BoardBuzz told you last week about the latest edition of American School Board Journal that touches on bullying prevention. Eliza Byard, executive director of Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), told ASBJ in its September issue that teachers often don’t respond when they hear slurs about sexual orientation because it makes them uncomfortable.
That’s bad enough, but what about when the teachers are actually doing the taunting? BoardBuzz came across this sad story of a Minnesota high school boy that made the national news last week. It seems the Anoka-Hennepin School District paid 18-year-old Alex Merritt a $25,000 settlement after he was bullied — by his teachers. In 2007-08, Merritt said two teachers repeatedly harassed him during class about being gay. Merritt, who is straight, transferred to another high school under the strain.
“I’m not the first kid this has happened to. I feel bad for the kid who was homosexual in that class, seeing that I was belittled. … If kids feel like this is what they’re going through, at work, at school, at the house, you’ve got to tell somebody,” Merritt told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Incidents like these – and they are not isolated, unfortunately – proves GLSEN‘s point that diversity training for teacher and administrators helps all students, not just those who identify as gay or lesbian. A recent study by the organization said teachers are present 80 percent of the time when anti-gay remarks are made, yet they do not intervene.
GLSEN has curriculum and training materials on its website for districts who want to prevent these kinds of incidents from happening. Byard will be a panelist at a Sept. 10 webinar on bullying prevention. The webinar is sponsored by ASBJ and the American School Counselor Association.
To register, go to www.nsba.org/na and click on National Affiliate Webinars.
