Mobile School District on Notice from ACLU

Recently, Mobile public schools have been warned by the ACLU about allowing gender segregated classes in one of their public middle schools. from the Montgomery Advertiser:

"In a letter to school officials, the American Civil Liberties Union said the student body at Hankins Middle School was wrongly segregated by gender without notifying parents and that no coeducational option was provided as required by federal law.
Mobile County schools spokeswoman Nancy Pierce said the system's lawyers will review the ACLU letter, but she declined further comment"

full article here: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20081113/NEWS02/811130309

Escambia County does not have any such school-wide programs, with the exception of the Department of Juvenile Justice programs (Corry Boy's Base and PACE center for Girls). Tate High School has some 9th Grade classes that are gender segregated, and Carver/Century k-8 has some gender segregated classes, but neither of these small programs is an "all-day" program. If more of these types of programs are put forth I would support the implementation, because these programs work.


Many districts around the country have begun gender separate education, because it is widely believed that boys and girls learn differently and that separation of boys and girls leads to greater student achievement. In 2006, Federal Regulations were codified to permit gender segregated education in U.S. Public Schools. Some school districts, like Greene County, Georgia, have gone all Gender-separate.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/02/14/gaschools_0215.html

For many struggling districts that are trying desparately to improve achievement, gender-segregated programs are one of the tools in their "toolbox." If this concept works, and the facilities and programs are equal, then why would the ACLU object to this?