<div dir="ltr"><div id="story-headline" class=""><h1 class="">Calls for intervention over Sydney girls’ school gender neutral language policy</h1></div><div id="story"><div class=""><div class=""><div title="2016-07-19T21:21:00.000Z" class=""><span class=""></span><span class=""></span><span class="">July 20, 2016<span class="">10:55am</span></span></div></div><div class=""><a href="http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/calls-for-intervention-over-sydney-girls-school-gender-neutral-language-policy/news-story/37c0d140a109d9c6a592b1a80ec0af6e">152</a></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><ul class=""><li class=""><a class="" href="http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/calls-for-intervention-over-sydney-girls-school-gender-neutral-language-policy/news-story/37c0d140a109d9c6a592b1a80ec0af6e#">Video</a></li><li class=""><a href="http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/calls-for-intervention-over-sydney-girls-school-gender-neutral-language-policy/news-story/37c0d140a109d9c6a592b1a80ec0af6e#">Image</a></li></ul></div></div></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><h3 class="">Teachers at all-girls school in Sydney told to stop referring to students as "girls"</h3></div><div class=""><div class=""><img src="http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/external?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent6.video.news.com.au%2FwzdHh0NDE6nDmmpDHLaosqDOBjqB8z1X%2Fpromo293237433&width=650&api_key=kq7wnrk4eun47vz9c5xuj3mc" alt=""></div></div></div>
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<div style="" class=""><ul class=""><li class=""><br></li><li class=""><br></li><li class=""><br></li><li class=""><br></li><li class=""><a href="mailto:?subject=news.com.au%20-%20Calls%20for%20sackings%20after%20girls%E2%80%99%20school%20bans%20gender-specific%20language&body=Hi%2C%0A%0AI%20found%20this%20article%20from%20news.com.au%20that%20you%20might%20be%20interested%20in%3A%20%0A%0Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.news.com.au%2Flifestyle%2Fparenting%2Fschool-life%2Fcalls-for-intervention-over-sydney-girls-school-gender-neutral-language-policy%2Fnews-story%2F37c0d140a109d9c6a592b1a80ec0af6e%0A%0AVisit%20news.com.au%20for%20all%20the%20latest%20breaking%20news%2C%20sport%2C%20lifestyle%2C%20and%20entertainment%20updates.">Email a friend</a></li></ul></div></div><div class=""><p><strong>A
 LEADING Sydney girls’ school’s decision to eliminate gender-specific 
terms from its teachers’ vocabularies has prompted calls for sackings 
and government intervention at the exclusive institution.</strong></p></div><p>Teachers
 at the prestigious northwest Sydney school, Cheltenham Girls High 
School, have been asked to stop referring to students as “girls”, 
“ladies” and “women”, and use only gender-neutral language, <i><a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/" shape="rect" title="www.dailytelegraph.com.au">The Daily Telegraph</a></i> today reported.</p><p>The
 request was put to teachers at a staff meeting earlier this year 
discussing the implementation of the Safe Schools anti-bullying program,
 the newspaper reports.</p><p>It was suggested to teachers that by using
 such language they could be seen to be breaking the law and could be at
 risk of being sued by LGBTI students.</p><p>Discussing the article on Sydney radio station 2GB, talkback shock jock Chris Smith described the arrangement as “deplorable”.</p><p>“They’ve
 been scared into doing this by whoever’s pushing that twisted bible the
 Safe Schools program, and they’re scared of somehow being sued,” he 
said.</p><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><img alt="The gender-neutral language rule is believed to be encourages by the Safe Schools guidelines. The LGBTI supportive initiative, and opposition to it, has prompted protests around the country. Picture: Daniel Wilkins" src="http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/2336d5bcebda7ec571655e551ae4c432" height="488" width="650"></div><p class=""><span class="">The
 gender-neutral language rule is believed to be encourages by the Safe 
Schools guidelines. The LGBTI supportive initiative, and opposition to 
it, has prompted protests around the country. Picture: Daniel Wilkins</span><span class=""><em>Source:</em>News Corp Australia</span></p></div></div></div><p>Smith
 took calls from listeners calling for the minister responsible to step 
in and the teachers, principals and administrative staff to be sacked 
and the school taken over by administrators.</p><p>He said if the school
 was serious about its new language policy, it should take its signage 
with white paint, eliminating the world “girls” from its title.</p><p>“You just wonder what world we’re talking about, we’re talking about our suburbs,” he said.</p>


<p>Speaking on Seven’s <i>Sunrise</i> program, former news presenter Ron Wilson described the situation as “ridiculous”.</p><p>“Let’s step in and put a new board in place just like Parramatta,” he said.</p><p>There has been similar commentary on Nine’s <i>Today</i> this morning, with <i>Sunday Mail</i> editor Peter Gleeson telling the program the initiative was “overreach at its worst”.</p><p>“I
 am all for diversity and making sure that our younger generation 
understand exactly what is gong on within the community, but to 
implement something like this, it’s just ridiculous.”</p><p>NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli has asked his department to investigate.</p><p>In
 an interview with Macquarie Radio, the Minister confirmed there was a 
meeting at the school reminding teachers of discriminatory language and 
denied it was connected to Safe Schools.</p><p>“I don’t think there’s anything improper about that,” he said.</p><p>A
 spokesman for the NSW Department of Education told <a href="http://news.com.au">news.com.au</a> 
gender-specific terms would still be used by teachers at the school.</p><p>“Gender-specific terms will continue to be used by Cheltenham Girls’ High School when referring to students.</p><p>“As
 the Education Minister has asked the Department for a report on public 
claims raised in relation to this matter, it is not appropriate to 
comment further on them at this time.”</p><p><a href="http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/calls-for-intervention-over-sydney-girls-school-gender-neutral-language-policy/news-story/37c0d140a109d9c6a592b1a80ec0af6e">http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/calls-for-intervention-over-sydney-girls-school-gender-neutral-language-policy/news-story/37c0d140a109d9c6a592b1a80ec0af6e</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message.  A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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