MORGANTOWN — Sticks and stones may break your bones — but what’s that bit about names, again?
And what’s a West Virginia teacher to do if he hears students hurling insults like “faggot” or “dyke,” at an LGBTQ classmate?
Further, how should he respond, should he hear his colleagues tossing off the same pejoratives in casual conversation?
Some 70% of teachers responding a survey by Fairness West Virginia say they don’t know — since they’ve never received formal training on how to actually respond within the framework of the school building and district.
The statewide organization, which advocates for the LGBTQ community, put out the call last month. The results were released Monday. More than 100 teachers across 22 counties responded.
Executive Director Andrew Schneider said the swath was a compelling cross-section of West Virginia.
Counties those teachers represented included Kanawha, Clay and Monongalia.
“This really is a wake-up call,” said Schneider, who is also the former state director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“We’ve known for a long time that LGBTQ students face serious harassment and bullying,” he continued, “but this survey sheds new light on how few teachers are actually equipped.”
As in being there for that segment of the student population, he said.
That 14% of respondents reported hearing their fellow teachers using the same slurs is “unacceptable,” he said.
Different survey, same result
Two years ago, the Centers for Disease Control did a survey of its own, with about 40% of West Virginia’s gay, lesbian and bisexual reporting that they were bullied in school, which was the seventh-highest among the U.S. states that participated.
An additional 30% of that student population in the Mountain State attempted suicide the year before, according to that survey, and 14% skipped school out of fear.
And weapons — not just taunts or pushes into lockers — have also been part of the mix, students told the CDC.
Around 13% of LBGTQ students in the state responding to that survey said they both threatened and injured by weapons, while on school property.
West Virginia’s 55 school districts receive their direction by the state Department of Education.
And while there are policies on the books written for the protection of all students — Policy 4373, in particular — Schneider said they don’t go far enough.
Especially, he said, for the LGBTQ kids.
Especially, he said, for the teachers in that survey who haven’t been taught, themselves.
And official contradictions abound, on the record.
Winning the war — losing the war
An assistant principal in Harrison County lost his job two years ago after questioning a student about gender identity — he was alleged to have blocked the rest room during a band trip — but he was reinstated months later.
The reversal, Schneider said, made him hearken back to his ACLU days.
“Civil liberty battles never stay won,” he said.
But conversations, he said, can also start: There’s the survey, for one.
And his organization is hosting a digital town on LGBTQ youth in West Virginia from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday online.
Visit Fairness West Virginia’s Facebook page for details.
In the meantime, the organization, based on the survey results, is calling for enhanced training for teachers and all other administrators and employees on how to better respond to anti-LGBTQ bullying.
It would like to see official transgender-inclusive policies, which Schneider said would allow students to participate in activities matching their gender identity.
And it wants to ensure all middle and high schools students can access GSAs (gay-straight alliances) or other LGBTQ-focused student organizations.
Safe and supportive schools, he said, means all students can reach their full academic potential.
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