Administrators with the Susquehanna Township School District are reviewing their harassment policy, following concerns from students. More than 300 students signed a petition recently, in hopes of getting administrators to take a closer look at how gay and lesbian students are treated by classmates. The petition circulated after an openly gay senior student left school halfway through the year, claiming he was repeatedly harassed by fellow students. Superintendent David Volkman says the district has formed a new committee to look at the issue. He says the school is already looking at ways to reinforce its harassment policy, and has created "safe rooms" for students who would like to talk with teachers about the issue. Michelle Simmons is Executive Director of Common Roads, a non-profit support group for young gays and lesbians. She says the average "coming out" age of a young person is 16. She believes schools should be doing more to protect gay, lesbian and transgender students. She says 30 percent of gay and lesbian students report some type of regular harassment at school. Susquehanna Township School District is also considering adding some new curriculum that would teach tolerance to students.
That's interesting. Susquehanna PA? I live in that area, but i have heard nothing of it on local news.
i wish they had something like that at my school i got so much shit but it will be a long time for that i'm pretty sure nebraska is behind the times on gay policy
It seems my local news source did air it at some point, so i must have missed it. It's good though, since it gives me more reason to start a gsa in my school. i have a snow/ice day today, and i can use today to work on getting things together so i can present my principal with the prerequisites for the club.
That's really cool. I've been trying to start a GSA at my school for a year now and nothing's really happening. My school is one of the better ones, but it can always get better. =)
Wow thats amazing, My old high school no one cared for your sexuality. I remember my first year we had a transgendered kid and he being a she had a lot of friends We have Susquehanna bank around here
even tho its not a church school weve got a really catholic headteacher., so shes really not happy with the idea of a GSA or anything of the sort. i was trying to help my friend (pirateninja) set 1 up but we havent had a lot of progress:dry:
We have GSA's in almost all the schools here in Central Oregon now with the exception of my town. Tammy, our Basic Rights Oregon rep, took 17 kids to the rally for Domestic Partnerships this week. They have really been active in supporting the laws by going to the rally's and even giving testimony to the Oregon legislature. I'm very proud of them. If some of you saw the news coverage I was in a couple weeks ago, you also saw a guy named Cort. He is totally amazing. After finding out our domestic partnerships were delayed, he showed up at Tammy's house and said "I'm here and thankful that I can stand up for what I believe in ONE MORE TIME!" He really is an inspiriration. You guys can do this too!
