King George School Board Approves Policy Change Affecting Non-Curricular Student Groups at the Middle School
Change comes after contention over proposed new Genders & Sexualities Alliance support group.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The King George School Board on Tuesday unanimously approved amendments to its policy on student organizations that remove the option for such organizations to be established at the middle school level.
The new version of policy IGDA states that “King George High School students may organize and conduct meetings of non-curriculum-related groups.” The previous version of the policy allowed “secondary school” students to organize such groups.
The board also approved a new regulation, IGDA-R.2, governing non-curriculum student organizations. The regulation requires written proof of parental permission for students to join or renew their memberships in an organization; require the school principal to send notice “of all approved and/or disapproved student organizations for review by the superintendent and School Board members;” and permit the superintendent to revoke recognition of any student organization “at any time upon his or her own initiative or for good cause.”
The policy changes and new regulation come after students expressed interest earlier this year in establishing a GSA—short for Genders & Sexualities Alliance—club at King George Middle School.
According to the GSA network’s website, these clubs are “student-run organizations that unite [transgender, queer, and two-spirit]+ and allied youth to build community and organize around issues impacting them in their schools and communities.”
GSA clubs can be social, support, or activist groups, according to the website, and each club can create its own mission and goals to support the needs of its members and “the unique climate of their school or community.”
According to the interest form that was emailed to students, the King George Middle School GSA would have been a support group, “to provide safety and confidentiality to students who are struggling with their identities or those who are experiencing harassment at school because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.”
A screenshot of the interest form was posted on the King George Community Facebook group on September 18. The post quickly generated 580 comments, many opposing the idea of the club, with some calling it an attempt to indoctrinate and groom children.
During subsequent School Board meetings, there were public comments both in opposition to and support of the GSA club.
Speaking in support of the club, a middle school student said at the September 22 meeting, “Equality hurts no one, safety hurts no one, self-expression hurts no one. Removing a club created for equality, safety, and self-expression hurts many.”
“For the people this is for, it means, my school sees me,” the student continued. “To me, this club is worth fighting for. We’re worth fighting for. Others’ opinions are not more important than my existence. If you’re uncomfortable with me, ignore me.”
An adult speaker opposed to the club said at the September 22 meeting that he believed it would promote “a ‘Lord of the Flies’ sexual identity for our children.”
“It’s my personal belief that heterosexuality is the highest good of every human sexual relationship because it has the ability to produce offspring,” he said. “We want to promote what is the highest good for our students.”
Superintendent Jesse Boyd noted at the September 22 meeting that according to policy IGDA, which has been effective since 1995 and most recently revised in 2013, any non-curricular student organization must be voluntary and student-initiated. Student organizations are not school-sponsored groups, but also, non-school persons do not direct or control any of the group’s activities, per the policy.
The School Board discussed the new regulation IGDA-R at the October 6 and October 20 meetings. According to the agendas, there was no discussion at either of these meetings of the change approved Tuesday to the existing policy.
School division spokeswoman Amanda Higgins said the Board’s approval of the policy amendments and the new regulation “does not impact any existing student groups at King George Middle School.”
There were no groups that were non-curricular meeting,” she said in an email.”
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