ACLU Wins Major Lawsuit Against Sex-Segregated School in Louisiana
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
Equal Access to Education for Girls and Boys Affirmed
DENHAM SPRINGS, LA -- The American Civil Liberties
Union and the ACLU of Louisiana today announced victory in a lawsuit filed on
behalf of thirteen-year-old eighth grader Michelle Selden who sought to have the
same educational opportunities as boys. The Livingston Parish School Board has
agreed to refrain from segregating students on the basis of sex in the coming
school year.
"We are relieved school officials have realized they cannot
ignore the law and sex segregate classes based on broad gender stereotypes about
psychological differences between boys and girls," said Joe Cook, Executive
Director, ACLU of Louisiana.
"Unfounded notions like 'boys need to practice
pursuing and killing prey, while girls need to practice taking care of babies'
has no place in our classrooms."
Today's announcement marks an about-face for
education at the Southside Junior High School in Livingston Parish. The School
Board announced at the end of the school year last May that it planned to
immediately halt co-education at the school and instead force children into
single-sex classrooms. Today's agreement halts the proposed change in both
schools--Southside and Westside Junior High School--thus ensuring an equal
education for all.
"Today's decision is a huge victory for every affected
student," said Emily Martin of the ACLU Women's Rights Project. "Mandatory
single sex education and the theories behind it are harmful to girls and boys
alike. By reconsidering this proposal the School Board is acting in the best
interest of local students."
Mandatory single-sex education has long been
decried as creating a divisive system with the potential to harm both boys and
girls. The educational theories that promote such a split are too often based on
faulty research and radically inaccurate gender stereotypes.
The agreement
was reached one day after the ACLU filed a lawsuit calling for an immediate stop
to plans to segregate students on the basis of sex in the coming school year.
The complaint, filed yesterday, is available online at: www.aclu.org/pdfs/womensrights/20060801seldencomplaint.pdf
The
ACLU's letter to the school board is available online at www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/26286lgl20060731.html
A statement from Michelle Selden is online at: www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/26327res20060802.html
A statement from Darren Selden, Michelle's father is online at: www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/26328res20060802.html