Secondary Welcoming Schools PD - Bias-Based Bullying Information

Secondary Welcoming Schools PD

Please complete the following three steps:

Step 1: Watch the video: HRC 2018 Youth Report: LGBTQ Teens on Feeling Safe

Step 2: Look at the Centers for Disease Control Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data

Step 3: Look at the Bully Circle graphic and read about the Bully Circle Cycle

Step 1: Watch the video: HRC 2018 Youth Report:

LGBTQ Teens on Feeling Safe

HRC Foundation and the University of Connecticut released a survey of more than 12,000 LGBTQ teenagers across the nation, revealing in distressing detail the persistent challenges so many of them face going about their daily lives at home, at school and in their communities. Because youth spend the majority of their time in school, their experiences in the classroom, in the halls, at lunch and during extracurricular activities can have a critical impact on their overall health and well-being. For some LGBTQ youth, schools offer safe, supportive and affirming spaces that enable them to realize their full potential. The majority of LGBTQ youth, however, still experience negative and even hostile school environments. HRC's 2018 Youth Report found that only 27 percent of LGBTQ teens always feel safe in the classroom. We must do better for LGBTQ youth.

Step 2: The Centers for Disease Control Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data

This data comes from The Centers for Disease Control’s 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey that is conducted every two years.

It is imperative that we look at the risks involved with not having good policy to support LGBTQ students.

These statistics are very clear. We must proactively target our bullying prevention efforts to create a more inclusive, respectful space for LGBTQ students.

I hope this new knowledge challenges you to become an even stronger advocate for our LGBTQ students. They need you.

Students Who are Afraid to Go to School Data

Based on the YRBS 2017 Survey, this graph is reflective of students’ responses to the following statement: “Had not gone to school on at least one day during the 30 days before the survey because they felt they would be unsafe at school or on their way to or from school.”

Significant numbers of students are being pushed out of school as a result of “zero tolerance” school discipline policies. Pushout refers to the punitive discipline practices schools use, which exclude students from class and too often push them out of school altogether. These practices affect all students, but they disproportionately affect students of color, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ students.

These practices are paving the way for higher dropout rates and involvement in the criminal justice system, a pathway often referred to as the “school-to-prison pipeline.” Likewise, these practices have been shown to worsen the climates of our schools, leading to educator burnout.

These statistics reveal that students do not attend school based on fear related to bullying and harassment toward their identities, such as race and sexual orientation.

The percent of LGB Black and Latinx students who are afraid to go to school is 3 times higher than it is for heterosexual white students.

While there is immense power in being both a person of color and LGBTQ, holding multiple marginalized identities can magnify discrimination and school pushout.

This reality can have a devastating impact on Black and brown LGBTQ youth’s mental health and overall well-being and harm their ability to fully express and explore their intersecting racial and LGBTQ identities in school.

The Survey did not include queer- and trans-identified students, but we know from the 2018 GLSEN School Climate Survey that 83% of Transgender students do not feel safe going to school. This was an increase from 75% in 2017.

Step 3: The Bully Circle

Information to consider about the Bully Circle and Bias-Based Bullying

Everyone is involved in Bullying. As this continuum shows, there is more to a bullying situation than the student who bullies and the student who is bullied. Students who engage in bullying behavior often get various types of support from followers, direct supporters and passive supporters.

When we can identify these students and hold them accountable, we can more effectively work toward decreasing the impact of bullying behavior. Peer groups play an important role in motivating and encouraging bullying behavior. When a student engages in bullying behavior and peers are supportive of the behavior, that student has much more power.

Remember we are labeling behaviors, not students. This circle is key to understanding roles around bullying situations. Those that have more empathy are usually defenders and possible defenders.

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