Twin Cities School Notebook

Whose Schools? Our Schools?

February 3, 2009 • 11:41 am 3

Anti-Bullying bill seeks “Safe Schools for All”

 

 

Dierdre McNerdy, Flickr

Photo: Dierdre McNerdy, Flickr

(Originally published in the Minnesota Independent, 2/3/09)

 

“It started in middle school,” Gary Skarsten said, remembering a gay student he used to mentor from a town near Braham, Minn. “He was being taunted on the playground — being called a ‘fag,’ and that sort of thing.”

It’s an all-too-familiar story for many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or transsexual students or their parents – students being singled out and mercilessly harassed by other students because school administrators can’t, or won’t, act. A coalition of Minnesota LGBT advocacy groups is trying to keep this story from repeating with a bill that would require all schools to have anti-bullying policies that protect a broad range of youth, including LGBT students. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Minnesota, St Paul, , , , , , , ,

January 8, 2009 • 11:42 pm 0

State-wide anti-bullying legislation in the works

OutFront Minnesota, Minnesota’s biggest/only LGBT lobbying organization, has announced they will be backing an anti-bullying law this legislative session that requires schools to include sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in their anti-bullying policies.

 

The “Safe Schools for All” bill, if passed, would be a major step forward for LGBT students, said OutFront Public Policy Director Monica Meyer, because “schools have model policies that don’t even include wording that’s present in the Human Rights Act.”

 

Meyer said OutFront would be working closely with the Rainbow Families coalition, State Senator Scott Dibble, and Senator Charles Wiger, Chair of the Senate’s Education Committee.

 

The bill will also include socio-economic status (defined in the Human Rights Act as being on public assistance or not, said Meyer), and a student’s physical characteristics.

 

A student would be covered, “even if you’ve got big ears,” said Meyer.

Filed under: Minnesota, , , , , ,

Stories I'm working on:
  • “Community Schools” – What do you think of your neighborhood school? Would you rather send your child to a magnet instead?
  • School closings – Are you a student, a parent, or a teacher at a school that’s being closed? How are you friends and colleagues reacting? Is anyone organizing to oppose the closing?
  • Diversity/Integration/Equity – Do you feel like your child is being shut out of better schools? Are these changes keeping the best schools for the better-off?

Tips, comments and story ideas ALWAYS welcome at james[dot]sanna[at]gmail[dot]com

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"Twin Cities School Notebook" is the personal blog of James Sanna, a Minneapolis-based freelance journalist covering education issues, and a frequent contributor to the Twin Cities Daily Planet.

All content unless otherwise noted is the copywright of James Sanna. Feel free to quote and re-post content elsewhere, so long as it's not for proffit, but please credit me as the original source. Comments, questions, and tips are welcome at: james[dot]sanna[at]gmail[dot]com

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