The Dallas Independent School District is set to hold a final vote on an anti-bullying policy that would provide protections specifically against bullying for LGBT students, in response to the recent gay teen suicides around the country. The board of trustees is scheduled to vote on Thursday November 18th, and if they vote passes, it will be the first policy in Texas to include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.
Of the nine trustees of DISD, no one spoke out against the proposal at a briefing session on November 4th. Following that session, a district spokesman said the policy is expected to be approved at the November 18th meeting.
“I hope as a district that this sets a trend for others — that this is something that has to end, and let it begin with DISD,” Nancy Bingham, one of the trustees, said.
According to the Dallas Voice, district staff initially proposed a general bullying policy without categories of protected students, prompting objections from LGBT advocates who have lobbied trustees in recent weeks.
Eric Cowan, another trustee, is glad that categories were added. “I wish we were at a point where all students could mean all students, but unfortunately our society isn’t there yet,” he explained.
The LGBT-inclusive policy is similar to one adopted by Broward County, Florida, and was originally introduced by trustees Bernadette Nutall and Lew Blackburn. “We finally got a bullying policy where everybody is covered,” Nutall said. “I was bullied as a child, so I don’t want anybody to go through that craziness.”
The policy will be added to the Code of Conduct given to all DISD students. Nutall said she has asked staff to design training on the policy for all students, teachers and staff. “They need to understand what bullying is and what they can get in trouble for,” she explained.
The meeting earlier this month came after trustees were approached by three representatives in the LGBT community.
Roger Poindexter, director of Lambda Legal's South Central Region, noted that bullied gay and lesbian students have won hefty monetary settlements from other districts throughout the country. He said while a general policy might give adults “a warm fuzzy feeling,” it would not accomplish its goal.
“We need to spell it out so the bullies can understand it,” Poindexter emphasized just before he read the names of gay teens who took their own lives in recent months, which included 13-year-old Asher Brown near Houston.
Ten years of research shows enumerated bullying policies have proved more effective, according to Rafael McDonnell, a spokesman for Resource Center Dallas. “If it isn’t written, nobody’s going to think about it,” McDonnell added.
President of Dallas' gay chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, Jesse Garcia, informed trustees they are “sorely mistaken” if they are under the impression that the current policies are keeping students protected from anti-gay bullying.
“Don’t make a suicide make you do the right thing,” Garcia told trustees. “The time to act is now.”
Follow SheWired on Twitter!
Follow SheWired on Facebook!
Be SheWired's Friend on MySpace!
