Sexuality and gender club stipend again delayed by Genoa-Kingston school board amid public outcry

GENOA – About 30 people showed up this week in support of the Genoa-Kingston High School’s Sexuality and Gender Equity Club, which supports gender and sexuality identity and equity, amid delays by the school board to grant the club a financial account for activities.

School board members said more information is needed before the request can be approved. Club supporters said, however, requirements according to district rules have been met.

SAGE Club’s student leader, Cleo Mishler, who prefers the pronoun they, read testimonials from students during a contentious school board meeting Tuesday after a vote to make the club official, which would allow it to solicit funding, was removed from the school board agenda a day and a half before.

“The SAGE Club, to them, is a community and a safe place,” Mishler said. “SAGE Club is a group where you can support ideas and safety for all people, no matter their race, sexuality or gender. SAGE Club is a safe place for LGBTQ+ members and allies to show support for each other and the community. … SAGE Club is where I can be myself.”

SAGE Club has existed at the high school for about three years and has 16 student active members, the club’s faculty advisor Carly George said. Club members have been seeking approval for a financial account from the school board, a goal that in recent weeks has turned controversial.

In the two weeks between the last Genoa-Kingston school board meeting Oct. 26 and Tuesday’s meeting, members of the club expressed frustration and concern at the school board’s delay in voting on the matter.

The Genoa-Kingston school board originally had plans to discuss the SAGE Club’s request Oct. 26 and then again at Tuesday’s meeting, according to the meeting agenda published about 1 p.m. Nov. 12. Under old business, the agenda listed “Discussion/Approval of SAGE Club Financials” as a topic for board consideration. In an amended agenda sent by district officials about 12:30 p.m. Monday, about 30 hours before the meeting, the topic was removed and did not appear as a board consideration, documents show.

That didn’t stop community members from showing up Tuesday to voice support of the club.

“Although you are voting on the advisor stipend and activity fund approval, to them, it is much more than that,” George said. “It’s important for me that this board knows the impact that the club can and will have.”

The request by SAGE was initially put forth in front of the school board Oct. 26.

According to the Oct. 26 meeting minutes, Superintendent Brent O’Daniell showed the school board information he’d been provided regarding the SAGE Club’s request. O’Daniell told the board that the club had completed all requirements to be recognized for financial consideration.

If the board had approved the plan, the club supervisor would be able to receive a stipend for club activities.

Board President Matt Krueger said Oct. 26 that he “was not in favor of a motion to approve the SAGE Club,” minutes state, and that he “would abstain from a vote due to needing more information and a definition of the club including the amount of stipend for the supervisor.”

Krueger also asked for participation numbers, agenda for the club, goals and club purpose and discussed the “appropriate use of tax dollars,” according to meeting minutes. Assistant Superintendent Bradley Shortridge replied that tax dollars aren’t used to fund the clubs.

In response, O’Daniell said the stipend would be $717, according to the October minutes, which also stated the SAGE Club had met all requirements outlined by the district’s Student Activities Procedures Manual to earn official status. The vote was tabled until the Nov. 16 meeting.

Before the Tuesday meeting, Genoa-Kingston Middle School staff sent a letter to O’Daniell, obtained by the Daily Chronicle. In it, staff said tabling the vote was “unnecessary when all of the criteria was completed and reviewed by administrators,” and called for the school board “to represent the entire community.”

“This club is a safe haven for students,” the letter stated. “Like other minority groups, people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or other sexual/gender identities (LGBTQ+) may experience prejudice and discrimination. Research indicates that mental health problems, misuse of alcohol and other drugs, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors are more common in this group than in the general population. The SAGE group helps reduce these risk factors.”

Former board member Stephanie Northrup, who resigned from the board in June, voiced support for the club Tuesday.

“To the members of the LGBTQ+ community, you will keep your head held high,” Northrup said. “You have every right to exist and thrive in any space you choose, especially at school. As with many things going on in the world right now, the loudest voices are not the majority. I hear you, I see you, and I support you, and I hope our school board will do the same.”

After being a self-sustaining club for two years, a club can request to become an official club, with the school paying its sponsor and an activity account created, O’Daniell said. Any fundraising the club would do would run through the activity account.

Clubs do not have to have a paid sponsor or activity account. O’Daniell said that the school’s archery club, for example, existed “for many years in the past, but never petitioned to be paid.”

Clubs listed on the school district’s website include technology, chess club, science club, community impact, jazz band, journalism club, archery club and student council.

On Tuesday, Krueger said that he thinks “there’s been some confusion on this particular topic,” regarding the SAGE Club and the board’s vote to “approve or disapprove the club.”

“The club has already been operating in the school for years,” Krueger said. “The original agenda item said the taxpayer funding and financing of SAGE Club, and [O’Daniell] and I had a brief discussion with the attorney, and there’s certain time frames that I think have to be followed in order to even pursue that.”

The next Genoa-Kingston board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 14 in the Genoa-Kingston media center.