Community Members Will Move Forward with Drafting Sexual Orientation Policy

The four elected committee members were among eight nominees, which also included Brooke Culley, Jennifer Davis, Aaron Fitchett and Dillon Hargreaves. Four others who were nominated withdrew from contention.

School Board Chair Mich Forster noted that Policy 502.2 was developed with early input from parents, experts and research that indicated the LGBTQ population, which makes up between 5 to 8 per cent of the general population.

The policy received first reading February 23rd.

Trustee Jan Foster, denies the notion that the Board didn’t spend much time reaching out to people about the policy.

“January the 19th, we had about 130 representatives here from the different school councils for an information meeting, so we’ve really gone the extra mile in making sure than everybody has had a chance to look at the policy and hear both sides of the story.”

Foster says the new committee will share ideas and come up with recommendations to present to the school board. However, she notes that whether or not the recommendations are put into the policy is up to the school board.

“Ultimately, it is the Board’s decision, as to whether or not they want to accept any of the recommendations that come forward and even though the two Board representatives might disagree with some of the recommendations, we would still bring those forward for the Board’s consideration.”

The committee will meet several times over the next few weeks to come up with recommendations, which will then go to the School Board to look over on April 19th, so the policy can undergo second and third reading on April 26th.

The school board has posted a video which includes all speeches from the eight nominees.

by Dori Modney (@Dori_Modney on Twitter)

Community Members Will Move Forward with Drafting Sexual Orientation Policy

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