Flour Bluff Independent School District Says It Will Temporarily Allow Gay-Straight Alliance To Meet At School

The Corpus Christi Caller Times is reporting that the Flour Bluff Independent School District board of trustees voted 4-2, with members Wade Chapman and Steve Ellis opposed, to direct the superintendent to temporarily allow all non-curriculum clubs to meet on campus, including a proposed Gay-Straight Alliance that had been previously prohibited. “We’re committed to supporting all students in our community and I think this is the right way to do it,” Board member Wally Graham said. “This is what we think is in the best interest of our students.” Graham, along with board members Frank Brogan, Dan Suckley and Flo East, supported the resolution to allow the clubs. Under the board’s direction, the school must allow the clubs to meet by April 1. The district will form a committee to evaluate the district’s policy for non-curriculum clubs. The decision arrived late Tuesday after the board spent more than four hours in closed session to discuss the club and other legal issues. A 2005 district policy does not permit clubs unrelated to academics to meet on campus, the reason the district has given for refusing an application for the Gay-Straight Alliance. The American Civil Liberties Union had notified the school district that it had till Tuesday to approve student Bianca “Nikki” Peet’s request to form the club or face legal action. Before the board went in closed session to discuss the issue, three residents spoke in support of the club’s formation. The board did not allow anyone to speak who had not signed up before the meeting began. Sandy Jaime, a Flour Bluff High School graduate whose children attend school in the district, told the board that she thought the school’s actions discredited lessons about equality she’s tried to teach her children.“I’ve always taught my children that we are all equal no matter what,” she said. “I really felt that the high school principal took all that I’ve been teaching my children and threw it in the trash.” Margaret Di Clemente said she wanted the board to approve the club so that the school district could be seen as inclusive instead of intolerant. “It’s very important that the school not be a symbol of bigotry and hatred,” she said. “I feel the club would be a very positive thing for the high school. I don’t want my taxes supporting unequal access.”Maria Peet, whose daughter fought to form the Gay-Straight Alliance and could not be at the meeting, told the board that the club would support gays and lesbians and offer support to straight students whose families are dealing with issues. “There are a lot of kids that need the club,” she said. “Flour Bluff might think that all their kids are straight. Well, they aren’t. We just need to open our eyes and admit that this is going on. This kind of club would actually help the kids be able to speak out.”