Alrighty, so this is quite the non-photo post in the midst of my photo-only post month.  Again, forgive me.  If I could have, I would have included shots of the person wearing the devil costume speaking to the Wednesday Alameda Unified School District school board, testifying as to how all will go to perdition if tolerance for family and gender diversity is included in the school district’s curriculum.  But I’m kind of glad that image is not burned into my brain.

Before I go on, I’ll also note my stakes in the matter: I’m not a resident of Alameda, and my kids will be going to school in neighboring Berkeley Unified.  However, I grew up a stone’s throw from Alameda, over the decades have spent many a “tourist” dollar there, worked a long time for outreach programs looking to improve the college educational prospects of K-12 kids in underserved schools throughout the Bay Area, and am a proud product of the public school system of the East Bay, K-16.  When my high school basketball team got lucky and extended our reach beyond our immediate local competitors, we sometimes played Alameda HS.  Usually lost.  Probably because Rachel Maddow wouldn’t be on our team for another ten years.  Another story.

But: my interest in what’s happening in AUSD — and yours, too — is this: history has shown that right wing anti-gay organizations fight these curricula tooth and nail, and are emboldened by one win to go on to attack them in neighboring school districts.  This AUSD curriculum development process has been a slow, careful one, and it’s wronger than wrong for a busload of zealots from way outside the Bay Area to come and overwhelm a local process. Which is just what happened on Wednesday night.

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* UPDATE: The venue for the “Carryover” Board meeting has been changed to accomodate what’s expected to be larger crowds.  The Carryover School Board meeting will be held Monday at 6:30pm at Alameda Unified School District’s Kofman Auditorium, 2200 Central Avenue, Alameda, CA.  Google map here.  Peaceful vigil beforehand from 5pm on (see next post for further details).

AUSD School Board President Mike McMahon keeps a well-stocked website and has archived the whole debate here, including links to parents’ groups for and against the curriculum, and testimony heard at the May 12 meeting.  Anyone planning to go who hasn’t already been a part of the safe schools work in AUSD should read up on the matter at the Alameda C.A.R.E. (Community Alliance Resource for Education) website.

I wrote yet more on this later today, here at “More on Alameda’s Caring Schools Curriculum”

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Remember earlier in the week — like, Wednesday — I passed along an action alert about a School Board meeting in Alameda (a town in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area)?  Well.  I finally got a report on the meeting, and it seems that the topic of safe schools and anti-bullying curriculum in Alameda indeed got into the crosshairs of right wing activists.

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[Update: I wasn't able to go (solo caregiver all eve; it's audition week in the beloved's theater work life).  But I did find a comment on the event, on the Alameda Journal Blog, a blog that covers life in Alameda, that discussion on the topic has been extended to next Monday, May 18, at 6:30 pm at Will C. Wood Middle School's Multipurpose Room. Speakers who signed up to speak last night but couldn't will be given first priority.  

Will C. Wood Middle School is at 420 Grand Street in Alameda (Google map here). 

This should enable enough time to make arrangements for those of us who have younger kids & need to square away the childcare. I wouldn't expect to speak, as a non-Alamedan.  But as a life-long resident of Alameda County, and a product of its public schools, K-16, I'd like to support those Alameda residents there lobbying for safe schools and anti-bullying efforts.]

I just got this: please pass the word on to anyone in the East Bay supportive of safe schools.

      Save Safe Schools in Alameda   This evening, the school board is hearing public comment on their new proposed elementary school curriculum that promotes respect for family diversity and gender non-conforming youth. Tuesday, May 12 6:30 p.m.  Alameda City Hall 2263 Santa Clara Avenue  (at Oak Street)   Dear LD: Our allies in Alameda Unified School District need your support! This evening, the school board is hearing public comment on their new proposed elementary school curriculum that promotes respect for family diversity and gender non-conforming youth. The curriculum, featuring GroundSpark’s incredible film, That’s A Family! has been proposed after 2 years of meetings between elementary school educators, staff, and community members. While the new bias and bullying prevention lessons have broad community support, recent communications from conservative organizations are telling us that they plan on showing up in full-force to this meeting. We know that it only takes one meeting of vocal protesters to threaten this valuable work. The Alameda school board needs to hear your voice to remind them why LGBT-inclusive education is important to our communities! While families still mourn the suicides of 11 year old students due to anti-gay bullying, we need to make sure the same thing does not happen here! The school board meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 12, at the Alameda City Hall (2263 Santa Clara Avenue at Oak Street), with this issue on the agenda for 8 p.m. Please consider joining the meeting to voice your support for efforts to ensure all of our youth are safe at school! Residents of Alameda and families in the school community are especially encouraged to attend! Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions in the next 24 hours. In solidarity, Geoff Kors Executive Director Equality California Â