ACLU Considering Suing Cleveland School District

Friday, July 13, 2007
Topics: Education
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First it was parents upset their neighborhood schools were going to be converted into single-gender academies. Now, the head of Cleveland's schools has a new opponent: the ACLU. ideastream education reporter Dan Bobkoff has more.

Cleveland Schools CEO Eugene Sanders wants to give parents the option of sending their sons and daughters to single-gender schools, but now the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is calling the schools discriminatory and is considering suing the school district. Carrie Davis is a staff attorney with the ACLU.

Carrie Davis: Separate is not equal when it comes to educating our kids.

Even though public single gender schools are legal, and the Cleveland schools are optional, the ACLU contends the schools amount to segregation, and reinforce harmful gender stereotypes. Still, Davis says the ACLU is just in the beginning stages of their investigation.

Carrie Davis: We sent this public records request to the Cleveland school district to learn more about how they decided this sex-segregated approach, how they decided which schools, and how they chose to implement it.

The Cleveland Metropolitan school district is complying with the public records request, but a spokesman issued a statement saying the District is committed to the single-gender school option which reflects the will of the people.