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Philadelphia school district sends LGBT student guide book
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by smkovalinsky | October 30, 2009 at 07:17 am
284 views | 36 Recommendations | 20 comments
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The 90 page publication is aimed at helping teachers, counselors and various school authorities who work with youth to be able to have adequate resources for dealing with any LGBT students they encounter.
The text is a resource compilation comprised of input from various Gay and Lesbian Youth and educational organizations.
The Philadelphia School District earlier this month began sending out a publication to representatives throughout its schools to assist them in providing proper direction to LGBT students.
The Community Services Directory for LGBT Youth is in the initial phase of distribution, being first sent via e-mail to school counselors at the district’s high schools and elementary schools to raise awareness about the issues LGBT students face and ensure those who work with this population can adequately offer assistance and guidance to all students in need.
The nearly 90-page book will also be sent to all school district principals, as well as other representatives such as school nurses. Gloria Casarez, the city’s director of LGBT affairs, said the district is currently working on printing of hard copies of the guide.
The idea for the publication germinated in the school district’s LGBT advisory committee, comprised of representatives from organizations such as Mazzoni Center, The Attic Youth Center, The COLOURS Organization Inc., the Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative, Youth Health Empowerment Project, Concern for Health Options: Information, Care and Education, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, school district officials and Casarez.
Casarez said the committee members met repeatedly over the summer to determine the content of the booklet and employ research to complete the guide.
The directory is divided into information on school policies, LGBT community organizations and programs and a glossary lists LGBT-related language for those unfamiliar with the community.
“It’s written for adults who work with young people so that when they encounter LGBT students, they can point them in the right direction for the appropriate resources and support,” Casarez said. “This was a first-of-its-kind effort for the school district and, as far as we know, we’re the only district around that’s done this. All of this information existed before, but it’s never been compiled into the same document. It’s very comprehensive and is going to be a big, big help.”
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smkovalinsky
New York, New York, United States
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Recommendations (36)
Rhonda J Mangus
North Tonawanda, New York, United States
Spydermonkey
huntsville, Alabama, United States
Roy C
Vancouver, Washington, United States
a211423
Clearlake, California, United States
albertacowpoke
Canada
generaldecay
Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (20)
at 07:31 on October 30th, 2009
This is very good news, smk! Thanks for posting!
at 07:45 on October 30th, 2009
Thank you in turn! :)
at 08:07 on October 30th, 2009
You are very welcome! Would you mind adding the tag 'sexuality' -- thanks!:)
at 08:12 on October 30th, 2009
will do so now. :)
at 08:12 on October 30th, 2009
Rhonda, agreed. Good news indeed.
at 08:24 on October 30th, 2009
Thank you smk and generaldecay:)
“This was a first-of-its-kind effort for the school district and, as far as we know, we’re the only district around that’s done this. All of this information existed before, but it’s never been compiled into the same document. It’s very comprehensive and is going to be a big, big help.”
It is definitely going to be a big, big help and should serve as a model for all US school districts.
at 09:28 on October 30th, 2009
Let's hope the Philadelphia School District will be the model for other states' districts to follow.
This is a great step toward equality and civil liberties.
at 10:37 on October 30th, 2009
And about bloody time too, how many kids do we allow to die because the adults in schools don't know how to deal with nor what to do about bulling & verbal/phiscal abuse of students because they are "different" in some way ?
read thru here if you want to get your blood pressure up :(
at 10:45 on October 30th, 2009
It is not right to put the whole burden for this on the schools. They are now required to do "missionary work", the teaching of values that substitutes for the lack of values at home.
You can present all the good ideas you want to the kids. If the parents or parent at home or the peer group don't buy it, there is no change.
The basic problem is a lack of conscience that derives out of a lack of empathy because of neglect emotionally at home, not in the school.
The school cannot remedy the lack of empathy, simply put. The school can simply counter the worst false beliefs and crack down on bullying.
at 11:26 on October 30th, 2009
Roy, what you say is true.
But until schools take a bit of responsibility and prevent the bulling at school it is their fault, and one school taking steps to fix the problem does not a solution make.
The greater problem is the whole social issue of less that equal because of Gay.
We are not allowed to mary (or otherwise establish a recognized relationship) I can not visit nor consult my partner's doctors if he is in the hospital, I can't leave him an inheritance, or him, me. This is just the tip of the iceberg of the discrimination that We face daily.
at 11:31 on October 30th, 2009
Roy and Spydermonkey: In a pluralist democracy which was really functioning as one, there would be no need of any groups such as this. One's marital status would be given no special privilege and the lack thereof would entail no hardship. Individuals are free and their sexual and private lives have little bearing on anything else. That we have a "gay movement" shows that the libertarians are correct: This is a society aping an old Christianity, and all is consequence of that.
at 11:46 on October 30th, 2009
I ask for no "Special" privilege, just the same "privilege" that all st8 couples have.
1.the right to insure my partner as a "spouse" thru my work insurance
2. The right to be consulted, & have a say on his medical treatments.
3. The right to leave inheritance to one another without extensive legal filling (that can and are still overturned in courts when challenged in courts by a father or sibling)
at 13:49 on October 30th, 2009
The right to the "marriage" penalty on taxes and the right to lose half of what you own in a "separation" suit. But, you have to take the bad with the good. I agree, dedicated, monogamous couple should have a legally binding partnership that affords them the same benefits and liabilities as married couples.
at 11:36 on October 30th, 2009
substitutes for the lack of values at home.
Roy,
The article states the pamphlet is a resource for teachers, counselors, and staff to have better resources when they encounter LBGT students, not for teaching values to the general population of students. In this capacity, it is a tool for preventing violence and alienation, and should be lauded as such.
at 11:41 on October 30th, 2009
Good. But you cannot substitute for the values of the home. You should go and teach in the inner city and see how you fare.
Try Compton. I have taught there and at Dorsey High in South Central LA. Then go to Central Juvenile Hall.
You need a reality check.
at 12:14 on October 30th, 2009
Roy,
No one has suggested schools should substitute for values at home but you. There is no denying that some areas like the ones you state suffer higher rates of deliquency, but don't you think as a society we have to share in the blame for what these populations have been submitted to: prejudice, biotry, poverty, marginalization, hatred and violence?
I did HIV testing in juvenile hall, and mostly I encountered teens from the margins of society who had been abused and ignored most of their lives. Much of the anger was directed at themselves and the lives they were being cheated out of.
at 11:40 on October 30th, 2009
Very true, A. :) Thanks.
at 11:43 on October 30th, 2009
All the schools can do is fight bullying, AS I SAID, but the "wusses" that run the school system are not ballsy enough to do that. They are afraid of being assertive, and the kids accuse them of battery and sexual battery.
The problem is more the parents than anything else. PERIOD, and the schools just reflect the liberal's allergy to the imposition of values and real authority.
NO. This has very little to do with Christianity anymore. The objection to homosexuality is, first of all, also a teaching of Islam, of Buddhism, of Judaism, just to quickly name three other religions, and of Plato in his "Symposium" whose view on homosexuality was as not ok (hence "Platonic" relationships between men to sub for erotic ones).
The Romans did not accept homosexuality even as they practiced it before Christianity.
This is not about status legally. This is about what people have carried forward for centuries.
at 11:43 on October 30th, 2009
Well, Roy: What if Nietzsche was right, and "we should not hold on to what we should never have had to be"? History is no argument. Not for the Last Man.
at 11:45 on October 30th, 2009
You act as if you can "convert" those homes to different values. That was Lasch's point.
We should hold those parents responsible, but we won't be able to past a certain point. The parents do not have control of their kids in the first place.
The bullying goes on because of lack of males at home to reinforce the masculinity of the adolescent boys.
They cope with their own anxiety about being a man by punking others.