News-Record.com

Unrelated to this topic, but I saw this in the national news:

Top News
Sodexho Settles Large Racial Bias Case

April 27, 2005 2:56 PM EDT

NEW YORK - Food services company Sodexho Inc. agreed Wednesday to pay $80
million to settle a lawsuit brought by thousands of black employees who
charged that they were routinely barred from promotions and segregated
within the company.

The agreement, one of the biggest race-related job bias settlements in
recent years, also includes detailed provisions for increasing diversity at
the Maryland-based company, including promotion incentives, monitoring and
training.

The company said in a statement that it agreed to resolve the litigation in
order to avoid protracting the case, which was set for jury selection
Thursday in federal district court in Washington. It admitted no wrongdoing.

"This is an extremely positive result, both for the plaintiffs and for the
company," said Kerry Scanlon, the lead attorney for the employees. "The
opportunities that this settlement provides both for African-American
employees and for the company are the best possible outcome."

In a statement, Sodexho's President and CEO Richard Macedonia said: "We are
pleased this case has been resolved. ... We are a stronger and better
organization as a result of this process."

The case was filed in March 2001, after midlevel black managers said they
realized nearly all had been denied promotions into upper management, while
less-qualified counterparts rose through the company.

Of the company's 100,000-plus North American employees in 2004, about one in
eight managers were black, said Leslie Aun, a company spokeswoman. She said
there are no figures available for upper management, but court documents
said that, in 2000, blacks held 18 out of 700 upper management jobs and none
of the 188 top corporate jobs.

In addition, plaintiffs alleged that so-called black accounts - at
historically black colleges and universities, for example - were
overwhelmingly staffed with black employees and managers, who were rarely
promoted outside of those accounts.

Cynthia Carter-McReynolds, the lead plaintiff in the case, has been a unit
manager at Howard University, a predominantly black campus in Washington
D.C., since 1986. She said that she has unsuccessfully applied for more than
50 promotions.

"I'm overjoyed that it's over," she said Wednesday. "This lawsuit, I'm
hoping, will open up the doors for more opportunities for African-Americans
in the company to pursue their dreams and hopes."

Ellen Early, a plaintiff who quit a low-level management post after
suffering job-related anxiety attacks, called the company's environment
"infuriating."

"There was a limit as to how far African-American employees could go, and a
limit as to what facilities African-American employees could go to," said
Early, who now works for a competitor in the Baltimore-Washington region

Sodexho Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., is the North American
subsidiary of the France-based Sodexho Alliance. It provides food services
to more than 6,000 businesses and organizations, including hospitals, cruise
ships and universities. It's also the official supplier for the U.S. Marine
Corps. Last year, the company had $6 billion in sales.

The settlement comes amid a growing wave of cases alleging race- and
gender-based discrimination at large companies, experts said.

Black employees at BellSouth Corp., for example, are seeking a judge's
authorization to go forward as a group in a discrimination case that could
involve as many as 15,000 employees. At Wal-Mart, 1.6 million women are
alleging in the largest job-related class-action lawsuit ever that they were
assigned lower-level jobs based on their gender.

In 2000, Coca-Cola paid $192.5 million to settle the largest racial
discrimination case in U.S. history.

"As a country, we're progressing in the area of equal opportunity," Scanlon
said. "This is how the world changes - one company at a time."

Bruce,
can you put a link here to the exact policy. It would be nice to read it!

While we're waiting on Bruce to post the policy Deboroa has requested, I would like to propose an extended period of silence for the Board of Education.

Just LISTEN. Listen to the students, listen to the parents, listen to your employees, and listen to the taxpayers. Then when you are about to say something, be quiet and listen some more.

Buckmtn,

I second your proposal. Excellent idea.

Here's the policy. It was approved in January, 2004:

"It is the policy of the Guilford County Board of Education to maintain a learning environment that is free from harassment, bullying, and discrimination. This includes, but is not limited to, harassment, bullying, and discrimination based on an individual's real or perceived race, color, sex, religion, creed, political belief, age, national origin, linguistic and language differences, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, socioeconomic status, height, weight, physical characteristics, marital status, parental status, or disability. The Board prohibits any and all forms of harassment because of those differences.

It shall be a violation of this policy for any student, teacher, administrator, or other school personnel to harass, bully, or discriminate against any person based upon any of the differences listed above. It shall also be a violation of this policy for any teacher, administrator or other school personnel to tolerate such harassment, bullying, or discrimination of any person by a student, teacher, administrator, other school personnel, or by any third parties subject to supervision and control of the Guilford County Schools."

This sounds like an excellent policy. All children should be able to go to school without fear of haressment. The people that spoke at the board meeting seemed to think that this was an endorsement of homosexuality. I don't see that. Their examples were about GLisen(spelling)coming to our schools and teaching sexual acts etc. It seemed extreme to me. I personally don't know anything about this group, don't know if they have come to our schools or anything. Would be interesting to know more.

There was a group of young scouts at this meeting and the speakers were very graphic. It made me uncomfortable since they came to see how the school board works. In over 3 years of going to meetings I have never heard as much 'sex talk' as at that meeting. I bet the scout leaders were thrilled :)

The speakers main theme seemed to be that this policy did not allow them to speak their viewpoints. I don't see that in the policy at all. At this point in life I believe my son is straight, but even if he isn't I don't want him to have to fear for his safety due to sexual orientation. I realize the speakers believe that being gay is a perversion (or a life choice) that can be changed, but I'm not sure why they think the policy means they can't have their opinion. Or speak their opinion.

Does anyone know of something other than the Day of Silence thatbrought all this about? Have these speakers been harassed about speaking their opinions?

I think the problem lies in the fact that the students were able to distribute literature regarding the Day of Silence while other students were not allowed to hand out literature the following day regarding the dangers of homosexuality.

The above Policy listed by Bruce seems to be in direct conflict with Guilford County-Crossroads Ministries Racial Healing Seminars.

Due to the color of their skin, our white teachers are being herded into meeting rooms in order to be bullyed and harrassed into believing in the GCS-Crossroads agenda.

This sounds like a Discrimination Lawsuit against GCS waiting to happen.

I wonder how many Teachers Assistants' Jobs will be lost in order to pay off this suit.

Bruce,

Thanks for posting that policy. One very important part that should also be included is the CONSEQUENCES for participating in harassment. Could you post that please. Is it based on the age of the student? the severity? who is the judge? For instance if a young student tells a teacher she is "fat" is that would be included in this policy as stated. At what age are there consequences?

Question what in the heck does "real or perceived" race mean?

I listened to that school board meeting twice and to all the speakers that came out against the policy. I think, as Chris mentioned, their concern was mainly with one group being able to pass out their literature and beliefs vs a group that may want to pass out literature on the physical dangers of gay sex or perhaps if they state THEIR religious beliefs that this is wrong are they going to be called up on harassment charges? Their group had originally been denied.

From what I gathered another point they had was: why could you just not say bullying and harassment and leave it at that? why does it have to be so specific? They gave multiple examples of pending lawsuits elsewhere for such policies.

Since it does specifically mentioned "political" and "religous" beliefs, Lt. Gen. Slak has posed some very good concerns. Teachers, from what I have heard, are being told they must go to this "training". First of all, if this is a "ministry" you are crossing church vs state lines. Secondly, when you look them up Google, it gets extremely political in their beliefs on American's position in the mid East and talking about white supremacy. It is scary stuff. That can be perceived as pushing or bullying your beliefs on a certain group.

Also, $500,000 is budgeted for this so called Ministry. This definitely needs to be investigated further.

The GCS Student Handbook spells out the punishment for harrassment, threats, bullying, etc.

Elementary: In-school disciplinary action. Repeated offenses can result in three days of suspension.

Middle and High: In-school disciplinary action up to five days of suspension. Repeated offenses can mean long-term suspension.

And as with any school behavior issues that don't rise to the level of crimes, the decision on punishment is made by the teacher and/or principal. The principal must hand out any suspensions, though.

Your point about the subjectivity of this is well-taken, but that's true for all discipline issues. Every violation is dealt with on a case-by-case basis and educators must use common sense and their best judgment to determine the appropriate punishment.

A first-grader calling someone fat shouldn't result in any major punishment. In all likelihood, the teacher simply will explain to the student that such comments aren't appropriate and he or she shouldn't do it again. On the other hand, a high school student who threatens another student with racial slurs probably deserves to be in big trouble.

Teachers and principals don't always make the right calls, but from what I've observed, they generally do a good job. I don't see how you can write a policy or rule to cover every circumstance. It seems to me that some things always have to be left to the best judgment of educators.

Lot's of things to commnent on. . . :)

Thank you for the comment Bruce "that some things always have to be left to the best judgment of educators." Teachers are the ones with the students in the classroom and out in the halls day after day. The teachers I know always seek to be just and to give out punishments that are fair depending on the situation. Like I tell my kids, I'm only human and may make a rare mistake now and then, but I will always try to do what's best for the class or the student. I wish more administrators felt the way you do.

Also, I'm pleased to see the interest in the GCS discrimination policy. People who do not work or volunteer in the schools would be amazed at the things kids say to one another. Then again, maybe not. I have heard blatant racist remarks from all races (Black, white, Vietnamese, you name it) to comments on a student's sexual orienation. While I am usually a proponent of free speech, comments that make the educational environment hostile or threaten a student's feeling of school being a "safe place" are not kosher in my book.

I'm a teacher who went to one of the Crossroads' workshops. The one I went to with my faculty was required of the entire faculty (all races) and was set up as an open discussion on race, social backgrounds, etc. I wasn't happy about going at first because of what I had heard about the group, but I was pleased after the meeting because they let our faculty talk about our concerns at our school. They would pose a question and then we would discuss it and how it related to our school. I never heard any agenda about white people being the bad guys or anything like that and I walked away feeling even more positive about the wonderful staff I work with. My only gripe would be that my faculty didn't really need the workshop like our kids did. My faculty is open and honest with each other regardless of race for the most part while we still hear our kids make ignorant remarks concerning race. Therefore, I was surprised about all that I read on the Chalkboard and in the papers about the group having controversial ideas and not letting reporters in on the meetings. I would be interested to hear from other teachers who had to go to one of their workshops and what their experience was like.