Asheville City Schools again delay vote on SB49, 'Don't Say Gay' policies. What now?
ASHEVILLE - The city school board again delayed its vote to adopt the seven policies that would bring them into compliance under new state law SB 49 — known as both the "Parents' Bill of Rights" or, colloquially, North Carolina's version of the "Don't Say Gay" law.
Legislators gave schools an extension until Jan. 1 to implement the policies, a deadline Asheville City Schools has now officially passed.
But board attorney Chris Campbell said the district is still "compliant with the law," and in December adopted two procedures within one of the policies to ensure it met a more stringent deadline for a complaint process.
"The board is not in violation of any laws, other than the fact that they haven’t finalized the policies yet. But they fully understand the law is already in place and staff has already been informed about what the law is,” Campbell said.
Public comment will be held on the policies Feb. 5 at a school board work session. A vote on the policies is scheduled for its Feb. 12 regular meeting.
Campbell said he does not anticipate any consequence for missing the deadline. In September, the General Assembly and state will expect reports from school districts on their compliance.
“I think this board is proceeding in good faith and trying to do what is right for the students of Asheville City Schools," Campbell said.
'Litany of grandstanding'
In August, Republican lawmakers overrode the veto of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to pass SB 49 into law. It includes requirements that parents must be notified before their child uses a different name or pronouns in school, which critics of the law say will result in students being "outed" to parents, rather than allowing them to come out on their own terms.
It also bans curriculum on gender identity, sexual activity and sexuality from being taught in kindergarten through fourth-grade classrooms.
Asheville school board members have delayed their vote on the policies for months.
They seemed poised to vote during a Jan. 18 special called meeting, but ultimately decided to further delay until more public comment could be taken. Three-and-a-half hours of the lengthy meeting were spent combing through the new additions to the policies line by line, tweaking language and expanding context contained within — trying to establish minimal compliance, while meeting legal requirements.
Several members were visibly upset throughout the discussion, their granular back-and-forth focused on softening any harms that could be felt by LGBTQ+ students as a consequence of the new legislation.
The law represents only a "litany of grandstanding," said board member Rebecca Strimer.
"I can feel us trying to thread needles," Strimer said. The consequence of the law? Forcing students to "stay in the shadows."
“It is harmful to read these words, it is painful to read these words,” Vice Chair Amy Ray said. She was frustrated by "redundancies" found throughout the policies, with some simply restating existing processes.
Chair George Sieburg called the language of the bill "pernicious" to public education.
"We're all struggling with this," said board member Sarah Thornburg. "At the heart of it, it's bad policy and we all hope and pray it will be overturned in the courts or elsewhere."
Critics of the law have said it violates civil rights protected by the federal Title IX, a point reiterated by Allison Scott, Director of Impact and Innovation with Campaign for Southern Equality, who was one of only a handful of attendees at the Jan. 18 meeting.
The Campaign for Southern Equality and two other organizations filed a Title IX complaint against the Buncombe County Board of Education in December, alleging its similar policies passed by the Dec. 7 were in violation of the federal law.
The goal in February will be meeting "basic legal compliance," Campbell said, but in coming months the board may choose to craft "aspirational and other affirmative policies" specific to the school system to reiterate its support for students.
Campbell said policy tweaks suggested by the board members will be posted on the district's website alongside the language created by the N.C. School Boards Association to comply with requirements so people can review potential changes ahead of public comment.
More: LGBTQ+ advocates file Title IX complaint against Buncombe schools for implementing SB49
More: Digital eCourts system at center of a federal lawsuit is coming to Buncombe County
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville Schools again delay vote on SB49, 'Don't Say Gay' policies
