18

Page 18 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, March 8, 2024 Friends of the Malden River Monthly Meeting Via Zoom on Monday, March 11, from 6:30-8:00 p.m. “W e are looking forward to meeting with you via Zoom on Monday, March 11th for our monthly meeting!” The Zoom link: https:// us02w eb .z oom.us/ j/84806972372?pwd=SDk5ZUgrbWZaY1paL1R2VlVReTZRQT09 Meeting ID: 848 0697 2372 Passcode: 621361 One tap mobile: +16469313860,,84806972372 #,,,,*621361# US +19294362866,,84806972372 #,,,,*621361# US (New York) Agenda: • Conservation Law Foundation Senior Attorney Maggie Sullivan will join this meeting – a “senior community resilience attorney who promotes meaningful public access and climate resilience on the Massachusetts waterfront” – will be speaking about Mass. General Laws, the Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act, Chapter 91, which provides public access to MassachuBHRC | FROM PAGE 17 sexual orientation for all students, including recognition that people have different sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions. The measure also requires any school offering sex education to notify parents about the school’s sex education curriculum and gives parents the right to withdraw a student from the instruction. Another provision creates a process for parents to inspect the program instruction materials before the start of the course. Supporters said that under the bill, local cities and towns still have the authority and power to decide whether sex education is taught in their schools. They said the measure will ensure that schools that choose to teach sex education will have a framework to follow. They noted the bill will prepare students to make healthy decisions and will reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. “The [bill] will finally make it clear that sex and relationship education in Massachusetts must be inclusive of all students and emphasize the importance and necessity of consent in relationships,” said DiDomenico. “I am proud we passed this commonsense health policy through the Senate and now we must get it over the finish line to ensure our children have the information they need to protect their health, form respectful relationships and build the bright futures they deserve.” “Today's vote affirms what we already know – a strong majority of people in Massachusetts, including most parents, want young people to receive sex and relationship education at school,” said Jamie Klufts, co-chair of the Healthy Youth Coalition. “We look forward to working with the House to pass the [bill] this session so that the state's exciting new Health and Physical Education Framework can reach its full potential and do the most to support our students and teachers.” “Providing comprehensive, setts tidal and once tidal waters. (The Malden River was tidal before the Amelia Earhart Dam was built in 1966.) Bring your questions and ideas on mobilizing Malden River public access and improving the Malden River Walk using the Chapter 91 Law! • Plastic Free Massachusetts has two Calls to Action to Modernize our Bottle Bill.Stay tuned for more details. March 13 – call your legislators or write to them using this link: https://act.clf.org/ page/54000/action/1?ea.tracking.id=Blog&_gl=1*1xngi1d*_ ga*NzUwMjQ2MTMzLjE3MDk1NzM4Nzc.*_ga_W8R8SLD2FW*MTcwOTU3NzQ4OC4yLjEuMTcwOTU3ODQyOS4wLjAuMA. Plastic Free Massachusetts will provide a script for the legislator phone calls and meetings. • April 2: Massachusetts State House Lobby Day • Adopt A Storm Drain is coming to Malden! From the front of their front yards, Malden residents will actively keep our Malden River age-appropriate, and medically accurate sex and relationship education to our youth is the best way to prepare them to make safe and healthy choices,” said Sen. Jason Lewis (D-Winchester), Senate Chair of the Committee on Education. “I’m pleased that the Senate is continuing to advance this legislation that ensures that Massachusetts public schools use research-informed curricula that prioritize inclusivity and the health and well-being of students.” No one spoke against the bill during Senate debate on the proposal but there was opposition from outside the Legislature. “The bill is government mandated ideological instruction under the guise of health education,” Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle told Beacon Hill Roll Call. “It will use the authority of the law and the money of the taxpayers to impose the value system of the secular left onto the public schoolchildren of the state. This legislation requires sex-ed courses in public schools to include 'affirmative education that people have different sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions.’ That affirmative approach extends, explicitly, to the practice of contraception, and implicitly, to abortion. Doyle continued, “According to the proposed law, all public school sex education must be consistent with the Massachusetts Comprehensive Health Curriculum Framework, recently revised by the Healey Administration. That document is filled with references to acknowledging diversity, showing respect for different kinds of families and overcoming stereotypes, prejudices, bias, sexism and cultural stigmas---thinly disguised code language for traditional moral beliefs. “If enacted, this legislation will effectively preclude any public school teacher, administrator, nurse or staff member from raising a moral objection or voicing an ethical dissent to any of the sexual behaviors celebrated and affirmed under this curricuclean and help prevent flooding by signing up with Adopt a Drain! You can Name Your Drain and interact with a website! Bring your ideas and concerns to our ongoing meetings on the second Monday of each month (excluding legal holidays) from 6:30-8:00 – via Zoom or in person at Cambridge Health Alliance in Malden, River’s Edge in Medford and in Everett. Save These Dates (Details and Times to be determined/confirmed): At the meeting, we will discuss the available details. For now, please mark your calendars! Please email FriendsoftheMaldenRiver@gmail.com to join the fun, if you can’t make the meeting. Check the webpages for incoming details: https://maldenriver.wordpress.com/ and https:// www.maldenriverworks.org/ • Malden River Cleanups: ○ Sunday, April 7: River’s Edge, Medford, at the Tufts University Boathouse with Tisch College of Civlum. Should this measure ever become law, one can only hope that the recent experience in the City of Worcester---where significant numbers of parents exercised their right to a sex-ed opt-out for their children--will be emulated throughout the commonwealth." Sam Whiting, an attorney for the Massachusetts Family Institute told Beacon Hill Roll Call that this bill isn't about sex education, it's about sexual indoctrination. “Parents and school committees don't want a radically progressive, one-size-fits-all sex education curriculum crammed down on them from Beacon Hill. We are optimistic that even though the bill has passed in the Senate, it will again die in the House, as it has the last four legislative sessions.” BIRTH CERTIFICATES (H 4292) – The House gave initial approval to a bill that would change some of the language in the current law governing the content of birth certificates. Changes include replacing “both parents” to “parent or parents” and changing “the child’s mother” to “the person who gave birth to the child.” Current law allows each party to a marriage to adopt any surname, including the present or birth-given surname of either party; retain or resume use of a present or birth-given surname; or adopt any hyphenated combination of names. The bill broadens the options and also allows each party to adopt “any first name, middle name or any other name.” “Our current birth certificate statute uses outdated language and categories that do not represent the full variety of family structures in the commonwealth,” said Senate sponsor Sen. Becca Rausch (D-Needham). “No child should start out with a government-issued document that fails them. This bill ensures that our birth certificates reflect reality for all Bay Staters, accurately and inclusively.” “A birth certificate is the first document our government sends us in our lifetimes,” said House sponsor Rep. Dwane Shand (D-Newburyport). “That document should accurately reflect ic Life and Gentle Giant Rowing Club. ○ Sunday, May 12, 9:30 a.m.: Idle Hands Craft Ales – our second Mother Earth Day neighborhood and river cleanup. • April 13: Learn about Rain Gardens! Replant the Beebe School Rain Garden with the Malden Community Gardeners. • April 13, 10:00 a.m. (rain date: April 14): Walk the Malden River Greenway with the Sierra Club and our community. • April 20: Everett Earth Day at Gateway Park in Everett. • April 28, noon–3:00 p.m.: Malden Earth Day Fair at Pine Banks Park. • May 19, 9:00 a.m. onwards: Mystic River Watershed Association’s 28th Herring Run at Blessing of the Bay Boathouse. Register now to reserve your place on land or in the water! • JUNE 1–2: Brass Band on the Malden River with 375 year celebration of Malden and Malden River Works. There will be celebrations at the Malden River the makeup of our commonwealth’s families and their complexities.” ROSA PARKS DAY (H 3075) – The House gave initial approval to legislation designating February 4th as Rosa Parks Day, “in lasting recognition of a historic civil rights leader.” "Rosa Parks was a hero of the civil rights movement whose courageous act to challenge segregation kindled and continues to inspire the fight for justice and equality of all peoples,” said co-sponsor Rep. Kip Diggs (D-Barnstable). “Celebrating Ms. Parks on her birthday will make a great addition to Black History Month in the commonwealth." Rep. Mike Kushmerek (D-Fitchburg) said he co-sponsored the measure “in order to bring awareness and representation to the heroic actions of Rosa Parks during the Civil Rights Movement.” Kushmerek noted, “February 4th is the birthday of Rosa Parks, so it will be a strong and persevering reminder to all those within the commonwealth to reflect on the role she played in raising international awareness of the struggles for civil rights." PROHIBIT USE OF NATIVE AMERICAN MASCOTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS (S 245) – The Education Committee has given a favorable report to and recommended that the Legislature approve a proposal would prohibit public schools from using an athletic team name, logo or mascot which is associated with Native Americans, or which denigrates any racial, ethnic, gender or religious group. “I am pleased the bill was approved by the Education Committee,” said Senate sponsor Sen. Jo Comerford (D-Northampton). “This bill acknowledges the common humanity of all, corrects historical wrongs and addresses the profound psychological harm caused by perpetuating racist stereotypes — harm caused to both people who are of Native American heritage and those who are not.” ADDRESS FOOD ALLERGIES IN Works Waterfront Park site. • JUNE 2: Malden River Works Stewardship by Boat and Canoe event. • June 15: The Friends will Celebrate Family Day at the Malden Community Garden. • Date TBD: Explore the Malden River with the Chinese Culture Connection. Support the Massachusetts Waterways with a Mass. Environmental Trust license plate: https://www.mass.gov/ guides/a-guide-to-purchasing-a-specialty-environmental-license-plate Mission of the Friends of the Malden River: The organization seeks to promote awareness of and interest in the Malden River, improve its water quality and increase access for public enjoyment. Check out the Facebook page @https://www.facebook. com/FriendsoftheMaldenRiver and website @https://maldenriver.wordpress.com for more information! SCHOOLS (S 150) – The Education Committee has also given a favorable report to and recommended passage of legislation that would require every school district, approved private day or residential school and education collaborative that enrolls a student with a life-threatening food allergy to develop and implement a Food Allergy Management and Prevention Plan. The plan would include identifying students with known food allergies, strategies for reducing exposure to allergens and treating allergic reactions. Another provision would require professional development related to food allergies for all school staff, including training on epinephrine administration for appropriate staff members. Supporters said that currently, school districts are not required to have food allergy plans but it is recommended that they do so. “I'm thrilled that the bill received a favorable report from the Joint Committee on Education and will continue forward in the legislative process," said sponsor Sen. Cindy Creem (D-Newton). “This bill would help ensure that Massachusetts children with food allergies have safe learning environments, both in the classroom and in the cafeteria.” CHANGES IN GUN LAWS(H 4139, S 2584) – The House and Senate each appointed their members of a conference committee which will attempt to hammer out a compromise version of dueling bills that would change some of the state’s gun laws. The House on October 18 of last year and the Senate on February 1 of this year approved different versions of the measure, leading to appointment of the conference committee. Sens. Cindy (D-Newton), Joan Lovely (D-Salem) and Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) will represent the Senate while the House members will be Reps. Michael Day (D-Stoneham), Carlos Gonzalez (D-Springfield) and BHRC| SEE PAGE 19

19 Publizr Home