NEWSEQUAL ACCESS

Victory! Gov. John Kasich today reduced the charges against Kelley Williams-Bolar, a single African-American mother jailed and convicted of a felony earlier this year for enrolling her children in a school district in which she did not live.

The news comes after more than 184,000 Change.org members emailed Kasich’s office in support of Williams-Bolar since January of this year, when her conviction sparked a viral campaign on Change.org created by Massachusetts resident Caitlin Lord (read Lord's account of why she started the petition).

Alongside African-American citizen coalition ColorOfChange.org, Change.org members from around the country called Kasich’s office on Tuesday, September 6, urging him to pardon Williams-Bolar. Ohio’s Parole Board had recommended that Williams-Bolar not receive a reduction in sentencing.

Earlier this year, Kelley Williams-Bolar spent 9 days in jail because she sent her kids to a safer school district. Now, her future is in the hands of Ohio Governor John Kasich.

More than 180,000 Change.org members have signed a petition asking Governor Kasich to pardon Kelley, who chose to send her kids to a safer school in her father's neighboring district, instead of the neighborhood where she lived. Governor Kasich responded positively to the petition and international media coverage around the story, asking the Ohio Parole Board to hear Kelley's case.

But inexplicably, last Friday afternoon, the Parole Board recommended against pardoning Kelley. But it's not too late, because Governor Kasich can make his own decision to issue a full pardon.

Can you please take one minute today, Tuesday, September 6, to call Gov. John Kasich's office and ask that he issue a full pardon of Kelley Williams-Bolar?

Teen mothers are expected to fail. Just ask Bee Lavender, who, after she became pregnant at 18, remembers a swift and merciless change in the way most people treated her:

"It was a profound shock to go from being the good kid, the honours student, the girl who talked about youth leadership on television, to being perceived as human detritus," Lavender wrote in The Guardian.

Lavender dropped out of college and moved back home. But you wouldn't know it today if you met her. An acclaimed writer and activist, her books include a memoir about danger titled Lessons in Taxidermy and the anthologies Breeder and Mamaphonic. She's the publisher of the website Hipmama.com and is the founder of Girl-Mom.com, an advocacy project for teen parents. She's also taking a stand today for another teenage mother, Kymberly Wimberley of McGehee, Arkansas.

The country's leading safe schools organization on Friday criticized a "neutrality" policy at Minnesota's largest school district that prevents faculty from addressing LGBT issues with students.

Policies like the "neutrality" policy at the Anoka-Hennepin School District "have a chilling effect on LGBT students," said Dr. Eliza Byard, Executive Director of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network in an interview with Change.org.

"Research has shown that teachers in states that have anti-LGBT policies are less likely to respond to the harassment of LGBT students, and students are more likely to report hearing negative remarks," Byard said.

Controversy over the Minnesota district's rule instructing teachers and staff to take a "neutral" stance on matters of sexuality came to a head last week, when a federal lawsuit was filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Faegre & Benson, LLP.

Commenters are having a field day. Tanya McDowell was recently arrested on charges of selling marijuana and crack cocaine to an undercover officer. Take a look at people's reactions on the internet:

"Why steal someone else's education to get your kid out of a bad, drug-infested school if you're just going to raise him in a bad, drug-infested home? I bet she just sent him there so he could be a dealer to kids with money. Sicko."

"Sad to say, I knew this was coming, trying to turn a thug into Rosa Parks."

"Not surprise (sic) she is involved in drugs...I wouldn't want her or her child in my children's school. Why would I want her in a position to influence my child."

Drug charges are the perfect excuse not to care about Tanya McDowell. After all, many people might think, obviously she deserved whatever trouble she meets - whether it's a $200,000 bond for a drug arrest or a $15,000 fine for "stealing" her son's education. If Tanya McDowell was a saint, then we might be able to excuse her enrolling her son in a nicer school district to get him a better education. But if she's a sinner, she deserves what she gets.

Earlier this year, students on college campuses around the world demonstrated against a spate of hefty tuition hikes, from the University of California to the University of London.

But a new 230 percent tuition hike for some Arizona community college students comes with a new, disturbing twist: xenophobia.

The Maricopa County Community College system - the largest in Arizona - announced in March a 230% tuition hike for out-of-state students. The kicker? Unlike some college tuition increases, this one isn't about tighter budgets - it's a veiled attempt to shut out undocumented students from college classes.

More than 13,000 Change.org members have signed a petition telling Norwalk, Connecticut to drop charges against Tanya McDowell, a homeless woman who's being prosecuted for sending her son to the "wrong" school. But now, the people behind the petition are saying that dropping the charges against McDowell isn't enough - the prosecutor who brought the charges, Suzanne Vieux, should be fired.

Anthony Crisci, the Norwalk community organizer who started the petition, said initially, it wasn't clear where exactly the charges against McDowell - which he calls "senseless" - came from.

"We later found out that this action was orchestrated mainly by the State Attorney's office, and particularly by Assistant State's Attorney Suzanne Vieux," said Crisci. "We felt that Vieux's handling of the case was not only irrational, but an arrogant waste of taxpayers' dollars."

Jessica Kutch, Director of Economic Justice organizing at Change.org, says the lawyers and prosecutors she's talked to have been outraged by the case, with one even calling it "disgraceful." Tanya McDowell, a homeless mother, could face up to 20 years in jail and pay more than $16,000 for registering her son for kindergarten in Norwalk's school district, where they did not live, using her babysitter's address. Federal law requires public schools to enroll homeless students.

Texas high school student Bianca "Nikki" Peet is speaking out for inclusive safe schools once again, this time to help students at Clovis High School in New Mexico fight to have a Gay-Straight Alliance approved on campus.

Earlier this year, Nikki, a student at Flour Bluff High School in Corpus Christi, Texas, was denied a request to start a GSA on her campus -- but in March, Nikki, along with the ACLU, the GSA at Texas A&M and the over 55,000 Change.org  supporters like you, won her fight to have the GSA approved.

Now, students at Clovis High School in New Mexico are facing a similar struggle, and Nikki Peet wants to help change that. She's now spearheading the Change.org petition backing the students and is asking for your support.

Last night, the Clovis, New Mexico school board voted unanimously to ban all extra-curricular clubs during school hours on campus. Students at Clovis High School attended the school board meeting in support of starting a local Gay-Straight Alliance on campus.

Clovis High School student Steven De Los Santos spoke at the Clovis School Board Meeting last night about why a  Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) was needed, saying that the club is important for the community.

The ban now removes all non-extracurricular clubs during the school day and limits some clubs if approved by school administrators to meet only before or after school if space is available.  This ban will affect clubs such as the Chess Club, Boy Scouts, DECA, Band and other groups that currently meet on campus.

UPDATE: 7:24 p.m., Tuesday, April 26: Kelley Williams-Bolar has just released a statement through her attorney, David Singleton of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center:

Original Post: Most nights, Tanya McDowell sleeps in a minivan. Other nights, she sleeps at a shelter or at a friend's house. So when it was time for her 5-year-old son, A.J., to go to school, she wrote down her babysitter's address to sign him up for kindergarten.

Little did she know, sending A.J. to kindergarten at Brookside Elementary School in Norwalk, Connecticut could mean 20 years in jail and a $15,000 penalty for the unemployed single mom. Tanya was arrested this month and charged with first-degree larceny for allegedly "stealing her son's education." Norwalk authorities say that since A.J. doesn't live within district limits, it's illegal for him to attend kindergarten in the district - and his mom is a criminal for enrolling him there. A local activist has created a petition on Change.org, urging Norwalk officials to drop the charges and stop punishing a mother who wanted what was best for her child.

"I'm still in shock," Tanya said in an interview with the Norwalk Patch this week. "What did I do wrong? I just want the best for my kid. It's like any mom or any dad out there."

The fact that a parent could do jail time simply for sending her child to public school is reminiscent of the story of Kelley Williams-Bolar of Ohio. Nearly 100,000 Change.org members signed a petition started on the site early this year, demanding that Ohio Governor John Kasich pardon Williams-Bolar, who was convicted of a felony for sending her children to a neighboring school district. Her case became a national story, used by advocates and politicians to argue for school choice and against criminalizing parents. Gov. Kasich referred her case to the state's Parole Board; a decision is expected this summer.