Nothing Found
Sorry, the page you tried to access does not exist or has changed address
1996 Questionnaire for School Board Candidates
(The cover letter which will be sent to all candidates with the questionnaire is shown following the questionnaire below.)
Before you complete and return your questionnaire, you should call us to request a Briefing on the issues we have raised. These briefings typically last about an hour. Call us on (202) 667-5139 to schedule your briefing. Also be sure to read through GLAA's Agenda: 1996.
1. Last year Congressional conservatives tried to force the District to implement a school voucher program that would channel millions of taxpayer dollars into private sectarian schools--even though D.C. voters rejected such a plan by a 9-to-1 margin in a 1981 referendum. Do you oppose the imposition of a voucher program for private sectarian schools both on home rule grounds and on principle?
2. The Utah Legislature recently enacted a law abolishing all student-initiated clubs in public schools across the state -- everything from chess clubs to Bible study groups -- rather than comply with the federal Equal Access Act, which would have required their schools to recognize the formation of a number of gay/straight alliances. Do you recognize the right of our public school students to initiate clubs to promote lesbian and gay civil rights, to combat homophobic violence and prejudice, and to provide socializing opportunities for lesbian and gay youth similar to opportunities routinely offered by schools for nongay youth?
3. Do you support the condom availability program established several years ago in our public schools?
4. Do you favor training programs for professional development of teachers, counselors, and other school system staff, such as those formerly offered by the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL), to help these professionals (for example) to nurture positive identity formation for lesbian and gay students?
5. Do you agree with the recent ruling by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit that public schools have a constitutional duty to protect gay and lesbian students from physical violence and excessive harassment?
6. Will you oppose efforts such as we have witnessed in Fairfax County to restrict or censor books or other materials in our public school libraries that discuss homosexuality without reflecting the Religious Right's hostility against lesbians and gay men?
7. Do you recognize the right of students to bring dates of the same sex to school proms and other official public school social functions?
8. From time to time, D.C. public school teachers have invited openly gay men and women to speak in their classes and to answer students' questions about homosexuality. Do you support the right of our teachers to continue inviting such speakers?
9. Do you oppose legislation or initiatives that would authorize organized prayers in our public schools and that would thereby encourage the harassment of students and teachers who decline to participate?
10. Will you oppose any educational program, whether dubbed afrocentric, multicultural, eurocentric, or otherwise, if such a program in fact promotes bigotry on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex, or sexual orientation?
11. During the last search for a new Superintendent of D.C. public schools, the School Board invited representatives of GLAA to serve on its community advisory board and to suggest questions for the finalists. At the last minute, however, the Board reneged on its earlier promises and refused to allow a GLAA representative to sit in on the interviews with the finalists. Will you ensure that a GLAA representative is included among those allowed to monitor the Board's interviews with finalists in future Superintendent searches?
12. Do you agree that many of the problems endangering our basic home rule principles in general and our public schools in particular are due to the failures of our own elected officials, past and present, to exercise their proper oversight responsibilities and to make hard choices on spending priorities? _________________________________________________________________________
Please feel free to send us any copies of campaign literature, speeches, documents, or anything else that might illustrate your record on behalf of gay and lesbian community issues.
_________________________________________________________________________
Your answers should be written on separate sheets of paper rather than on this form. You must sign your name on your answer sheets to indicate your personal commitment to your answers. Please return this questionnaire by Friday, October 18 to GLAA, Attn.: Craig Howell/Elections Coordinator, P. O. Box 75265, Washington, D.C. 20013-5265. FAX submissions are acceptable, but e-mail transmissions are not.
September 1996
Dear School Board Candidate:
The Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C. (GLAA) recently celebrated our 25th anniversary, making us the nation's oldest continuously operating gay and lesbian rights organization. In every School Board primary and general election since our founding in 1971, we have sent out questionnaires to all candidates to help educate our community about the choices facing us at the polls.
Accordingly, I have enclosed your copy of our questionnaire in order to elicit your viewpoints on educational issues currently of great importance to the District's lesbians and gay men.
GLAA assigns numerical ratings to all candidates on a scale ranging from -10 to +10, based upon each candidate's written responses to our questionnaire, combined with our assessment of each candidate's past record on behalf of lesbians and gay men. Our candidate ratings are released to the media and are advertised and circulated widely; we believe our quarter-century of service gives our candidate ratings considerable credibility.
These candidate ratings should not be interpreted as endorsements. While GLAA does maintain the right to endorse candidates in nonpartisan contests, we only endorse School Board candidates in exceptional circumstances.
We encourage you to do more than provide a simple "yes" or "no" response to our questions; the depth and completeness of your answers play a major role in determining your final rating. To help you understand the background for the issues raised in this year's questionnaire, we would be glad to offer you a briefing (probably about an hour long) before you send in your replies. Just call us on (202) 667-5139 to request your briefing.
I have taken the liberty of enclosing a copy of GLAA's Agenda: 1996; please take the time to read this for a brief summary of our perspectives on a wide variety of concerns.
The deadline for submitting your questionnaire responses is Friday, October 18. We ask you to sign the bottom of each of your answer sheets. We suggest you mail or fax your replies; however, we can not accept e-mail transmissions. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Rosendall
President