Group Wants Santorum Assembly Open to North Students

Three students who addressed the Grosse Pointe Public School Board Monday asked that the Grosse Pointe South High School assembly featuring a speech by Rick Santorum later this month be open to parents and Grosse Pointe North High School students.

The requests were made during the public comment portion of Monday's meeting, in which the school board and administration heard unified feedback from the majority of the 16 speakers related to the handling of the upcoming assembly.

The assembly was cancled last week abruptly by district Superintendent Tom Harwood following a conference call Patch is told became heated when the national organization supporting the local chapters of Young Americans for Freedom refused to provide a copy of Santorum's speech.

The following day the assembly was reinstated with an "opt-in" option requiring parents to sign permission slips for their students to attend.

The opt-in option drew heavy criticism Monday by parents because they said it is not the routine procedure that has been established within South. Normally, they said, parents are required to opt-out if they don't want their children to attend--a point heavily highlighted by the mother of Langston Bowens, the chairman of South's Young Americans for Freedom chapter.

Bowens, South's Vice Chairman of YAF Peter Fox, and North's Chairman Grant Strobl all emphasized a statement made by Superintendent Tom Harwood during his statement at the beginning of the meeting referring to parents as a child's first educator. 

Each emphasized how the parents should be allowed to attend and urged the district to invite students from North High School to show the district's commitment to valuing parents and diverse experiences. 

Fox also said he doesn't want Santorum to come only to speak to a half-empty gymnasium and what a wasted opportunity it would be if the district doesn't extend the invitation beyond South's student population and staff. 

Generally school buildings are not open to the public during the school day and officials did ask the students bringing Santorum if they would be interested in hosting it after school hours so it could be open to anyone who wanted to attend, but they declined saying they wanted it during school hours, District Spokeswoman Rebecca Fannon said. 

Meanwhile, Grosse Pointe Farms Director of Public Safety Dan Jensen said he is meeting with district and South officials early Wednesday to gather information about the event and discuss the security needs for Santorum's visit.

Jensen said at this point, he needs to find out what the district believes it needs or wants in order to establish a plan. The school is on private property belonging to the district, so Jensen is already prepared to deal with anything that may arise outside.

He said there will be a contingency plan in place should any problematic situations arise that day. Among his question for district officials are: 

• is the event open to the public?
• is the event open to parents? 
• how many permission slips have already been submitted?
• what is the deadline for students to submit permission slips?

The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.