys—which critics called "death traps"—in the Rio Grande as well as signing a pair of anti-migrant bills that Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, described as "deeply harmful and unconstitutional."
According to a New York Times investigation published in July, over half of the migrants bused out Texas were initially from Venezuela—a South American nation enduring not only ongoing political turmoil but also U.S. economic sanctions that, as hundreds of legal experts and groups wrote last month, "extensively harm civilian populations" and "often drive mass migration."
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"Opponents of democracy are terrified that they will lose again at the ballot box in November and are rushing to right-wing judges to hamstring democratic governance," said one observer.
Sep 05, 2024
A Republican-appointed U.S. federal judge in Georgia raised eyebrows and objections Thursday after taking what observers called the "unprecedented" step of blocking a rule that hasn't even been finalized in order to stop the Biden administration from implementing a plan to deliver promised debt relief to millions of student borrowers.
U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Georgia James Randal Hall issued an order blocking the Biden administration's proposed federal student debt relief rule. Hall—an appointee of former President George W. Bush—granted a motion by a coalition of right-wing state attorneys general to preempt the rule's eventual implementation.
"The court is substituting its judgment for those elected to serve the public," American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten said in response to the ruling. "It subverts the democratic process and denies relief to student loan borrowers, many of whom rely on debt relief programs already advanced by the Biden-Harris administration."
"This court's unprecedented decision to block a rule that does not yet exist is not only bad for the 30 million borrowers who were relying on the administration to deliver much-needed relief," she continued. "It's a harbinger of the chaos and corruption right-wing judges seek to force on the American people."
Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center—which called the ruling "dangerous and unprecedented"—denounced Hall for preventing the Biden administration from delivering student debt relief "even though no plan has been finalized."
"This is an extraordinary break with precedent and a brazen move by the conservative movement to shift even more power to unelected, unaccountable red-state judges," he said. "Opponents of democracy are terrified that they will lose again at the ballot box in November and are rushing to right-wing judges to hamstring democratic governance."
"This is the clearest sign yet that Project 2025 is already terrorizing student loan borrowers through a slow-moving judicial coup," Pierce added, referring to a conservative coalition's agenda for a far-right takeover of the federal government—which critics warn would worsen the U.S. student debt crisis.
Biden's proposal would forgive some or all student debt for around 30 million borrowers who have been repaying undergraduate loans for at least 20 years, or graduate loans for 25 years.
Hall's order is based on what he said was the plaintiffs' "substantial likelihood of success on the merits given the rule's lack of statutory authority" and U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona's "attempt to implement a rule contrary to normal procedures."
"This is especially true in light of the recent rulings across the country striking down similar federal student loan forgiveness plans," he added.
The U.S. Supreme Court's right-wing supermajority last year struck down Biden's initial plan to relieve up to $20,000 in federal scholastic debt for around 40 million borrowers, and last month the justices kept in place a sweeping suspension of the administration's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) program, which aims to lower monthly repayments and hasten loan forgiveness.
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50 Arrested in Final 'Historic' Summer of Heat Protest at Citibank
"We're here for you and your children," one campaigner told a police officer who was arresting her. "We're here for our world."
Sep 05, 2024
Closing out a "historic" summer of civil disobedience—but with no plans to back off their demands that Wall Street divest from planet-heating fossil fuels—the "Summer of Heat" campaign blockaded the entrance of Citibank's headquarters in New York for an hour on Thursday.
At the 32nd protest held by Stop the Money Pipeline, New York Communities for Change, and other groups since June 10, organizers said 50 people were arrested, including climate scientists and an advocate dressed as an orca—a reference to numerous cases of whales ramming and sinking luxury yachts in recent years.
"The water is too damn hot!" said the costumed protester. "Stop funding fossil fuels."
Summer of Heat has targeted Citibank due to its status as Wall Street's largest funder of methane gas extraction since 2016 and the second-worst funder of oil, coal, and gas projects in recent years, spending $396.3 billion from 2016-23.
For an hour, roughly 1,000 Citibank employees were barred from entering the building as protesters blocked the doors.
"I've been studying climate change since 1982 and no one is listening to the data," said biologist and anti-fracking advocate Sandra Steingraber—who has joined multiple Summer of Heat actions—as she was arrested. "So today they're going to have to listen to my body blocking the doors of the world's largest funder of new fossil fuel projects."
More than 5,000 people have joined Summer of Heat protests since June, and there have been more than 600 arrests. Citibank's response to the demonstrators has escalated to violence at times, with a security guard punching one protester in the building's lobby last month.
One woman told police arresting her on Thursday that her grandson suffers from asthma resulting from wildfire smoke, which climate scientists have linked to fossil fuel extraction and planetary heating.
"We're here for you and your children," she told an officer. "We're here for our world."
As the campaigners blocked the Citibank entrance, cellist John Mark Rozendaal and Stop the Money Pipeline director Alec Connon were preparing to attend a court hearing on Friday regarding assault and criminal contempt charges. Connon has said he was "falsely accused of assault by Citibank security so they could get a restraining order" keeping him from returning to protests at the headquarters.
Mary Lawlor, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders, expressed "strong concern at the charges" and said she would be "closely following" the trial.
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