There is a schoolboard meeting May 18th at 3:00 PM at Raymond O. Shelton School Administrative Center, 901 E. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, FL.
If anyone wants to attend and nurse their babies or speak on the importance of encouraging, supporting or protecting breastfeeding, I would really appreciate it! There is time at the end of the meeting for the public to speak; you just need to fill out a request-to-speak form at the meeting.
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Good for you for fighting the good fight! You are in the right they are not. If you haven't contacted the ACLU, do so. Also contact your media. We are in the middle of a breastfeeding firestorm in Iowa as well. Stay strong and nurse on.
ReplyDeleteMelissa - I really wish I could come but this is right in the middle of nap time which is crucial for N right now. Good luck and I hope you get lots of mamas to come out and support you. Let us know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteIf I were still nursing I would be all over it...and we will be out of town to boot. Will be sending good vibes from CA
ReplyDeleteIf we were going to be in town, I would be there! Good luck. I will be supporting you from NH :)
ReplyDeleteHi Melissa, This happened to me over in St Pete a few years ago. I wrote about it in an op-ed piece in the st pete times. The lawyer's statement you got is so silly. The whole point of "anywhere otherwise authorized to be" is that they CAN'T take away the authorization because you are breastfeeding! Also the method of breastfeeding is specifically made irrelevant, including that if your nipple is exposed as part of the nursing. So they do not get to critique your form and base their decisions on your appropriatness. THIS is why the law is in place, to stop this kind of harassment. Here's the piece I wrote for st pete times:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/14/Neighborhoodtimes/Nursing_mothers_have_.shtml
Hilary
I am a breastfeeding mother and I wanted to let you know that you have a wide support network here in Ohio! Your news has spread over here.
ReplyDeleteGood for you for standing up for the rights of breastfeeding mothers everywhere.
OMG... I WISH I could be there! Someone video it and post it on FaceBook!
ReplyDeleteWishing you the best of lock from Rhode Island . I compleatly agree that breast feeding at a school is one of the best places to normalize it ! Most kids are still open and full of wonder. Exposing them to a natural act like breast feeding will hopefuly help them respect its importantnce
ReplyDeleteI am going to try to make it....perhaps say something but I am a horrible speaker especially in front of people.
ReplyDeleteI am a breastfeeding mother and an attorney. The school's attorney's interpretation of the law is incorrect. Their attorney's belief that they can work around the law by revoking your right to be in the lobby is incorrect. The attorney's argument is a little insulting, actually. You will win this because you are in the right - it is just a matter of time.
ReplyDeleteThank you for doing this, for yourself, for your children, and for other parents in the area. Best of luck to you.
I truly hope you don't mind - I have created a Facebook group for your cause. Check it out! http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=120442497976181&v=wall&ref=mf
ReplyDeleteI'll be there!
ReplyDeleteGood luck. Sorry, I am on the wrong side of the state, or I would attend.
ReplyDeleteHere is my letter to the school board:
I am offended and ashamed that an administrator ask a breastfeeding mother to stop breastfeeding or leave the lobby of a school.
But that even after CONFRONTED WITH THE LAW ON THE TOPIC that clearly indicates that breastfeeding is not an activity to be ostracized but welcomed and encouraged, the school is not backing down. Not only is the school there to teach our children to be moral citizens (and breastfeeding is not immoral, despite your treatment of it), but you are also supposed to teach children to obey the law and learn from their mistakes, neither of which is being done here.
For shame.
From, a Florida resident, a mother and a 3rd year medical student
My Fiancé and I will try our hardest to make it to the meeting. I had a hard time breastfeeding my oldest and when I got sick I just gave up and didn't even try to fight to keep my supply... this time around I have been nursing (so far) for 6 months now! I will be bringing both of them and definitely will be nursing my youngest during the meeting. I feel for you mama. Stay strong and keep fighting. We have to stick together. They have no right to tell us where we can and cant breastfeed our children!
ReplyDeleteemail to the school board
ReplyDeleteThis is in regards to how a mother was treated while nursing her child in your school. I as a new breastfeeding mother am so glad that there are those that stand up for our rights to breastfeed in public. I know that if this had happened to me I would have stopped immediately and become nervous feeding in other public places. This is not a feeling we should want breastfeeding mothers in our society to have to feel. Breastfeeding is important and young children exposed to the amazing and natural function of breast may very well learn to appreciate them in a different was than what our society now views them as. I remember as a child I saw a woman breastfeeding, once, and I thought it was in the mind of a young girl 'disgusting', if I'd been more exposed to breastfeeding or educated about it I would have thought differently, as I do now. We've got to be in support of one another, we have to turn this around. It shouldn't be easier or more convenient to formula feed. For one it is much more work to have to prepare bottles and all the gear that goes along with that, but it isn't the best nutrition for our children either. Breast is best..it should not be viewed as disgusting or inappropriate, but natural and the best way to feed our little ones that need it.
Thank you for your time,
Shannon
I am so excited to see the date/time/location of this meeting. I work on Kennedy, bring my nursling with me to work, and would not miss this for the world.
ReplyDeleteI will be there and he will be eating, whether he's hungry or not!
Thank you so much for being strong and persevering. I don't think I'd have the devotion you do - and so I am sincerely very appreciative of your dedication!
Sending support from Portland, OR!! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteSending my support from Indiana!! Thank you for standing up for the rights of all breastfeeding mothers and children! The school's response is unbelievably ignorant and shameful. I truly hope they learn how crucial their role is in helping to educate our young children about breastfeeding.
ReplyDeleteGOOD FOR YOU!
ReplyDeleteThe bit that jumped out at me was the response from the lawyer:
//
The Florida law does not, however, contain a right to breastfeed “wherever and whenever” a mother wishes.//
He and the school MUST know how weak that argument is! If you are allowed to be in the lobby if you are NOT breastfeeding.... then you are allowed to be there if you are.
Ditto on all the above, especially the commentary above about the fact that if you are allowed to be in the lobby, then you are allowed to breastfeed. This is insane! If I were still breastfeeding (my kids are 20 and 27!), I would be there! good luck, and good for you. keep up the fight!
ReplyDeleteSo sad that this might influence new, timid nursing mothers to feel shy or even give up, as the one woman here stated. When I was once asked to move from a couch on which I was sitting and nursing my baby, outside a wedding reception, to the bathroom to breastfeed my daughter, I asked the woman if she would like to eat her dinner in the bathroom, and she shut up.
I am going to try to make it. I've nursed my youngest plenty of times at my older son's elementary school here in Hillsborough. Thank you for making sure this ignorance doesn't fly.
ReplyDeleteObviously you're not trying to make people aware of the importance of encouraging, supporting or protecting breastfeeding, you said it yourself you want people to come breastfeed at the meeting?!?! WHY?! TO EXPLOIT THEM???? Damn they made cover-ups for a reason, not everyone wants to see your breasts hanging out and I for one am disgusted by how YOU are taking this, cover them up or nurse in private! Period!
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous who said //cover them up or nurse in private! Period!\\
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you just stay home and stay sheltered then. We have rights to feed our children as much as you have the right to NOT LOOK AT THOSE BREASTFEEDING!!! No one told you to stare! Didn't your mother ever teach you to not stare?!
Stay home if breastfeeding offends you that much because I for one am not going to stifle my life just so you can feel more "comfortable" in your life.
Grow up, or stay home. Breasts are for feeding and not just for sex. There is nothing wrong with my breasts, even when exposed. Men can expose their disgusting hairy bulging breasts whenever they want, even if they are BIGGER than my breasts.
At least my breasts are functional!