School districts look to state for guidance on LGBTQ student issues

Students in the Bay State who identify as LGBTQ are 3.7 times more likely to miss school due to feeling unsafe, according to a state education official.

"Nationally, LGBTQ students face significant and increased challenges related to hostility, assault and discrimination in schools throughout the country," Jason Wheeler, who directs the Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ Students, said. "In Massachusetts, I would love to say that the national data is not representative of our student experiences. Unfortunately, that's not true."

Thea Stovell, superintendent of Randolph Public Schools, described programs her schools have implemented specifically to support LGBTQ youth. Stovell said Randolph has not seen increased instances of bullying for students who identify as part of the community, but that most of the resistance has come from parents.

"What we're finding is that in our schools, we're not seeing the hostility. For us the hostility is coming from the community. I have received so much vitriolic email, phone calls, death threats, marches outside my office, where people are offended primarily about gender neutral bathrooms or decisions around curriculum," she said.

Stovell said some of the resources she has received from the state education department have been helpful, though she wanted more guidance on navigating the conversation around gender identity in schools.

A student in Randolph schools came out as transgender and was disowned by her parents, Stovell explained, and the district was unclear on its role.

"The guidance was pretty vague in some areas, particularly around working with families and how do you identify a student to their family. What are the laws around it?" she said.

"One thing that would be super helpful is if DESE could create guidelines around this topic, where it isn't so vague, and it is more clear around how we support students," Stovell added. "How do we support them when it's time to come out to families, without throwing them into their families. There are people who felt very strongly, as a parent, they have a right to know, and they should know, and it is not the school's job to decide. However, it just felt so unsafe for some students."

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has made efforts in recent years to make educational frameworks more inclusive for students, Associate Commissioner Erin Hashimoto Martell said at an education board meeting Tuesday.

In first grade, the department offers guidance in social studies standards about helping students understand families that look different from their own. U.S. history standards for high schoolers include having students use primary and secondary resources to analyze social political movements such as the LGBTQ civil rights movement.

The board of education also voted at the beginning of this school year to adopt new health and sex education frameworks that are intended to be more inclusive.

For the youngest students, the new health standards mostly have to do with topics such as healthy eating and practicing hygienic habits, though educators are encouraged to begin discussing gender-role stereotypes and treating all people with respect at this age.

As students get older, the guidelines include education about sex, healthy romantic relationships, gender identity and how to stay safe from sex trafficking.

"It's critical that LGBTQ kids can see themselves and hear about themselves in schools," Adam Schepis, a parent of a transgender son in the state's public school system, said at the time. "Even at a young age, many of these kids know that they're different, but they don't have the language to articulate it. It's so important that we give kids windows through which they can see the world and mirrors that they can see themselves in. In addition to helping these kids by providing age-appropriate education to students about diversity in sex and gender, I believe that will lead to a more informed, accepting and empathetic future generation."

With greater effort to see LGBTQ people reflected in the classroom, department officials told the board Tuesday that there were additional steps schools could take to make these students feel safe.

The Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ Students has held over 120 professional development sessions for educators across the state, "building allyship among staff and professionals" and "increasing their skills to be able to support students and families in their districts."

Wheeler said districts should also have clear policies that are well known among students about what to do if they are being bullied, and that after school clubs where students can be among accepting peers, such as Gay Straight Alliances, are critical.