Msg # 207   Kill/Sent
Date: 22 May 93  17:15:00
From: Susan Naidoff
Subj: NYC School Board results
____________________________________________________________________________

From THE OREGONIAN, Saturday, May 22, 1993

NEW YORK VOTERS PLEASE BOTH CHRISTIAN RIGHT AND PROGRESSIVES
by Eleanor Randolf/LA Times-Washington Post Service

NEW YORK - In what was billed as a "holy war" between the christian
right and NY's progressives, both sides have found reason to declare
victory this week now that most results are available in school board
elections. Almost 3 weeks after New Yorkers turned out in record numbers
to cast complicated ballots, the Board of Elections had determined
winners last Friday for all but 18 of the 288 seats sought by 543
candidates. Although the BOE has not completed its tally, The Associated
Press estimated that the christian coalition and the archdiocese elected
51 of 87 candidates whose positions were in line with their views, while
progressives elected 50 of 84 candidates.

"I'm encouraged," said Barbara Handman, director of the NY office of
People for the American Way, which helped to build coalitions for
progressive candidates. "First, we won. Second, the process worked. And
thirdly, we can begin to map out what we're going to do in the next 4
years. The rev. Terry Twerell, Manhattan's christian coalition
representative, called the results "an encouraging first step." Jeffrey
Baran, executive director of the coalition led by the rev. Pat
Robertson, said he believed that as many as half of the 130 candidates
who supported what he called "pro-family issues" had won.

The explosive issues debated in local school districts were whether
schools should distribute condoms, how students should be advised about
AIDS, whether prayer should be allowed, and whether young students
should be taught tolerance of homosexuality. The question of whether
young children should be advised about homosexuals was part of the
"Children of the Rainbow" curriculum championed by Schools Chancellor
Joseph Fernandez, whose firing earlier this year becomes effective next
month. If the "Rainbow" curriculum energized parents who did not want
their children to know about homosexuality, it also encouraged 5 open
homosexuals to run for school board seats. Two in Manhattan, and 1 in
Brooklyn were winners.

Liberals had accused the religious right of backing "stealth" candidates
expected to win easily because the turnout in this off-season election
had never topped 9% of registered voters. Robertson's christian
coalition and the roman catholic archdiocese of NY passed out about
500,000 voter guides on the weekend before the election to give voters
an idea of which candidates supported which issues.

 * OLX 2.2 * The New Right is fundamentally wrong.