2008: VISTA: School trustee pushes for support of Prop 8 / North County Times

Jim Gibson is right, in this case Strengthening families can’t help but impact education of Children

See the original of this article on the website of the North County News in Escondido at this link.

Thanks very much,
Steve St.Clair

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VISTA: School trustee pushes for support of Prop 8

By STACY BRANDT – Staff Writer
VISTA

A Vista Unified School District board member wants the panel to take a stand this week in the over same-sex marriage, but not everyone on the board thinks it should chime in on the issue.Board President Jim Gibson has asked the trustees to pass a resolution at Thursday’s board meeting supporting Proposition 8, the initiative that would amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

Gibson said he felt the need to bring the proposed resolution before the board because he thinks children will be better off if marriage is defined as between a man and a woman.”I think we need to stand behind this issue, because marriage does affect children,” he said. “Obviously, anything that affects children, affects their ability to learn, so I’m going to do all that I can to support the family.”

Also, he said he thinks the definition of marriage will affect how children are taught about families.However, Trustee Carol Herrera said she doesn’t think the issue is one that the school board should be voting on at all.

Trustee David Hubbard said he doesn’t plan on supporting any political resolutions, no matter how he feels about the issue. For the last couple of years, the school board has worked to steer clear of these types of resolutions, which used to pop up frequently.

Gibson said he considers this issue important enough to warrant a resolution.

But Hubbard said he the board should not start down that path again.

“I’m a little disappointed that this is something that Jim Gibson is putting on the agenda,” Hubbard said.Gibson, a conservative Christian who is running for a seat on the Oceanside City Council, said the issue is clearly related to education, pointing to the $250,000 that the California Teachers Association has spent in opposition to Proposition 8.

He said he thinks the union is trying to change how educators teach students about marriage.

Mike Myslinski, a spokesman for the statewide teachers union, said the association considers it more of a civil rights issue than an educational one.

“We believe that all people should be allowed equal protections under the law,” he said.

Most school boards across the state are staying out of the debate, though trustees in East County’s Grossmont Union High School District voted this summer to endorse the proposition.

Officials at the California School Boards Association decided not to take a stand on the issue because they didn’t feel it has a direct impact on education, said Patti Kelly, a spokeswoman for the association.

Thursday’s Vista Unified board meeting starts at 7 p.m. Thursday at Temple Heights Elementary School, 1550 Temple Heights Drive, in Oceanside.Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 901-4009 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.