Cranston does away with father-daughter dances

CRANSTON – Schools Superintendent Judith Lundsten has ended the district’s father-daughter dances and mother-son ballgames to comply with a state gender-discrimination law, The Associated Press reported.
The move has drawn the ire of some, including Mayor Allan Fung, who said last week he was “utterly disappointed” in the decision, which came after the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union complained last spring.
The ACLU complaint in May came on behalf of a single mother whose daughter had no father in her life but was precluded from attending the father-daughter dance, ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown told the AP.
In a letter to school organizations last month, Schools Superintendent Judith Lundsten said that school-district attorneys reviewing the complaint found that, while federal gender-discrimination laws exempt such events, Rhode Island law does not. •

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