Steve Conn Suspended From Detroit Teachers Union
Steve Conn, who continues to maintain that he won the recent presidential election for the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), has been suspended from the union, along with three of his colleagues. He was suspended for disrupting the swearing in ceremony for his rival, Keith Johnson, who won the contested union election with less than a 100 votes. Hundreds of valid ballots were thrown out in the election, ballots that Conn and many others believe were unjustly invalidated. Conn asked for a recount, lost, and then won his appeal.
The suspension has no effect on Conn’s teaching assignment or pay or benefits. However, i
Gay Agenda or Teaching Tolerance?
In a move that has pissed off religious conservatives, California state senator Mark Leno (Democrat from San Francisco) proposed a bill in December that would require textbooks to include gay history and portray it “in a positive light.” With all the recent media coverage of bullying and gay suicides, the time would seem ripe for this bill. However, homophobic parents and religious leaders are vowing to fight it.
In 2008, a lesbian student at Jesse Bethel High School in Vallejo, California, filed suit with the American Civil Liberties Union accusing the local school district of discrimination. As part of the settlement, administrators recently agreed to show films and assign homework depicting same-sex families, starting with elementary school-aged students.
In November parents and religious leaders attacked the school board for “pushing their gay