FRC Responds to Dept. of Education Request, Urges Kevin Jennings Removal

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Earlier this month, Family
Research Council President Tony Perkins received an invitation to participate
in a discussion of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) scheduled
to take place today. Perkins declined the invitation and instead sent a
letter which includes detailed recommendations and specific concerns about the
office, its programs, and its leadership.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080930/FRCLOGO )

Perkins made the following comments in a letter to Education Secretary Arne
Duncan:

"The drug prevention program you now administer was created by Congress to
combat the illegal use of drugs. Since this was its original purpose, it
should remain the principal one. Unfortunately, the life and writings of
Kevin Jennings, whom you appointed as Assistant Deputy Secretary to direct
OSDFS, have contradicted this Congressionally mandated message. In his memoir,
Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son, he wrote several times about his own use of
alcohol and marijuana as a high school and college student...

"While many people may experiment with drugs and alcohol in their youth and
later come to regret it when they have reached a higher level of maturity, the
light-hearted tone of these excerpts--written only three years ago--does not
suggest any regret whatsoever...

"Surely we can agree that all students deserve to attend 'safe schools' that
are free of violence. Therefore, I urge you to reject initiatives such as the
model legislation proposed under Mr. Jennings' leadership at GLSEN--namely, to
create special categories of protection...We should extend protection to all
students based on the nature of the victimizing conduct, rather than the
characteristics of the victim.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Jennings' own behavior in an incident when he was a
teacher, which he has recounted on a number of occasions, draws into sharp
question his willingness and ability to fulfill [these] recommendations. By
his own (conflicting) accounts, it appears that when he met with a male
student (aged 15 or 16) who admitted to finding a same-sex sexual partner in
the bus station in Boston, Mr. Jennings' only advice to him was, 'I hope you
knew to use a condom.'

"...However, for America to have confidence in his commitment to the 'safety'
of our children, it is vital for him to enumerate in greater detail what he
should have done...

"Unless Mr. Jennings is willing to admit that he should have taken most or all
of the steps listed...I would submit that he is unfit to protect the 'safety'
of American school children, and he should resign or you should remove him
from office."

To read the full letter, go to http://www.frc.org/safe-schools-letter

SOURCE Family Research Council

J.P. Duffy or Maria Donovan of FRC, +1-866-FRC-News