These steps are excerpted from the ACLU's
"Making Schools Safe" manual.
You will want to research two things:
- Has your school ever sponsored any kind of anti-harassment
training program for faculty? Or any kind of diversity
training?
- What kind of harassment is going on in the school?
To learn whether the school has ever offered anti-harassment
trainings and whether it included LGBT issues, try talking
to school guidance counselors, school social workers, and
any teachers or administrators who might be supportive of
LGBT concerns.
Once you approach the school to offer the training, it can
be very helpful to have real stories that demonstrate the
problem of harassment in your school. To learn more about
harassment in your school, talk to students and area organizations
that serve LGBT youth and/or LGBT families. Find out if your
school has a gay/straight alliance (GSA).
An LGBT youth group in the area might also know more about
student harassment in the school.
Not every school is waiting with open arms to host a staff
training on anti-LGBT harassment. You may need to enlist help.
Local allies who support your effort can help convince the
school that offering a training is the right thing to do.
Demonstrating community support can also help prove to administrators
that this issue is not as controversial as it once was. Recruiting
the help of religious leaders, teachers' organizations, counselors,
and other community leaders can reinforce the message that
addressing anti-LGBT harassment is not about anything more
than maintaining a safe school environment for every student.
You can start with a letter
to administrators that explains the need for a training.
Follow up with a phone call if you haven't heard back within
two or three weeks.
Another way to approach schools is by developing contacts
with teachers. Sometimes teachers can influence what kinds
of training the school undertakes.
School guidance counselors might be valuable connections too.
Talk to them to see if they are comfortable with presenting
the issue to school administrators.
When approaching the school, here are a few basic things to
keep in mind:
- This program addresses issues of violence and safety
for students, not sexuality or "gay rights." Don't let
the school get sidetracked and try to claim that a training
would promote homosexuality or gender deviance.
- Harassment is a problem nationwide and in your own school.
Use real stories of anti-LGBT harassment to prove your
case. Encourage students who have been harassed to accompany
you and tell their stories. Use statistics
for backup.
- Schools can be held legally liable for ignoring harassment-a
number of schools have lost expensive
lawsuits filed by students who were harassed. Include
a summary of these cases in your presentation.
- Don't forget to mention that the workshop is free and
only takes two and half hours -- a small price to pay
considering it could save the school hundreds of thousands
of dollars in liability damages and help provide all students
with a safer, more inviting place to learn.
Everything you need to create
the workshop is available in the training manual.
You'll need to find three presenters
for the workshop: a teacher, a student or former student,
and an attorney. It would be most effective if all three
of these were local. Again, try supportive, local organizations
in your area if you need help finding a teacher and a student.
Your local ACLU could help locate an attorney in the area.
Ideally, the attorney should be familiar with civil rights
issues and/or legal issues in schools and be able to explain
the law in simple terms. If you find a supportive attorney
who doesn't specialize in civil rights, the "Making Schools
Safe" manual provides legal
information that any attorney can use. If no attorney
is available, consider substituting a non-attorney advocate
instead (for example, a local non-attorney ACLU advocate).
Once you have lined up trainers and have been invited by the
school to present the workshop, the next step is to gather
information so that you can tailor the ACLU's model workshop
to fit the particular audience at your school.
Some things to research:
- Are there existing resources that the school already
makes available for LGBT or questioning students and their
parents?
- Do you have copies of any relevant school policies,
including existing nondiscrimination and anti-harassment
policies?
Our checklist, which is part of the manual, includes more
sample questions to ask your contact at the school.
It's also a good idea to get more information about the experience
of individual teachers. Ask your contact if he or she will
circulate a short
survey for the participants prior to the training.
Once you've collected all your background information, the
participants should get together to practice the presentation.
The training manual outlines each participant's role and areas
of discussion. Everyone should be briefed on any issues specific
to the school that are likely to come up.
Once you have the school on board and have prepared the presenters,
you're ready to do your part to prevent anti-LGBT harassment.
>> Next: Key Tools and Other
Resources
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