Current Newsletter

And we are finally getting it NOW!

Click here for a great video:   What AAUW does  Be proud!

The gender pay gap won’t close until 2119 at the current rate of change.
AAUW is doing something about it. Take action now!
Empowering women since 1881

March 2024

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CO-ADMINISTRATOR’S MESSAGE FROM JOAN P. & GAIL

 Thank you to everyone who attended the Funds Luncheon.  Everyone seemed to enjoy their lunches.

Thanks to Harriet Moses who has volunteered to take over the leadership of our group so we will continue for next year.

Happy Birthday to Sue Solomon and Celia Spitzer.

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Meeting & Program, Tobi
Reproductive Rights in a Post -Dobbs Nation

Thursday, March 21Social Time:  6:30 PM
Meeting:  7 PM
Place: Cabrillo Lane Adult School Auditorium
20122 Cabrillo Lane, Cerritos
Select HERE for map

 

Professor Jodi Balma will return to speak to us about how reproductive rights have been impacted since the June 24, 2022 Supreme Court decision taking away the Constitutional  right to abortion. She started her career as a professor of political science at Fullerton College in 2000. She has served as the faculty coordinator of the Honors Program since 2012.

Professor Balma specializes in American politics and California state and local government.  Her goal is to help students learn how to think about politics and community problems with an emphasis on critical thinking and analysis, regardless of political party or ideology. She helps students understand how they can become involved in working with community leaders to find solutions.

Please note:  All our meetings comply with local rules and the accepted health guidance of Los Angeles and Orange counties for in-person meetings.   Board and general meetings are in-person with due respect to members who do not wish to attend in-person.  Those members may choose to easily attend and participate in meetings by connecting via phone to another member in attendance and have been doing so successfully.

Please welcome and support your new officers.  Remember that their job is to lead and encourage other members.  Please offer to help them when they ask.

Membership, Saurabh & Jackie

We are looking forward to taking care of services for current membership. In order to increase membership for our branch, we request all members to bring one friend to our meetings. Please welcome our new member, Ferne, at the meeting. Thank you.

Download our Branch Brochure

Download AAUW Membership Application

AAUW Fund,  Tobi

Panda Inn luncheon on February 13th raised $286 for the Fund.  Thank you all!

Thank you.
Sue Carruthers and Thea Siegel

A big thank you for all of our members who made contributions to the AAUW Fund during 2023. Let’s try to keep the contributions coming in 2024. In celebration of our 51st anniversary as a branch we would ask you to consider contributing $51.00 or any other amount . A list of our various funds is on our website.

Public Policy, Sondra

Click HERE for March Issue AAUW Public Policy News

The Role of California School Boards

By Seena Trigas, Member AAUW California Public Policy Committee School Board Project

AAUW California is concerned about the censorship of classroom material, the heightened enforcement of board policies rejecting diversity, and providing discriminatory policies against gay and minority students. This concern now leads me, as a former school board member, high school teacher/department chair and adjunct college professor, to reflect on the role of school boards in California and their limitations.

The State Board of Education (SBE) is the controlling structure for K-12, and is the governing and policy-making body of the state for public education.  Among its duties is the adoption of statewide academic standards for content and of curriculum frameworks.  These inform and guide the local school boards in the development and implementation of specific curricula for  K-12  students, and serve as the basis for the adoption of instructional materials.  School board members represent districts within the school district boundaries.

In 2023 AB1078 was passed, which requires the California State Department of Education to assess if school boards are in compliance with state laws requiring public schools to provide diverse and comprehensive education.  It requires local school districts with insufficient instructional materials to correct this and authorizes the department to purchase (at district expense) adequate curricula if the district restricts students from learning about important topics like racism, sexism, and gender-based marginalization.

AAUW branch members play a critical role in ensuring all California school boards are governed by board members who will follow AB 1078, and who oppose policies that infringe on the civil rights of LGBTQ+ students.

Please click HERE for the February issue of Public Policy News, which includes an article “The Role of California School Boards”

Is There a Hidden Agenda Behind the “Parents’ Rights” Movement?
Kathi Harper, chair AAUW California Public Policy School Board Project Committee

We members of the AAUW California Public Policy School Board Project sub-committee frequently come across materials from groups advocating for book-banning, curriculum censorship, and policies which negatively impact the lives of LGBTQ+ students, in the name of “Parent’s Rights.”   For example the House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 5, the “Parents Bill of Rights Act.”  Eight governors have signed legislation with similar titles.

H.R. 5 establishes the rights of parents to, among other things: review curriculum; inspect the books and other reading materials in the school library; be advised of policies that permit transgender girls to compete on female athletic teams or use bathrooms or lockers designated for females; and provide consent before a school may use their child’s chosen name or pronouns on forms, or change the child’s sex-based accommodations.  Many of the state laws noted above require the removal of “inappropriate” materials upon the objection of a single person.

AAUW California recognizes that not all our members will find these policies objectionable.  And to be sure, most of our members would agree with this statement from PEN America, a human rights and free expression organization: “There is no question that parents deserve a say in shaping their children’s educations; that they have a moral and legal responsibility for their children, and the freedom to make fundamental decisions for their families.” (Suzanne Nossel, PEN America CEO, Time Sept. 20, 2022.)

However, legitimate questions are raised when one parent’s “right” to control what their child reads and learns collides with another parent’s right to ensure their child has access to a broad  and diverse range of educational materials.  Or when a parent’s “right” to know if their child confides to a teacher regarding a sexual identity unknown to the parent collides with the student’s right to privacy.  Or when one parent’s “right” to ensure her daughter doesn’t play on the same team as a transgender girl collides with that girl’s right to partake in all the same activities as other girls, or to feel safe in the campus environment.

AAUW California advocates for a diverse curriculum in our schools, as well as the protection of all  forms of gender identity and expression.  It is a cause of concern when the rallying cry of “parents’ rights” is, as stated by PEN America, “wielded to do far more than give parents their rightful voice; it is turning public schools into political battle grounds, fracturing communities, and diverting time and energy away from teaching and learning.”  Additionally, according to the National Education Association (NEA), H.R. 5  “ignores the breadth of parental engagement” that already exists, “disregards educator experience and expertise” and “inserts the government into local decisions.”

PEN America worries that the current emphasis on working with schools for the betterment of the child has been replaced with a parental focus on wanting to impose their personal beliefs – moral, religious, and/or political – on the entire education system. As an organization founded on the principal of expanding educational opportunities we might all heed Suzanne Nossel’s final words in her Time article: “The phrase ‘parents’ rights’ may have a nice ring to it, but the agenda now afoot in its name should sound alarms for all those who care about the future of public education.”

Read more at: Pen.orgNea.org

California Enacts Law Prohibiting Book Bans and Curricula Censorship

Kathi Harper, Chair Public Policy School Board Project

On September 25, 2023, Governor Newsom signed AB 1078 into law, officially preventing school districts from banning books and censoring curriculum based on the materials’ depiction of inclusive and diverse perspectives.  Specifically, the new law:

  • Reaffirms, in the Introduction, that:
  • California supports accurate and inclusive education;
  • the California Constitution guarantees pupils equal protection under the law;
  • California schools have an obligation to combat bias against pupils within their schools;
  • and accurate and inclusive education are essential to ensure the educational success of all pupils
  • Requires the Department of Education to develop guidance and public educational materials to ensure that all Californians can access information about educational laws and policies that safeguard the right to an accurate and inclusive curriculum
  • Requires all school districts to have sufficient instructional materials for all students that align with approved content standards
  • Adds to list of included topics in social sciences textbooks: the role and contributions of people of all genders, Latino Americans, LGBTQ+ Americans, and members of other ethnic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic status groups
  • Reduces a school district’s funding formula allocation if the district does not provide sufficient instructional materials pursuant to these provisions
  • Prohibits governing members of school districts from refusing to approve or prohibiting the use of any book or instructional material on the basis that it contains inclusive and diverse perspectives

It is not certain at this point how school districts will respond to the new law.  We anticipate that most will comply, but suspect there are some that will not.  Please note that the script in the School Board Project (SBP) ToolKit has been modified to reflect the new law, and please keep your SBP liaison apprised if your district is in violation (you can find your liaison in the ToolKit).

You can find the text of AB 1078 here.
You can find the SBP ToolKit here.

Academic Achievement Awards, Joan P

Pictured at the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW  Academic Recognition and Awards Program on May 17, 2023, are,  left to right, are Cerritos College Board of Trustees President Dr. Shin Liu, Cerritos College Professor of Communications Dawn Trickett, Cerritos College Director of Diversity, Compliance, and Title IX Erin Miles, Academic Awards Chair Joan Pylman, Award winners Sofia Heejae Chun and Leidy Barrios, Awards Selection Committee Member Gail Ross, Cerritos College Foundation Executive Director Martha Pellayo, and Cerritos College Executive Assistant to the President/Superintendent Andrea Wittig.

Women Supporting Women.  It is a beautiful thing.

Su Casa, Joan Pylman

Thank you for your support and generosity. La Palma Cerritos AAUW cares for women, but we will no longer be supporting Su Casa, as their guidelines have changed and they are not accepting physical donations of any kind.

International Issues, Jackie Shahzadi

through its global focus and reach, empowers all women and girls to create a secure and just world built on education, advocacy, friendship and mutual respect.

For contact information email: Jackie

WG-USA is an online organization based in the United States focusing on global issues *Support and Advocacy for Refugee and Migrant Women and Girls
*Safe Access to Education
*Human Trafficking Advocacy and Action
*Women, Peace and Security

Join WG-USA at www.wg-usa.org

In 2019, Graduate Women International celebrated its 100th anniversary with a Centennial Celebration in Geneva, July 25-28. GWI was founded in 1919, by representatives of AAUW, and other international women’s groups. It used to be known as the IFUW, International Federation of University Women. Currently, Women Graduates-USA is the organization representing American women at GWI.

Click HERE for the links to GWI newsletters, The Flame

Link HERE to the Academic Awards for picture and more information

Please check out the LAF News page for current case updates.  Tobi

Update on TechTrek page, also.