Department of Education Anti-Discrimination Guidance Memorandum

MEMORANDUM

TO: DR. SUSAN S. BUNTING, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION
FROM: JOHN C. CARNEY, GOVERNOR
DATE: JULY 17, 2017
SUBJECT: ANTI-DISCRIMINATION GUIDANCE

It is critical that all schools in Delaware be welcoming, inclusive places where students and staff members alike can flourish. Every student should be able to learn, achieve, and grow without unlawful discrimination based on their appearance, gender, race and/or ethnicity, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic.

I hereby direct the Department, in conjunction with stakeholders across our state, to promulgate, through regulation, clear guidance to our school districts and charter schools to prohibit unlawful discrimination in educational programs, and activities for students, on the basis of any legally protected characteristic. The new regulation should be published for public comment by November 1.

Our schools should be places where students are comfortable, embraced, and challenged to achieve great heights. Any practices that prevent this, whether purposeful or by accident, hinder our state’s progress. Therefore, I am asking the Department to lead this effort. I am requesting that these efforts also produce a model policy that each district and charter could adopt, or tailor and adopt, to suit the needs of the students in that district.

We have been working to eliminate discrimination in our state agencies, and my hope is that this guidance will accomplish the same for our schools.

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