Mayor Dick Norton was invited to attend a meeting at Green Schools by the Director of Special Services Daryl Witmer .

Witmer asked Mayor Norton if he would participate in discussions about diversity at the schools and within the community.

Mayor Norton stated during the city council meeting, “There have been some pretty serious reports of some racial slurs at schools and not just from the kids but from adults and I don’t know how random it is but it is out there.”

    While the population of Green and of Green schools has changed, the issues that have arisen lately are more about class and sexual orientation, Norton explained.

“There is a fair amount of misbehavior which is what they call rich verses poor. And the discrimination and lack of respect is in the way that some of the less affluent kids are treated in school to where it really becomes an issue.  And then there’s the whole thing of sexual orientation. I guess that’s more rampant in the junior and senior class with gays, lesbians and bi-sexuals. It seems to be almost violent at times. That’s what’s going on in our school system. That’s a reflection of our community. ”

    Mayor Norton would like to get the community involved, the media involved and the faith based community in the Green area to become involved in this issue.