Second Alabama School System Agrees To End Illegal Sex Segregation
The St. Clair
County School System in Alabama
has agreed to stop sex segregation in public schools after being notified by
the ACLU and ACLU of Alabama that sex segregated programs are illegal and
discriminatory. This decision comes after the Mobile County School System
decided earlier this year to end its single-sex education program, also after
being contacted by the ACLU.
“We commend St.
Clair County for abandoning sex segregation in the coming school year,” said
Allison Neal, staff attorney with the ACLU of Alabama. “Especially in a
period of tight budgets, it makes sense for school districts to invest their
time and money in methods that have been proven to promote student success.
While single-sex education is trendy, the evidence supporting its
effectiveness just isn't there.”
The ACLU received
a letter from the school system stating that it would end the single-sex
education program at Odenville
Middle School and would
no longer offer single-sex education at any other school in the district for
the 2009-2010 school year. Students in Odenville Middle School
had been assigned to sex segregated classes this school year and sex
segregated classes had been utilized in the middle school since approximately
2004.
At a St. Clair
County Board of Education meeting on April 20, Neal outlined how sex
segregated programs inevitably lead to inequality and may violate Title IX of
the Education Amendments, the Equal Education Opportunities Act and the U.S.
Constitution. The school system had invited the ACLU to speak at the meeting
after receiving an Open Records Act request from the ACLU asking for information
about St. Clair County’s sex segregated programs because of concerns that
they might be discriminatory.
“One of the
strengths of public schools is the opportunity they provide for students to
learn from those different from themselves,” said Emily Martin, Deputy
Director of the ACLU Women's Rights Program. “When boys and girls learn how
to cooperate and compete, they get the best preparation for working together
in a coeducational world.”
The Mobile County
School System also agreed to stop sex segregation in public schools after being
contacted by the ACLU. On March 25, the Board of School Commissioners of
Mobile County approved a settlement agreement changing the policy. Under the
settlement agreement, Hankins
Middle School
immediately ceased to segregate students by sex in elective classes, at
lunchtime and all other nonacademic events. Beginning in the fall of 2009,
all courses will be integrated in every school in the county and no school
will institute any sex-segregated programs for the next three years. For the
2012-2013 academic year and two years thereafter, if Mobile County
plans to institute new single-sex programs in any school, it must first
notify the ACLU before implementing them. A copy of the Mobile County School
System settlement agreement is available at: www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/39130lgl20090324.html
A copy of the St.
Clair County School System letter is available at: www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/39544res20090505.html
The ACLU's Open
Records request is available online at: www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/38096res20081215.html
More information
on the ACLU Women's Rights Project work on sex segregation is available at: www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/34504res20080228.html
ACLU-AL Hosts “Restore Our
Rights” Town Hall Events
Michael W.
Macleod-Ball, the ACLU’s Chief Legislative and Policy Counsel, was the
special guest speaker at two recent Town Hall events hosted by the ACLU of
Alabama. The events, held in Huntsville on May 11 and Birmingham on May 12, were attended by over
100 ACLU members and the general public.
Macleod-Ball spoke about the ACLU’s legislative priorities under the
new presidential administration, including closing the prison facilities at Guantanamo Bay, ending the practice of
extraordinary rendition, placing a moratorium on the death penalty, and
stopping the monitoring of peace activist.
Thank you for your continued support of civil liberties
in Alabama!
Olivia Turner
Executive
Director, ACLU of Alabama
207 Montgomery Street, Suite 910, Montgomery, Alabama 36104
T: 334-262-0304 | F: 334-269-5666 |
info@aclualabama.org
www.aclualabama.org
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