2008 Woodie Awards
Schools should be safe for all students
Cindy Crane
Issue date: 9/12/07 Section: Opinion
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Students are back in middle school, high school and college, and we all want them to succeed. But their chance of success depends, to a great degree, on having a sense of safety.
Unfortunately, many students who don't fit society's preferred heterosexual models or gender stereotypes feel unsafe. That's not right. Schools have an obligation to ensure the safety of all their students, including their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students.
Ten states-California, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin-have laws that require administrators to ensure a safe environment for gay, lesbian and bisexual students. Only California, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota and New Jersey provide laws that protect transgender students (students who do not identify as the gender they were assigned at birth).
In states with anti-discrimination laws on the books, school officials should enforce them and remind employees-as well as the student body-that there will be zero tolerance for harassment, intolerance or violence.
In states without anti-discrimination laws against LGBT students, it is all the more important for school officials to adopt and enforce a clear policy against harassment, intolerance or violence.
A hostile environment takes a toll. LGBT middle-school and high-school students were five times more likely to report having skipped because of safety concerns than the general population of students, according to the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network's 2005 National School Climate Survey.
But the good news in the survey was that solutions are readily available.
The presence of supportive staff contributed to a greater sense of safety. Students in schools with a gay-straight alliance were less likely to miss school, and more likely to feel like they belonged than students in schools with no such clubs.
And having a comprehensive policy was related to a lower incidence of verbal harassment.
Unfortunately, many students who don't fit society's preferred heterosexual models or gender stereotypes feel unsafe. That's not right. Schools have an obligation to ensure the safety of all their students, including their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students.
Ten states-California, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin-have laws that require administrators to ensure a safe environment for gay, lesbian and bisexual students. Only California, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota and New Jersey provide laws that protect transgender students (students who do not identify as the gender they were assigned at birth).
In states with anti-discrimination laws on the books, school officials should enforce them and remind employees-as well as the student body-that there will be zero tolerance for harassment, intolerance or violence.
In states without anti-discrimination laws against LGBT students, it is all the more important for school officials to adopt and enforce a clear policy against harassment, intolerance or violence.
A hostile environment takes a toll. LGBT middle-school and high-school students were five times more likely to report having skipped because of safety concerns than the general population of students, according to the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network's 2005 National School Climate Survey.
But the good news in the survey was that solutions are readily available.
The presence of supportive staff contributed to a greater sense of safety. Students in schools with a gay-straight alliance were less likely to miss school, and more likely to feel like they belonged than students in schools with no such clubs.
And having a comprehensive policy was related to a lower incidence of verbal harassment.
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