Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 16:31:24 -0800 From: Jean Richter Subject: 11/16/99 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. NY: News article on teaching gay issues in schools; CSS-NYS's critique of task force report on school violence =============================================================================== Newsday, October 17, 1999 235 Pinelawn, Melville, NY, 11747-4250 (Fax 516-843-2986 ) (E-MAIL: letters@newsday.com ) ( http://www.newsday.com/ ) School Debate: Teach Gay Issues? By Jessica Kowal, Staff Writer Most people don't know it, but October is officially designated Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual Heritage and History Month in School District 2 in Manhattan. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] ================================================================================= From: SARATOGANY@aol.com Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 07:50:32 EDT Subject: CSS-NYS's Critique of NY Gov.s Task Force on School Violence Report Message from: The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020 Email to: saratogany@aol.com "The Actual or Perceived GLBT Student Protection Project" A SUMMARY CRITIQUE OF "SAFER SCHOOLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY," THE REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR'S TASK FORCE ON SCHOOL VIOLENCE find report at: lt gov shcool violence report http://www.state.ny.us/governor/ltgov/report/ by The Reverend John M. Kettlewell Religion and Education Consultant Coalition for Safer Schools of New York State October 18, 1999 It would be difficult to make a detailed evaluation of the many elements in this report. Like most productions of government established committees and commissions, it does not have much of a focus in spite of the title of the Report. It attempts to take into account too many agendas and too many recommendations, some of them contradictory. A major deficiency of the report is that it makes little attempt to determine the causes of school violence, though it is full of allusions to what parents should do at home to prevent their children from becoming violent, implying that it chiefly has to do with factors outside of the school environment. Occasionally "bullying" is referred to as something that needs to be dealt with, but there is no emphasis on "bullying" as causing a child to explode in dangerous rage. No attempt at all is made to draw any generalizations from the recent incidents around the country of school violence that have obtained so much attention from the media. Even a casual survey of those incidents would reveal that in almost every episode, the "violent" student was generally a quiet unaggressive boy who had been cruelly harrassed at school by other students until he snapped, without any attempt at intervention on the part of the school staff. In fact the report presents many procedures for dealing with difficult and disruptive students, but not one of the killer kids was described as difficult and disruptive. The report takes seriously the understanding that most children who commit acts of violence at school are drug and/or alcohol users; but not one of the killer kids was identified as such. There are many good elements in the Report that involve teacher training and more intensive involvement in the school outside and inside the classroom, school safety planning, and parental involvement. The Report recognizes that many of these are unrealistic because most parents are employed and teachers' schedules allow little time for anything beyond their basic duties, but still the burden of the Report does not take those limitations into account. Most of the recommendations about teacher involvement have to do with dealing with disruptive students, but there is absolutely nothing about supporting the lonely, harassed student, and, of course, no specific reference to the needs of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgendered students, or the vicious cultural climate in schools that makes such students the object of so much cruetly. There was a tremendous emphasis in many contexts of dealing with students who bring weapons to school, or engage in fighting and other aggressive behaviors, but very little reference to verbal abuse. It could be said that caring for and protecting vulnerable students was implied in statements about teachers being responsible for students, but caring for the harassed students should have been a major emphasis. Recommendations about liason with local mental health facilities could have made reference to such students as especially needing interventions, but no such reference was made. The best section is RECOMMENDATION 10, that says that the state should require instruction for students K-12 in civility, citizenship and character education "...which insructs students on the principles of honesty, tolerance, personal responsibility, respect for others, observance of laws and rules, courtesy, dignity, and other traits which will enhance the quality of their experiences in and contributions to the community." Unfortunately, the section is a mixed bag, diminishing the effectiveness of its focus. "Tolerance, respect for others, and courtesy," should not share the same context with "observance of laws and rules," or even "honesty," for that matter, but should have been a special and distinct area of concern. Because it lacks specifics about tolerance and respect for others, the recommendations have a vagueness that undermines their effectiveness. It recommends that a student's "...school day includes instruction in the benefits of being honest and courteous to others and respectful of diverse backgrounds and beliefs," implying that courtesy and respect have to do with people of different ethnic groups or religious beliefs, categories that are not sufficiently broad. The report describes instructional programs in a number of states that focus on these matters, but the major thrust of the programs seems to be inculcating morality and patriotism. Iowa's was the best that included teaching "compassion," but it was buried in a list of other character qualities without being specific. If RECOMMENDATION 10 had been more focused and had made a comprehensive suggestion about whom students should respect, it would have been more relevant and effective. Most of the recommendations have to do with administrative procedures to increase school safety and to deal with emergencies. Some of these are practical, but some do not take into account the realities of a school environment--for example, locking up all doors except one. Recommendations about the increased involvement of community agencies make sense. Suggestions of how parents could create a home environment that would prevent their children from becoming violent are generally unrealistic. The causes for school violence are in schools, not at home. The Report would have been more effective if it had begun with a carefully researched analysis of the incidents of school violence around the country, the incidents that were the initial impetus for the Governor to create the Task Force. Then it should have established generalizations from those incidents about the needs of students that schools should meet in order to make schools safer, obtaining specific professional input on how to meet those needs. The recommendations about teacher training, community involvement, and administrative procedures to make schools safer could follow upon such a realistic approach, and therefore would have more obvious relevance. If all the recommendations and procedures were put into place at considerable expense, would they do anything for the frightened fragile boy or girl who is not safe at school from taunts of "faggot!" "dyke!" "homo", etc. etc.? No procedures or policies will make schools truly safe until those kids are safe.. ========================================================== Rev. Kettlewell addressed the Task Force at their public hearing in Albany on 8/9/99. His address was specific towards the rampant and unchecked anit-gay harassment of actual and perceived GLBT students in schools. His address covered cause/effects/outcomes in terms of school safety, school violence, lack of district policy and lack of state legislation. The REPORT omitted any referrence to the Reverend's and PFLAG speakers (at Buffalo public hearing) address content/concerns, other than being listed as speakers in the appendix. ================================================================================= Jean Richter -- richter@eecs.berkeley.edu The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) These messages are archived by state on our information-loaded free web site: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/