DETROIT-- State Board of Education President John Austin announced a series of Detroit-based reelection endorsements today from a diverse range of government, education, business, labor and community leaders.

Austin, a vocal proponent for comprehensive legislation to fix Detroit schools, received the support of Mayor Mike Duggan, education and community leaders Tonya Allen, Angela Reyes and Shirley Stancato along with David Hecker, President of AFT Michigan and Allan Gilmour, the former President of Wayne State University and CFO of Ford Motor Company. 

"I wholeheartedly support John Austin for reelection to the State Board of Education,” said Mayor Mike Duggan.  “He provides leadership that puts children and their learning first, and he understands that well-trained and well supported teachers and educators are the most powerful drivers and most important contributors to increased student achievement.”

Austin is among the leaders gathering for the Mackinac Policy Conference this week who continue to push the legislature for a solution to address the long-term financial health of DPS along with accountability measures to ensure all Detroit children receive a high-quality education regardless of whether they attend DPS or charter schools.

"John Austin has been an indispensable leader in advancing our collective work to improve education and learning outcomes for children in Detroit and around the state,” said Tonya Allen.
Austin has called on the legislature to end the educational chaos in Detroit and allow for the creation of common quality standards to govern all Detroit schools and rein in for-profit operating companies that make money off public education without constraint. 

“The broad and diverse support of this group represents a growing consensus on the right solutions for fixing Detroit schools,” said Austin. “All Detroit school children deserve a high-quality education and we must not settle for anything less than a comprehensive solution that will result in greater learning outcomes for the kids.”​

For more information and endorsement news, please visit John Austin’s Facebook Page.  

In the same week that Michigan officials and residents engaged in heated debate over a controversial proposed policy regarding gay, lesbian,  transgender and bisexual students, the federal government has issued official guidance telling schools they must treat transgender students in a way consistent with their gender identity.

Although there is no mandate with the guidelinesoutlined in the letter sent today to school districts across the nation by the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice, the implied threat is there.

"It does send a very powerful message," said John Austin, president of the State Board of Education, who has been an advocate for the proposed policy that has stirred so much debate in Michigan.

The message? "That schools should take seriously that transgender kids exist and we're going to do what we can at the federal level to protect you," Austin said.
That could mean withholding federal funds from schools that don't comply or filing civil rights violation cases.

The  "Dear Colleague" letter to schools is aimed at giving educators information "to ensure that all students, including transgender students, can attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex," according to a joint news release from the education and justice departments.

"Schools receiving federal money may not discriminate based on a student’s sex, including a student’s transgender status. The guidance makes clear that both federal agencies treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for purposes of enforcing Title IX."

Some Michigan schools have already been addressing the needs of transgender students — ensuring they are referred to by the name and gender they want, providing access to gender-neutral bathrooms or the bathrooms that fit their gender identity, and providing training to staff members so they know how to handle such issues.

"I think they're doing the best they can," said Farmington High junior Mike Currie, 16, who is transgender. He said his school has worked to meet his needs. But there's more all schools need to do. And while he said he understands some people don't want to see the federal government wade in, he thinks it's necessary.

"It's a really good thing that they decided to step in," Mike said.

The federal guidance in many ways reaffirms positions taken at the federal level in recent years. For instance, in December, the department’s civil rights divisionreached a settlement with a school district in Illinois, requiring it to provide access to girls' locker rooms to a transgender student.

It's been a hot button issue nationwide, including in Michigan, where a much broader policy addressing the needs of students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and those questioning their sexuality (or LGBTQ) has faced  a firestorm of criticism. That policy is being proposed by the Michigan Department of Education and the State Board of Education.

The policy would urge schools to do things such as providing professional development for staff on how to address LGBTQ issues; develop policies that protect LGBTQ students from harassment; support the creation of student-led clubs such as gay-straight student alliances, and provide support to families.

Several lawmakers — Rep. Phil Potvin, R-Cadillac; Sen. Patrick Colbeck, R-Canton, and Sen. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba — asked the State Board to rethink the proposed policy during a meeting earlier this week. During a lengthy six-hour public comment session at that meeting, 67 residents spoke out against the policy while another 49 supported it.

Colbeck said today that Title IX refers to a person’s sex and not their gender identity.
“This is another attempt to legislate without the involvement of Congress,” Colbeck said. “They’re changing the law and it should be opposed and ignored by all schools in the state of Michigan. It has no legal bearing.”

Potvin agreed, saying Obama "is way over his bounds."

Potvin said he considers it a personal choice to be transgender, and said, "A personal choice is also a personal responsibility, not a public responsibility. It's a small minority looking for the public to be responsible for them, when they need to be personally responsible for themselves."

But for those who advocate for transgender children, the debate comes down to wanting a safe environment. Nicole Ellefson of Williamston, whose 17-year-old son is transgender, said she's excited about the new guidelines because "the level of debate around the issue in general has only gone from bad to worse."

While she likes the guidance, she prefers that the Obama administration issue an executive order that would have more teeth. It's unclear, for instance, whether the department will indeed withhold federal funding from schools that don't comply with the guidance.

"To me, it's still welcome," Ellefson said. "They're taking a firm stand of protecting rights of people. However, it leaves those of us with children who are transgender ... without any clear resolution on the protection of their rights."

Austin said the State Board of Education is listening to criticism. A chief one: The policy says that schools should refer to a student by the gender that student identifies with regardless of whether the parent knows. There have been cries that the provision cuts parents out of the process and takes away their parental rights.

Austin said the language likely will be changed to make it clear that parental involvement is important, but that schools should be alert to situations where if a parent learns about a student's gender identity it could put that student in danger of physical violence or being kicked out of the home.

He said the policy will also be revised to make it clear that when it comes to bathroom and locker room use, schools and school districts should work out policies that "work out the best ... for the safety and security of all students."

The policy now says schools should allow transgender students to use the bathroom and locker room that fits their gender identity.

State School Superintendent Brian Whiston said the MDE will review the federal guidelines to see how they align with the proposed state guidelines. He said the department will also weigh the nearly 13,000 public comments received online, in writing, by phone and in person.

"We are committed to listening and being considerate of that input, and shaping ultimate guidance that encourages schools to appropriately engage parents and flexibly determine bathroom and locker room policies that increase safety, and improve school engagement while respecting the dignity and rights of all students, including LGBTQ children," Whiston said.

The board likely won't take any action until August at the earliest.

The federal letter to school districts says a school's Title IX obligation requires them to provide transgender students equal access to educational programs and activities, "even in circumstances in which other students, parents or community members raise objections or concerns."

"As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others' discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students."

Since Title IX is tied to federal education funding, the government could withhold funds from schools that don't follow the guidelines.

The letter is addressed to all schools that receive federal funding, including 16,500 school districts and 7,000 colleges, universities and trade schools. It also applies to charter schools, for-profit schools, libraries and museums that receive federal aid.
Highlights from the letter:

• Schools must take prompt action to end sex-based harassment, prevent its recurrence and remedy its effects.
• Schools must treat students based on their gender identity even if their identity conflicts with their education records or identification documents.
• Schools must allow transgender students access to rest rooms and locker rooms that fit their gender identity. Schools may make individual-user options available to all students who voluntarily seek additional privacy.
• Eligibility for sex-segregated athletics teams may not "rely on overly broad generalizations or stereotypes about the differences between transgender students and other students of the same sex."  

Contact Lori Higgins: 313-222-6651, lhiggins@freepress.com or @LoriAHiggins. The USA Today contributed to this report.

Source: Detroit Free Press

 Nancy Kaffer, Detroit Free Press Columnist

​11:31 p.m. EDT May 11, 2016

The toughest conversation I've ever had with my 5-year-old son was about tomorrow.
The concept, I mean.

It goes something like this: "Is today tomorrow?" "No, tomorrow is tomorrow." "When will today be tomorrow?" "Today is always today and tomorrow is always the day after today, and when tomorrow is today it stops being tomorrow and becomes today." "So ... today is tomorrow?" I'm getting a headache just thinking about it.

On the other hand, the subject of gay relationships, often held up as a bogeyman of uncomfortable parental conversations, was a snap. On the way home from a party at the home of two gay friends, my son asked if the men were brothers. "No," I answered, "Boyfriends." And that was pretty much that.

That's what I'd like to tell a parent who protested at a state Board of Education meeting Tuesday that proposed school guidelines aimed at improving inclusion of and tolerance for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students made for difficult conversations with her daughter, about why "they" want her to use the bathroom with boys -- it doesn't have to be hard.

The standards -- which the state board is considering, and could be adopted on a voluntary basis by school districts if approved by the board -- offer a broad framework to make schools safer and more supportive for LGBT kids. But that bathroom thing -- that gender nonconforming kids should use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity, rather than their birth anatomy --  is the part that's drawn the most ire.

For trans people, their gender identity -- the gender they instinctively identify as -- doesn't match the anatomy they're assigned at birth. And while our culture has grown more accepting of gay and lesbian Americans, transgender people often face open discrimination, in the workplace and other settings. About 41% of transgender people will attempt suicide at least once. Violence against transgender Americans continues to rise. Transgender kids are at risk of bullying and harassment in schools. So the standards the board is debating aren't for show. They're a response to real danger posed to LGBT students in Michigan schools.

And that's why what we tell our kids -- who could, after all, be LGBT themselves -- about their transgender classmates is incredibly important.

When these conversations are difficult, when we share our own discomfort, what we're communicating to kids is that the subject of those conversations has a negative value attached -- that what we're talking about is strange. That it invites judgment.
And marking any group of people out as different, as targets for scorn -- or communicating to kids that it's appropriate to disapprove of the fact of someone else's existence -- helps to perpetuate discrimination, and the threat to LGBT kids.

The state Board of Education expects to make a decision on the standards by August. But whether the board approves the standards or not, there's a practical component to dispelling parental discomfort -- LGBT kids, inevitably, will exist in your child's world, whether you're OK with that or not. Whether you understand it or not. Whether you're comfortable or not.

So what should you tell your kids? If my son asks about those bathroom guidelines, I'll go with this: "Take care of your business and don't worry about what anyone else is doing."

It's advice most of us should learn to follow.

Source: Detroit Free Press

By Eclectablog

Education, LGBT, Transgender — May 10, 2016

State Board of Education President John Austin, photo by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog

In December of last year, Rick Joseph, the 2015 Michigan Teacher of the Year and self-described “former homophobe”, approached State Board of Education president John Austin asking if he’d be interested in developing guidelines for Michigan school administrators when it comes to making the school environment safe and welcoming for LGBTQ students. That’s currently not the case in far too many places as the facts show:

• 8.4% of Michigan students report as lesbian, gay or bisexual.
• 12% of LGB students did not go to school in the past year, because they felt unsafe-twice the rate of heterosexual students
• 46% of LGB students had grades that consisted mostly of C’s, D’s and F’s-twice the rate of heterosexual students
• 29% have attempted suicide in the last year-4.5 times the rate of non-LGB students

For transgender students, it’s even worse and they face levels of violence and intimidation that surpass any other group.

Austin agreed to champion the development of a guidance document to be used by schools as they prepare their own policies and procedures relating to LGBTQ students. A work group was formed and a draft guidance document was prepared. On February 23rd of this year, the draft guidance was posted for discussion at March 8 meeting, and beginning of public comment and the legislature was advised.

The move set off a firestorm as anti-LGBTQ groups and individuals swarmed the internet and media sites raising unwarranted fears of little girls being attacked in washrooms and locker rooms by boys pretending to be girls. This stems from a section of the proposed guidance document titled “Guidance to Support Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (GNC) Students” pertaining to restroom and locker room use:

4) Restrooms. Students should be allowed to use the restroom in accordance with their gender identity. Alternative and non-stigmatizing options, such as an all-gender or singleuser restroom (e.g., staff bathroom or nurse’s office), should be made available to students who request them, but not presented as the only option. Any student who has a need or desire for increased privacy, regardless of underlying reasons, has the right to access a single-user restroom.

5) Locker Rooms or Changing Facilities. A student should not be required to use a locker room that is incongruent with their gender identity. Locker room usage should be determined on a case-by-case basis, using the guiding principles of safety and honoring the student’s gender identity and expression. Some options include: 1) an adjusted changing schedule; 2) use of a private area in the facility (e.g., nearby restroom stall with a door, an area separated by a curtain, a physical education instructor’s office in the locker room); and 3) use of a nearby private area (e.g., restroom, nurse’s office). Any student who has a need or desire for increased privacy, regardless of the underlying reasons, may request the options listed above.

Two weeks after the document was posted online, Republican Board of Education member Eileen Weiser emailed State Superintendent Brian Whiston and Board President John Austin objecting to the guidance being taken up and criticizing some of the language.

As comments for and against the guidance document were being collected, anti-LGBTQ forces went into action. An atrocious Detroit News op-ed by Republican water-carrier Ingrid Jacquessuggested that Austin was giving “special favors” to LGBTQ students. (Apparently in Jacques’ world of bigotry, being free from intimidation and fear is a “special favor” that LGBTQ kids don’t deserve.)

Even Tucker Carlson’s national conservative blog The Daily Caller got in on the action, spreading misinformation and panic among the anti-LGBTQ community. John Austin wants to allow “all students, regardless of parental or doctoral input, to choose their gender, name, pronouns, and bathrooms”!, they exclaimed.

Tea party and other anti-Common Core groups sent out action alerts encouraging their members to flood the public comment site with anti-LGBTQ talking points. Robocalls were made and postcards sent, all repeating the same misinformation and inflammatory talking points.

In late March, Austin and Whiston agreed to extend the deadline for comments to allow as many people as possible to weigh in. Despite their transparency and very public deliberations, they were absurdly accused of doing it “quietly” and in secret, raising the bigot angst factor in the process.

Reports filtered up to Austin that Eileen Weiser’s husband, Ron Weiser, the former Chair of the Michigan Republican Party and a big dollar donor to conservative and Republican candidates and groups, was threatening to withhold donations from legislators who failed to oppose the guidance document. Although the Weisers both denied this, less than a week later House Republicans slashed funding for the State Board of Education in their budget legislation
The Michigan Department of Education has generated a GOP backlash and complaints of “social engineering” by recommending that public schools adopt transgender-friendly policies but refrain from unilaterally telling parents if students identify with a gender they didn’t have at birth.

A House appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday stripped from a budget bill all travel and per-diem funding for the Democrat-dominated State Board of Education, a move the Republican chairman called “a message” to members who will consider the draft recommendation on May 10.

The amendment, approved in a party-line vote.

Then, a couple of weeks later, legislation was introduced by Republicans to eliminate the State Board of Education completely and to eliminate the state superintendent position, as well. Sen. Tom Casperson has promised to introduce legislation similar to North Carolina’s so-called “bathroom bill” that would force students to use the restroom conforming to their gender at birth.

These are all pretty over-the-top responses to a guidance (not a law or a rule) that would allow students to pee in the restroom corresponding to the gender they identify with.
Finally, The Daily Caller as well as Michigan resident John Howting filed FOIA requests on Austin’s emails, a fishing expedition trying to somehow prove that this very public and well-documented process was somehow going on behind closed doors. You may recall Howting from the 2014 election cycle where he trained Republican staffers on how to infiltrate Democratic events andrecord them with super secret spy glasses.

You can read Austin’s response to these ridiculous FOIA requests HERE.

All of this looks very much like a bigoted response to a very reasonable proposal. But it’s much more than that, actually. People like me frequently say that “Republicans control every aspect of government in Michigan”. However, that’s not entirely true. The one place where Democrats still maintain a majority is the State Board of Education. And that is at the core of this entire tempest in a piss pot. Republicans cannot stand the fact that they don’t control this group and are using the LGBTQ guidance as a smokescreen for their efforts to either take control or eliminate it entirely.

You can be very sure that when Republicans passed the law preventing straight-ticket ballots in Michigan, this was one of the reasons they did it: straight-ticket voting helps Democrats in less-known races like the State Board of Education and University Boards of Regents and Trustees.

Board of Education member Eileen Weiser’s husband Ron has gave over $300,000 to conservative and Republican candidates and groups between 2013 and 2015. While he may deny he’s using his money as a way to strongarm Republicans, others dispute that claim and he has the financial clout to back up such threats.

Sen. Casperson’s yet-to-be-introduced “bathroom bill” will cause the same type economic hardship for the Michigan as it has for North Carolina and will very likely result in a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice. It’s also being spit on by the leaders of a number of major Michigan corporations. In other words, it’s not going anywhere and he knows it.

The fact is Republicans are exploiting anti-LGBTQ bigots and their unreasonable fears about trans kids using what they see as “the wrong bathroom” to help them destroy the last vestige of Democratic Party control. Sadly, using this sort of bigoted attack has worked in other places around the country. It’s the main reason why I and others were against an LGBTQ civil rights ordinance being put on the ballot. We still have a lot of educating to do and, until we’ve done that, anti-LGBTQ bigots will continue to use this issue to gain political power even in areas that seem unrelated.

The Board of Education is taking comments through tomorrow, May 11th. Be sure to weigh in HERE. 

But also be sure to understand what this phony issue is all about. It’s not about keeping trans kids from peeing in one bathroom or another. It’s about taking away power from the Democrats in Michigan.

Make no mistake about that.

I’ll finish with the amazing words of U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch yesterday when she announced that the Justice Department is suing the state of North Carolina against their discriminatory “bathroom bill”:

[T]his is not a time to act out of fear. This is a time to summon our national virtues of inclusivity, diversity, compassion and open-mindedness. What we must not do – what we must never do – is turn on our neighbors, our family members, our fellow Americans, for something they cannot control, and deny what makes them human. This is why none of us can stand by when a state enters the business of legislating identity and insists that a person pretend to be something they are not, or invents a problem that doesn’t exist as a pretext for discrimination and harassment.

Let me speak now to the people of the great state, the beautiful state, my state of North Carolina. You’ve been told that this law protects vulnerable populations from harm – but that just is not the case. Instead, what this law does is inflict further indignity on a population that has already suffered far more than its fair share. This law provides no benefit to society – all it does is harm innocent Americans.

Instead of turning away from our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues, let us instead learn from our history and avoid repeating the mistakes of our past. Let us reflect on the obvious but often neglected lesson that state-sanctioned discrimination never looks good in hindsight. It was not so very long ago that states, including North Carolina, had signs above restrooms, water fountains and on public accommodations keeping people out based upon a distinction without a difference. We have moved beyond those dark days, but not without a tremendous amount of pain and suffering and an ongoing fight to keep moving forward. Let us write a different story this time. Let us not act out of fear and misunderstanding, but out of the values of inclusion, diversity and regard for all that make our country great.
​
Let me also speak directly to the transgender community itself. Some of you have lived freely for decades. Others of you are still wondering how you can possibly live the lives that you were born to lead. But no matter how isolated, no matter how afraid, and no matter how alone you may feel today, know this: the Department of Justice and the entire Obama Administration wants you to know that we see you; we stand with you; and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. And please know that history is on your side. This country was founded on a promise of equal rights for all, and we have always managed to move closer to that ideal, little by little, one day at a time. It may not be easy – but we’ll get there together.

Source: Eclecta Blog