The first round of voting by the Lake County School Board is in favor of an 8th grader’s request for a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA).
The board had discussed banning all non-curricular student clubs in reponse to a request by student Bayli Silberstein to form a GSA at Carver Middle School.
On March 11, they voted 3-2 in favor of allowing non-curricular clubs, which would pave the way for the GSA. The district attorney presented three options: allowing non-curricular clubs at the districts’ high schools while closing them to middle schools, allowing non-curricular clubs at both high schools and middle schools, or closing non-curricular clubs to both high schools and middle schools.
Board members Rosanne Brandeburg, Debbie Stivender and Chairwoman Kyleen Fischer were the votes in favor, while Tod Howard and Bill Mathias expressed for banning non-curricular clubs in middle schools but allowing them in high schools.
According to Lake County Schools spokesman Christopher Patton, if the current proposal is enacted, all school clubs will require parental permission, and that will be a new requirement.
“[Parental permission] is not currently a requirement for club participation at the middle or high school level,” Patton said.
14-year-old Silberstein and other supporters attended the meeting, wearing red to show their support for the GSA. Some supporters in attendance expressed concern over the provision that would require students to get parental permission in order to join clubs.
Silberstein’s attempts to start the club began in November. On Jan. 23, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sent a letter to Lake County School Board attorney Stephen Johnson, demanding the district follow through on Silberstein’s request for a GSA to “confront bullying, educate the school community, and promote acceptance and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students” via the formation of a GSA.
According to Silberstien, school officials had been ignoring her request. After the ACLU sent the letter, the School Board proposed the plan to ban all non-curricular student clubs, rather than allow the GSA.
ACLU spokesperson Baylor Johnson said the school board’s decision is “a clear win for Bayli and for all the students in Lake County.”
The ACLU circulated a petition in support of the GSA and before the school board meeting, flew a plane overhead that read “Stand with Bayli, not bullies.”
“We’re grateful for everyone who turned out to speak, as well as the tens of thousands across the country who signed the petition,” Johnson said. “Because they stood with Bayli, she’ll be able to keep fighting against bullying.”
The March 11 vote was a preliminary vote – the final vote date is April 22.
