Thread by @TracyNovick

We did something--or rather didn't do something--at last night's #WorcSchools Cmte that won't get a lot of attention that I'm proud of us on and maybe will give folks some hope.

(let me note here again that I am sharing this SOLELY in my capacity as a #WorcSchools Cmte member, not in any others, and this is in no way advice or guidance)

And right up front, let me give a h/t to @AntDambrosioMA of the Revere SC for making me think about it.

@AntDambrosioMA You may or may not have been following this, but among the myriad things US Ed has put out is revamped Title IX regulations on investigating sexual harassment and assault.
The revamps are problematic, to put it lightly.

@AntDambrosioMA You can read more...just about anywhere, but here: newyorker.com/news/our-colum…
for one

They're SO problematic that 18 state attorneys general are suing the federal government on this (including, bless her, our own @MassAGO) gazettenet.com/Advocates-pres…

@MassAGO This is still in federal court; the most recent update is the judge didn't issue a stay so the regs went forward blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaig…

so colleges, universities, and K-12 schools were supposed to have new policies in place by two weeks ago.

Worcester's a little late on this, so ours was on last night.

As I said earlier, I hadn't really thought about it beyond cheering on our AG until Anthony voted no a few weeks back and tweeted about it.
As is probably clear, being the sole 'no' doesn't bother me, so I went into last night heading that way.

But you don't, or I don't, want to do something like that without explaining why, so I did, commenting that the way in which this shifted the power back to the accused (where it traditionally has been) was really problematic for me, and that I couldn't support it.

I'd also asked around on what would happen if we didn't update our policy, and the answer was that the next time the district has a review of its adherence to federal policies (which happens every few years), we'll get a finding.

I can live with that.

And I also said that some of us are holding out hope for a new administration in January that would change the regulations *again* and/or for the AG to win in court.

And then something kind of amazing happened.
The Mayor made a motion to hold, pending further action (essentially federal change or legal change).
And it was a unanimous vote.

I share this for a couple of reasons:

First, go Worcester, & go Mayor Petty.
Second, as I said, thanks to Anthony for sharing his vote (& hooray for Twitter for making that possible).
Third, this is why when I say 'don't preview your vote; deliberation is a process,' I mean it.

And finally: know hope. Let's starting making plans for what comes next.

Wait, I’m wrong in the vote. It was 6-1, Biancheria opposed. Sorry! Working without notes from the train.