SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT GETTING FLAK FOR DOING THE RIGHT THING

Granting gay couples the same employee benefits as heterosexual couples was the right thing to do but doesn’t sit well with the ‘family values’ constituency

Personally, I am opposed to Gay Marriage, but otherwise I do support the concept of civil unions and I do believe in equal rights for gay people. Pflugerville’s school superintendent did the right thing, but it may end up costing him his job.

PFLUGERVILLE WILL SPEAK OUT ON SAME-SEX BENEFITS TONIGHT (MAYBE)
By Richard Connelly

Houston Press Hair Balls
October 18, 2012

In the midst of Middle East unrest, a presidential election, a possible slip-and-fall in the Texans' stroll to Super Bowl glory, the world has bee nasking one question: What does Pflugerville think of same-sex benefits?

Tonight the world will find out.

The smallish Hill Country school district -- where much of the Friday Night Lights series was/is filmed -- will have a public hearing tonight on superintendent Charles Dupre's bold move to offer the same insurance benefits for same-sex as heterosexual couples.

That move was announced earlier this month and critics have been...criticizing.

"This power grab by an unelected superintendent looks more like a Washington, D.C. strategy, than how this should be handled in Texas," Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values, said in a statement urging people to attend tonight's meeting. "The residents of Pflugerville should not have been shut out of this process and the PISD school board needs to be held accountable for this fiasco, particularly on an issue that contradicts our State Constitution and affects taxpayers. The people deserve answers."

In announcing the policy change, Dupre said he knew it might be controversial.

__It's a strong statement of anti-discrimination. We're going to advocate for equity and social justice and set expectations for valuing our employees. We went into this knowing with our eyes open that there'd be people who weren't supportive of the idea, but we'd been having hard discussions about social justice.

__You have to make decisions that are not popular but are in the best interest of the organization and the people of the organization.

The item is not officially on the board's agenda tonight, so that likely means confusion over "public comments," conducted via shouting, signs, songs, and playing for the cameras.

Which may be just another night in Pflugerville, for all we know.