Single-Sex Public Schools
tina (tina@tiac.net)
Thu, 2 Apr 1998 23:41:36 -0500 (EST)
I am sorry to be coming on what seems the tail-end of this flurry of
information regarding the single-sex public school issue. I wanted you to
know, especially Linda Purrington, that the New York City Chapter of the
National Organization for Women and the New York Civil Liberties Union have
been actively involved with trying to get the office of civil rights to
enforce Title IX in the case of the Harlem Leadership School for Girls. They
have met with Norma Cantu on several occasions--to no avail. NOW-NYC's
former president, Anne Conners, and Michael Meyers of NYCLU--are, to my
knowledge, the only two people speaking out on this issue (besides
yourselves ofcourse)--and NOW-NYC has taken a lot of blows from their stand.
NOW's position is basically: 'we get thousands of calls from women suffering
from sexual harrassment in the workplace--we don't tell them 'the only thing
we can do is create separate-sex work environments..why should we run away
from, and sex-segregate, these problems when they concern teenage girls.."
Also, the NAACP has also taken a stand against these public single sex
schools...
Just so you know--the Office of Civil Rights has been stunningly
disinterested in enforcing Title IX in these cases.
<tina@tiac.net>