A community speaks out: The Sherman ISD board meeting
Phillip Hightower, lower right corner, watches at the Sherman ISD board votes to reinstate the production of Oklahoma! as it was originally cast TAMMYE NASH | Managing Editor Nash@DallasVoice.com Here in North Texas, we are used to seeing school boards enact and uphold rules and policies unfairly targeting and discriminating against LGBTQ students, even in the face of overwhelming support for those LGBTQ students.
In fact, we saw that exact thing happen just a few months ago when the board of the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts enacted a policy refusing to allow a transgender student to participate in the Singing Girls of Texas Choir, even though the choir director had encouraged the student to audition, and even though the majority of those attending a school board meeting on the issue support the student.
But on Nov. 13, members of the Sherman Independent School District Board of Trustees surprised more than one person when they voted to reject the superintendent’s new policy that would have robbed a transgender student of a leading role in the school’s production of Oklahoma!
The Nov. 13 meeting last nearly six hours in total, including about two-and-a-half hours of public comment and a closed executive session lasting for about another two hours.
