“There’s not any significant change that’s going to come from that at all”: Alachua County School Board votes 4-1 to approve LGBTQ+ History Month proclamation

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At tonight’s Alachua County School Board meeting, the board voted 4-1 to approve a proclamation for LGBTQ+ History Month proposed by Member Sarah Rockwell.

The proclamation, shown below, describes the risks to LGBTQ+ youth nationwide and pledges that the district will continue to prohibit harassment and bullying and provide training on awareness of the needs of LGBTQ+ students. 

After Rockwell read the proclamation, Chair Tina Certain asked for a motion to adopt it, “as we’ve done with other proclamations in the past.” Rockwell made the motion, then there was a moment of silence before Certain said, “I’ll second it.”

Abbitt: “We have more important things to do”

Member Kay Abbitt said she would like an explanation for how proclamations are brought to the board. Reading from the proclamation, she said, “One part of it says, ‘Whereas providing a high-quality education is essential for allowing LGBTQ+ youth and teens to reach their potential.’ Providing a high-quality education for kids in our east side schools is also important, and so if a board member can just have a proclamation for a group, then every month we would be bringing up these proclamations–and I would bring one up for our kids on the east side that are struggling, that don’t have the certified teachers in the classrooms that they need. And so it’s not that I’m against this, it’s just that I want to know how proclamations are brought up.”

Abbitt continued, “I think proclamations should not be a part of what we do; we have more important things to do.” She said that a similar proclamation was made in the fall of 2021, and it wasn’t voted on: “And so these are random; they just come up at random times by random board members. I want to focus on educating our students, all of our students. And so my stance on proclamations, regardless of whatever proclamation it is, is that I’m going to vote against every proclamation from here on out because I don’t think that’s what our job as board members is to do.”

McGraw: Proclamations don’t require a vote

Board Member Diyonne McGraw said she thought proclamations should not require a vote: “They’re read, but they don’t have to be voted on, according to other attorneys that I’ve reached out to… October 19, 2021, the same proclamation was shared, and there was no vote.”

Board Attorney David Delaney said proclamations are handled on a “case-by-case basis, somewhat at the discretion of the board chair and the superintendent… At least some boards have said that it’s better to go out and have a vote so everybody’s stance is clear.”

Certain said that since she’s been on the board, they’ve had the two proclamations for LGBTQ+ History Month and at least one on safe storage for guns. She said it took her four years to get the gun safety proclamation on the agenda. She added, “So I respect everyone’s opinion as to how they feel about it, if you don’t support it. There was another issue that came before the board that I didn’t support.”

Abbitt: “There’s not any significant change that’s going to come from that at all”

Abbitt clarified, “It’s not that I don’t support LGBTQ; it’s not that, it’s what I just said: there are issues… There’s not any significant change that’s going to come from that at all. The gun violence–of course, any responsible adult wants guns to be kept in a safe place where kids don’t have access to them… I guess what I’m saying is there’s so many pressing issues we need to be dealing with that can have an effect on the lives of kids.”

Rockwell said the same proclamation has been made in the past without a vote, “so I expected it to take, you know, the minute and a half that it took to read the page; I did not expect this to take away time from the other important work that this board does. But at the same time, I think that there is an importance to showing support for various marginalized communities within our larger student body.”

Rockwell: “It does make a statement that, as a board, we care about those members of our community”

Rockwell continued, “When Black History Month comes around, perhaps that’s another thing that we would want to make a proclamation for, even though it won’t change our African American History standards. And so making this proclamation will not change some of the state statutes that make it harder for us to support our LGBTQ youth and faculty and staff members, but it does make a statement that, as a board, we care about those members of our community, and we are going to do the best we can by them within the confines of the statutes. And I think that when we’re talking about a group of students that has extremely high suicide rates, that is an important statement to make.”

During public comment on the motion, Jane Spear said it was not a “random proclamation” but a national initiative. She added, “I tell you what this will change… Your support of this will change how parents, teachers, and children feel about coming to school or sending their kids to school or being a teacher in this school, if they know that you all are supporting them… This proclamation is very important, and I will be sorely, sorely disappointed if I don’t see support from this board.”

The motion passed 4-1, with Abbitt in dissent.