September 29, 2022—The Shaker Heights Board of Education is asking the State Board of Education to reject a resolution that would instruct school districts to ignore new federal regulations which afford Title IX protections to LGBTQ+ students.
At a special meeting Tuesday, the Board unanimously supported a
statement condemning the resolution before the state board and instructed the Administration to share the statement with all state board members as well as the State Interim Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The Board said the resolution, if adopted by the state board, would set several dangerous precedents:
- It endangers students – both socially and emotionally – whose home environments may be less than accepting of their gender identity and simultaneously strains the relationship our students have with our staff by requiring staff to violate our students’ wishes and privacy.
- It challenges the concept of separation of church and state with such language as, “for many parents, the nature of the human person created by God male and female, is a deeply held religious belief.”
- It negates the local authority granted to school districts to create their own policies by stating that Ohio school districts support the Ohio Attorney General’s lawsuit challenging a U.S. Department of Agriculture regulation requiring schools to accept Title IX changes in order to get federal nutritional funding assistance.
“The Shaker Heights School District stands on three pillars: Excellence, Equity and Exploration,” the Board stated. “Our schools are safe, welcoming places for ALL students, faculty and staff. We will not place any of our students, faculty or staff in danger by proclaiming them ‘less than’ or forcing them to violate the safe environment that the (District has) worked so hard to provide.”
The state board is expected to vote on the resolution October 12.