Talking about making
schools safer for gays
Forum addresses
harassment in Morris
BY LAURA BRUNO,
dailyrecord.com from the Web, March 4, 2007
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KAREN MANCINELLI / DAILY RECORD
Keynote
speaker Charles Cohen, deputy state attorney general and section
chief of the Division of Law's Civil Rights section, talks to the
crowd. |
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RANDOLPH -- Becky Dressell
said she removed her son, James, from Mount Olive High School last fall because
harassment against him had escalated so far that other students had thrown
stones at him.
Although school officials tried to help, Dressell said she believes the
educators did not know how to handle the situation.
"People used to come out in college, but today they're coming out in high school
and middle school, and the schools are not equipped to handle it," Dressell
said.
Dressell helped organize Saturday's Safer School Summit at County College of
Morris for 65 parents, students and educators to start a conversation about how
to stop harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths in Morris
County area schools.
"When you send your child to school, you expect they're going to a safe
environment," Dressell said. "When you find out what's really happening,
it's scary."
The summit came on the heels of last month's state Supreme Court ruling that
found that school districts are responsible for stopping student-on-student
harassment based on sexual orientation. The case stemmed from a Toms River
student who was taunted in school because he was perceived as gay. The
ruling said school districts can be held liable if officials were aware of a
"hostile educational environment" and failed to take reasonable action to end
the harassment.
Lonely, isolated
One session during the five-hour summit had roughly 20 students gathered to
discuss how to form a gay-straight alliance at their high school. Morris
County public high school students spoke about how other students yell, "I hate
fags," at them and how MySpace pages were created to mock them. They
talked about feeling lonely and isolated because they were identified as being
gay.
Julie Paradiso, 16, a Mount Olive High School junior, who said she is not gay,
also attended. Paradiso said her principal asked her to attend to help
form a gay-straight alliance at the school. She said she never heard gay
slurs and was surprised to hear what has happened in her school.
"There haven't been crazy issues," Paradiso said.
But, she did acknowledge that sexual orientation is a topic of gossip in school,
and that when someone does come out as gay, "I don't think (other students) take
it well."
Paradiso, a student council member and class president, said she attended the
summit to learn how to start an alliance.
"I want to change this, I don't want other people to feel uncomfortable. I want
to make a difference," Paradiso said.
Neither the school principal nor the district superintendent could be reached
for comment on Saturday.
School board President Anthony Strillacci, reached after the summit, said he was
not familiar enough with the facts of the Dressell case to comment on it.
"No one came to the board to ask for our help on this particular situation,"
Strillacci said. "I heard it was being handled correctly and it never
advanced to the board."
In general, the district has a bullying policy and all cases brought to the
attention of administrators are handled, Strillacci said. Sometimes they
can't stop students from doing what they are going to do or say, he said.
Work to be done
Bryce Livingston, 14, a freshman at West Morris Mendham High School, said the
environment there is generally open to gay students. She has not witnessed
any violence toward gay students. However, there is still work to be done,
she said.
"You hear gay slurs in the hallways all the time," Livingston said. "There
is harassment -- verbal harassment. People say things like, 'That's so
gay'... or they call someone 'a fag,' not because they think the person is gay,
but it's a put-down."
West Morris Mendham created its Gay Straight Alliance two years ago, said Lyn
Kleinman, a student assistance counselor at the school and alliance adviser who
attended the summit.
The group was started on the request of a student, Kleinman said, and although
she expected some resistance from school administrators, there was none.
The group became less active after that student graduated, but it continues to
meet, she said.
Livingston, who identified herself as bisexual, said she was encouraged when she
heard that West Morris Mendham had an alliance. About 10 gay and straight
students are members, with six regularly attending meetings.
"It made me optimistic about what (high school) would be like," she said.
"I think it has made some difference in raising awareness."
Laura Bruno can be reached at (973) 428-6626 or lbruno2@gannett.com.
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