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KEEPING THE FAITH ACTION ALERT March 15, 2005 Today a state trial court in San Francisco held unconstitutional the state's popularly-enacted Defense of Marriage Act, Prop. 22. That initiative defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman was adopted by voters in 2000 with nearly 60 percent support. The court's basis was that the decision violates the state constitution's equal protection clause. The court declined to rule on the relevance of the state constitution's special privacy provision. The court also cited for support the US Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas (2003). The decision will be appealed. Interestingly, the trial court did not automatically stay its decision, although the ruling is listed as "tentative" until more papers are filed on March 30. The court is expected to finalize its ruling at that time.
A PDF of the trial court's
decision is available here - . ***** PARENTS HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW Since the legislature has not -- as of this date -- moved on H B 661, a bill that would make it a law that local boards provide information to parents regarding school clubs, we need to encourage our state education board to pass the proposed resolution below. There will be a hearing held on Wednesday, April 13 in the East Tower, 205 Jesse Hill, Jr. Drive on the 20th floor from 12 noon - 1:00 p.m. for citizen input. 160-5-1-.29 EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES, STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS AND CLUBS Synopsis The proposed new rule 160-5-1-.29 is designed to ensure that parents and guardians are given notification of the purpose of the extracurricular activity, organization, or club in which students are participating. The rule also ensures that parents and guardians are given the opportunity to provide permission for student participation. Paragraph (2)(a) requires that beginning with the 2005-06 school year, each local board of education adopt policies and procedures for annually notifying parents or guardians of student participation in school-sponsored extracurricular activities, student organizations, and clubs. Paragraph (2)(b) specifies that each local board of education require all schools to annually obtain written permission from a parent or guardian in order for a student to join or become a member of each school-sponsored extracurricular activity, student organization, or club. Each local board shall require each school to maintain these written permission documents for the duration of the school year in which the forms were signed. ACTION: Please contact your school board member (listed below) as designated by congressional district and urge them to pass this proposed rule.
You can also express your
support of this proposed rule by writing to:
Linda Zechmann
Peggy Nielson
Wanda Barrs
William Bradley Bryant
Joy S. Berry
James E. Bostic, Jr.
Jose R. Perez
Mary Sue Murray
Pat Biggerstaff
James A. Franklin
Albert Hodge
Carol S. Williams
Dean Alford
Kathy Cox
Thank you for Keeping The
Faith. |