From: nyt%nyxfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu (NY Transfer News)
Subject: nyc teachers defend multicultural program /ww
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: The NY Transfer News Service
Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 18:11:51 GMT

NYC teachers defend multicultural program

By Rebeca Toledo New York

The New York City Board of Education has introduced a curriculum
in elementary schools this year that seeks to begin to eliminate
discriminatory teachings against different races, colors,
religions, genders, ages, disabilities, and sexual orientation.
There is also a separate curriculum focusing on educating
students about HIV and AIDS.

The multi-cultural teachers' guide was a result of many years of
pressure on the Board from Black, Latino, Asian and Native
peoples, women, lesbians, gay men, and people with AIDS.
According to national reports, the curriculum is praised by
educators around the country. It has been approved by the
overwhelming majority of the school districts in the city.

However, five school districts have taken issue with the part of
the curriculum that talks positively about lesbian and gay
families. District 24, in Queens, has rejected the entire program
and refused to allow its teachers to use the guide at all. In
late August, this district sent out inflammatory, anti-gay
letters to parents urging them to fight against the curriculum.
The district also attacks the curriculum on HIV/AIDS education.

In question is a first-grade manual entitled "Children of the
Rainbow," which is a 443-page teacher's guide. In a section
devoted to families, the text reads: "Many children have
lesbian/gay relatives. According to statistics, at least 10
percent of each class will grow up to be homosexual. ... Teachers
of first graders have an opportunity to give children a healthy
sense of identity at an early age."

It goes on to urge teachers to include references to lesbians and
gay men, and especially to lesbians and gay men as parents.

Since these attacks lesbians and gays have responded in many
ways. Two gay teachers in District 24 have come out of the closet
to denounce the right wing. In a Sept. 25 news conference held at
the United Federation of Teachers headquarters, Kim Kreicker and
Daniel Dromm said they "came forward because they thought the
school board and its president, Mary Cummins, had sent a message
of intolerance in a district that is among the city's most
diverse." (New York Times, Sept. 26)

The two urged other lesbian and gay teachers to step forward and
fight back. Also speaking at the news conference was the
president of the teachers' union, Sandra Feldman.

Members of the lesbian and gay community, along with
representatives of Third World communities, held a town meeting
Sept. 22 to strategize about a fightback.  Marjorie Hill, an
African American lesbian and the mayor's liaison to the lesbian
and gay community, opened the meeting by calling for a coalition
effort to defeat attacks on the multicultural curriculum.

Dr. Luis Reyes, a Board of Education member, outlined a list of
suggested actions. It included organizing a Lesbian and Gay
Parent Association, donating more lesbian and gay books to the
schools, and developing a speakers' bureau to address the
schools.

Along with these proposals, the Women's Health Action and
Mobilization (WHAM!) has called for a counter-demonstration on
Oct. 6 at the Board of Education, where the anti-gay, right-wing
forces plan to protest that day.

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World,46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; "workers@mcimail.com".)



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