Ensuring teachers have resources on LGBT issues
(Calif.) California’s Department of Education would be required, under a bill awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature, to monitor whether schools are providing teachers with information about local resources for student populations considered gender- and sexual-minorities.
Brown has until Oct. 11 to sign or veto this session’s legislative proposals, including AB 827 which aims to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students as well as those “questioning” their sexuality by ensuring that all seventh through 12th grade teachers receive information on school-site and community resources available to this group.
“LGBTQ youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide and suffer significantly higher dropout rates than their straight peers,” said Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, D-Long Beach, in a statement.
“Giving teachers the tools they need to foster a supportive learning experience will improve academic achievement and make our schools safer for LGBTQ students,” said the freshman law maker, also a former classroom teacher.
In spite of progress in recent years, LGBTQ students continue to face verbal, physical and online harassment. According to information from the author’s office provided by Equality California, seven in 10 LGBTQ students say they’ve been targets of abuse or threats but never reported the incidents because they believed educators wouldn’t respond.
Studies show that this type of harassment has direct effects on these pupils’ academic achievement – increasing truancy, lowering grade point averages and resulting in poor attitudes toward school. Likewise, according to O’Donnell’s office, research has also proven that when LGBTQ students have access to supports in school, they perform better academically, skip school less and have more positive attitudes toward school.
AB 827 would require that the CDE, as part of its categorical compliance monitoring, to assess whether local educational agencies have provided information on school-site and community resources for LGBTQ students to certificated staff serving grades 7-12 as part of their publicizing of anti-discrimination policies.
The bill defines school-site resources for the support of LGBTQ students as including peer support or affinity clubs and organizations, safe spaces for LGBTQ students; anti-bullying and harassment policies, and related complaint procedures; counseling services and access to school staff who have received anti-bias training or who serve as designated support personnel for these students.
Community resources to support LGBTQ students would include community-based organizations that provide support to LGBTQ youth and their families, and physical and mental health providers Ensuring teachers have resources on LGBT issues :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: