In a long and very well attended board meeting, the North East School Board, in a 5 to 4 vote, tabled the policy revisions incorporating the 2024 updates to Title IX until the United States Supreme Court decides whether the updates are constitutional.
Board members voting to table the updates: Nick Mobilia, Corrie Boyd, James Wargo, Charles Ferruggia and Glenn Craig who made the motion to table
Board members voting not to table: Jane Blystone, Katie Phillips, Alene Rohde, Mackenzie Luke
To those board members voting to table this update, Thank You. To the community members who were in attendance and spoke up about the issue in this and previous meetings, Thank You.
(Article updated 10-4-2024 to include member roll call of the vote)
Discover more from North East PA Online
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Priscilla Cochran says
That’s wonderful. Can you publish the 4 board members so we can remember come election time.
Paul Crowe says
Updated. See above.
Jen says
Once again Paul, thanks for getting the news out there so fast! The unknowns of this policy are frustrating. Just like the gentleman in attendance described what’s happening in some Pittsburgh schools, that could easily be reality for NE if we don’t keep pushing back and asking questions. I hope members of the public now see how attending all meetings is so important. Some meetings are dull but every once in a while you catch something that seems small but can have a huge impact. I implore parents and community members to keep active and show up, you witnessed how such controversial topics can sneak on an agenda for a one and done vote… can you imagine if no one was paying attention!!?!!
Once again, thank you to the courageous board members that took a stand. When we stand for what’s right we won’t be disappointed. We support you for hitting the pause button.
America First says
Yes! School boards have gotten used to no public participation in their meetings . They had no one who seemed to care. Boards should be a set of checks and balances and when they don’t its up to We the People. They should be answering our questions at these meetings and have gotten away with it. All that to say Please keep coming to the meetings.
jeffery L Buchholz says
Certainly one of the most difficult issues any school board must deal with. In my opinion, gender identity issues are certainly a real issue for some. The solution to make those students/staff more comfortable is not to make many others uncomfortable.
Three public board discussions and the issue of “what’s the penality for not following the mandate” is not 100% known. Still, it was suggested the feds would withhold approximately 1.4 million dollars in federal aid to the district. For that to have never been brought up until a community member asked, begs the question, why wasn’t it brought up at the first reading? President Mobilia seemed to know the number, but it appeared, at least to me, other board members didn’t. If i had not asked, we may have had a board vote without board members considering that important fact.
Bottom line, it appears to me school districts are being “blackmailed” to adopt the new title nine regs via withholding federal aid. The title nine changes were generated first during the Obama era, removed by Trump and brought back by Joe and Kamala. I’d suspect a Trump win in November might end it again.
Good board decision to follow the position of putting the issue on hold for a while. It was disappointing four members did not agree with the compromise. If somehow the feds prevail and the Kansas case is lost, the issue will explode. Bathrooms versus losing federal aid. The school district will be between a rock and a hard place.