UPCOMING CCSJ EVENTS

Wednesday, October 23 - 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. - Morgantown Public Library Board Room (2nd Floor) - Economic Justice Discussion

This meeting will explore possibilities of carrying out economic justice activities in Monongalia County. These activities could include living wage or other similar campaigns. This program is free and open to the public. For further information about our economic justice work, please contact Tim Hairston or Paul Becker .

Wednesday, November 6 - 7 p.m. - Place to be announced - Steering Committee Meeting

Please share your ideas for future events and projects with any of the members of the steering committee or contact Tim Hairston if you would like to attend a steering committee meeting to discuss your ideas.

REPORT ON RECENT CCSJ EVENTS

Thanks to all who attended the discussion with Rev. Jim Lewis on September 23 and "Sunday Afternoon with Al: Part II" on October 13. We had excellent coverage in the Dominion Post about Jim's presentation, although the reporter did not mention CCSJ as the sponsor. We hope that this presentation will give us ideas on future economic justice projects here. And, thanks, Al, for sharing your songs and stories with us as part of WVU's Diversity Week.

After our October 13th program, members of the steering committee met with Girl Scouts from Troops 4501 and 4503 to talk about our work, and we welcome some of these girls to our mailing list.

We continue to be interested in a program on community service alternatives to jail sentences. If you wish to participate in this program, please contact Mike Sharley.

LIBRARY BOOKS AND VIDEOS

Our library books and videos project continues to grow. Since our last update, we have shared our brochure with members of the WVU Social Justice Council, WVU Council for Women's Concerns, members of Girl Scout Troops 4501 and 4503, and Monongalia County elementary school counselors. We are now distributing the brochures to the middle school and high school counselors. You can find the list of books and videos here.

The steering committee will also be sending a letter to the elementary school librarians in the Monongalia County public schools, offering to buy several books that the librarians select for each of these schools. We have budgeted about $30 for each of the 15 schools.

If you have suggestions for future purchases, please contact Judy Cohen.

CIVIL RIGHTS TEAMS SUSPENDED

Last month, we encouraged you to contact the State Board of Education and Governor to express your support for the civil rights teams that Senior Assistant Attorney General Paul Sheridan initiated in some of the state's public schools. Approximately 20 schools have had teams.

At the Board of Education's meeting on Thursday, October 17, in Grafton, the members decided to suspend this program until it can further investigate the complaints that the West Virginia Family Foundation and others have lodged against this program. Howard Persinger, Jr., the new president of the Board of Education, and Barbara Fish wanted to eliminate the program immediately, but the four other members present were not ready to do that. According to the Charleston Gazette on October 17, hundreds of parents attended the board meeting to complain that the program had a "hidden, anti-Christian agenda." Fish felt the program "contains offensive teachings, singles out some students for special treatment and relies on materials that are ‘disjointed and not professional'."'

The Gazette also quoted Fish as saying that "‘This is an insidious program that I really think we have to extricate right now . . . . I cannot put my name on anything that has so little value.'' Both Fish and Persinger said that they supported the goal of these teams "---- to stop bullying, harassment and intimidation — but argue the program is unnecessary because the code of student conduct already addresses those issues."

Paul Sheridan was not present at the meeting and did not have an opportunity to respond to the board members before they made the decision to suspend these teams.

According to the Department of Education's web site, President Persinger said that "‘the Civil Rights Team Project has generated some very serious concerns about how initiatives enter our schools without the Board's knowledge and what these initiatives endorse'." The web site announcement also says that "The taskforce, which will study the design and implementation of the Civil Rights Team Project, will be made up of Board members and staff from the Department of Education." For further information, see the department's web site at www.wvde.state.wv.us.

To express your support for these teams, please contact
Howard Persinger, Jr., President
WV Department of Education
1900 Kanawha Boulevard East
Charleston, WV 25305

Governor Bob Wise
Office of the Governor
1900 Kanawha Boulevard East
Charleston, WV 25305
www.state.wv.us/governor

David Stewart
State Superintendent of Schools
WV Department of Education
1900 Kanawha Boulevard East
Charleston, WV 25305

Attorney General Darrell V. McCraw, Jr.
Office of the Attorney General
1900 Kanawha Boulevard East, Room 26E
Charleston, WV 25305-9924

NEWS OF MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS

Welcome to our new member organizations: The Northern West Virginia Center for Independent Living and the Tree of Life Congregation.

According to its website, The Northern West Virginia Center for Independent Living (NWVCIL) "...is committed to the philosophy that all persons have equal access and unconditional value, that all individuals shall be respected for their uniqueness and shall have the right to live within the community of their choice, having equal access to participate in and contribute to that community. NWCIL strives to be directed by the individual it serves, responding to the preferences and needs of each. NWVCIL assists in breaking down all barriers faced by persons with disabilities, offering support to empower each to bridge their paths to independence. Through Advocacy and Education, the Center's goal is to create communities which open their doors to all members and which facilitates total inclusion while supporting the wholeness and dignity of the individual."

According to the website for the Tree of Life Congregation, "We are affiliated with the UAHC and serve all members of the local Jewish community. The congregation was established over 75 years ago, and is home to 90 member families. Services begin at 8:00 P.M. on most Friday evenings. On two Fridays each month, we have a 6:00 P.M. community vegetarian potluck Shabbat dinner followed by a 7:00 p.m. family service. It is a great way to get acquainted and learn more about the community. On most Saturday mornings we have a traditional minyan service, Torah study, or meditation service. We celebrate the major and minor festivals and have our own traditions, including the Cooper's Rock (State Park) Shabbat service and the Shavuot service and picnic at Emma Kaufman Camp for Jewish Youth."

PFLAG - Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Meetings are every third Sunday of the month, 1- 3 p.m., basement of Unitarian-Universalist Church, 429 Warrick Street, Morgantown. For further information, contact Jay at 292-5257.

October 20 - Patrick Arena, of Washington, PA, PFLAG career composer and singer for GLBT people, a concert of his and others' music that speaks to GLBT people.

November 17: Steve Orner and, possibly, Ken Nuendorf: GLSEN, Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, setting up on-going student Gay-Straight Alliance groups in high schools and, perhaps, middle schools.

WVU Center for Womens' Studies. All events are free and open to the public. For further information on any events, please contact Marlene Robinson at [email protected] or 293-2339, ext. 1153.

October 23: Fireside Chat presentation by Ruth Kershner on "Women as Perpetrators of Violence." WVU Health Sciences Center, John Jones Dining Room B, 4 p.m.

November 7: Fireside Chat presentation by Anke Laukemper, Monica Lecaros, and Christiane Verderesi, who are working in Morgantown this fall with the Council on International Programs, on "Current Work Issues for Women: Brazil, Germany, and Peru." Mountainlair, Monongahela Room, 4 p.m.

November 13: Women's Studies Residency in Honor of Judith Gold Stitzel, Presentation by Yvette Roudy, minister for the rights of women in France from 1981 to 1986, on "Women's Rights, Parity, and Perspectives on the Political Situation in France." G24 Eiesland Hall.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

"Unraveling Women's Health in West Virginia: Third Annual Policy Conference" - November 18-19, University of Charleston, Charleston. The focus of this conference will be cancer, depression, and obesity. The conference is open to policy makers, advocates for women, advocates for health care policy, health care practitioners, social workers, and women interested in health issues. For information, contact Cheri Heflin.

West Virginia Anti-War Coalition - About 40 members of this group, including several CCSJ members, marched in the WVU Homecoming Parade on October 18 - some of us in masks as "mourning mothers." There was a feature story in the Dominion Post on October 19 about the group. The coalition meets on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. in G4 Woodburn Hall at WVU and is hoping to participate in the national march on Washington, D.C., on October 26.

The march is entitled "Stop the War in Iraq Before It Starts"; it will begin at 11 a.m. at Constitution Gardens, next to the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial. For further information about the march, see www.internationalanswer.org (ANSWER stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism). For further information about the Morgantown group, please contact WV-AntiwarCoalition.

The Morgantown Human Rights Commission should be having its first official meeting soon. For further information about the commission, please contact Teresa Miller.

WE NEED YOUR DUES AND IDEAS NOW!

We have about 200 individuals and organizations on our mailing list now and hope to have all of you as dues-paying members so that we have the resources to continue our work. Dues are $5 for individuals and $25 for organizations. Youth under the age of 18 are free. Please send your checks, payable to CCSJ, to PO Box 160, Morgantown, WV 26507-0160.

Please send your web site suggestions to Mike Attfield.

Please contact any of the steering committee members to volunteer to help and to share your suggestions for our work or e-mail us.

Deadline for items to include in next Update will be November 10. Please send items to share with our membership to us.