All students deserve a safe, inclusive, and fair learning environment. Schools have a responsibility to ensure this happens. School administrators, teachers, and educational staff across the country are charged with implementing policies in support of safe and supportive environments for all students. Some students report feeling unsafe in school because of their gender or sexual orientation. Some schools disguise discriminatory discipline as safe and supportive policies. Prioritization of discipline over educational achievement has made schools zero-tolerance zones, which hurt students unequally. At-risk young women attending such schools describe such environments as neither safe nor conducive for learning (Crenshaw et al., 2015). This pushes many girls out of school altogether, promoting inequitable access to education.
Despite being a requirement, many schools have failed to protect the safety of LGBTQ students. As a vulnerable population, LGBTQ students report negative school experiences contributing to increased vulnerability. Schools that are supposed to offer safe spaces are often hostile environments (Russell et al., 2010). It is undeniable that the world has made huge strides in increasing social and legal acceptance. However, discrimination continues, especially among school-going youth. More than 71 percent experience discrimination, 66 percent have been convinced to change their sexual orientation, while others as young as 13 have contemplated suicide (Roper, 2020). The absences and inadequacy of safe and supportive school policies are promoting environments where these youth experience violence and hopelessness. Therefore, for schools to promote safe and supportive policies, the following action plan with set components needs to be adopted.
Stakeholders
Promoting safe and supportive school environments for all students is a collective responsibility that requires the active involvement of various stakeholders. Some of the essential stakeholders that will be involved in attempts to address and eliminate unsafe and unsupportive school environments include federal, state, and local policymakers. Policymakers make laws that provide explicit protection to all students. Federal policymakers rely on state and school districts to define and implement policies that will protect the safety of LGBTQ students (Russell et al., 2010). Other stakeholders include school administration and mental health providers. Studies have shown that LGBTQ youth record elevated rates of emotional distress than heterosexual youth, with a high likelihood of suicidality and depression (Russell & Fish, 2016). Therefore, school administration should develop partnerships with mental healthcare providers to create policies that directly address the mental well-being of gender and sexual orientation of diverse groups of students. Schools can independently support initiatives to promote safety by developing ways to help girls feel safe without overreliance on punitive interventions (Crenshaw et al., 2015). Parents are also important stakeholders that should play the role of communication and collaboration with school management. They can help by creating clear lines of communication and educating their children about safety and responsible behavior. Students can also participate in promoting safe and supportive policies by coming forward and being mindful of their actions.
Analysis
After knowing all the stakeholders to be involved in promoting safe and supportive policies for all students, the next step is analysis. For this, I will collect information on the experiences of young girls and LGBTQ students in different schools. As the American Psychological Association and the National Association of School Psychologists (2015) suggest, the collected information can be incorporated into policymaking as a measurement of student experiences in schools to inform effective intervention to better support safe and supportive school environments. I would also identify any existing gaps in the education systems where improvements are needed. In this case, a gap exists in the toll of race on black girls. The gap shows that there is a racial disparity in the distribution of punitive measures with unrecognized disparities facing black girls. This gap makes it challenging and promotes inequitable education and unfair treatment of girls in schools, which is currently not a priority (Crenshaw et al., 2015). This will help show the inequalities among minority students and influence future policies.
Design
Promoting safe and supportive policies in schools for all will also require extensive design of new policies that support all student well-being. The existing policies promote the lack of safety and support for LGBTQ students. I will design a comprehensive strategic plan that outlines the new policies, which will include the following. First, create inclusive enumerated policies to protect students on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation. These policies will serve as a foundation on which safe and supportive policies and practices can be based. The second strategy will involve school personnel training and advocacy. School administration, teachers, and other school staff need to be knowledgeable and supportive of all student rights. As noted, teachers play a significant role as stakeholders in promoting the safety of vulnerable students. This strategy will provide teachers with support and intervention in harassment. It will make students feel safer to report any incidents of harassment, and teachers intervene effectively (Russell et al., 2010). Thirdly, schools should encourage student-led school clubs such as Gay-Straight Alliances to help with education and safety, advocacy training, and interpersonal support.
Development
After designing the strategies, the next step would be to carry them to the development phase. The first phase of the developmental stage will involve collaborating with stakeholders to refine the changes in the policies. The safety of students is a collective responsibility, and involving teachers and parents will ensure the changes are tailored to meet vulnerable student needs. Secondly, I will create and assemble training materials for the training and advocacy program. With a diverse student population, teachers are constantly dealing with varying student safety needs. Due to their increased vulnerability, creating training materials will be necessary for the schools and teachers to have access to up-to-date knowledge on how to promote safety and a supportive environment. With the training materials in place, schools can then move forward to make girls, LGBTQ students, and other vulnerable students feel valued and empowered. This can be done by supporting the student-led support groups to create a sense of belonging and peer support.
Implementation.
The last stage of promoting safe and supportive policies for all students. It is about outing the strategies into effect to realize the needed change. Implementation will begin with putting the policies into place. Implementing inclusive enumerated policies will entail school staff comfortably intervening on behalf of LGBTQ students and other vulnerable students in case of discrimination. It will encourage more school personnel to openly call out punitive discipline against students. It will also see the start of the training program for the school personnel and ensure they are conducted frequently to constantly remind teachers of the importance of safe and supportive learning environments. Lastly, there will be a team in place to monitor and enforce the policy changes.
Reference
American Psychological Association & National Association of School Psychologists. (2015). Resolution on gender and sexual orientation diversity in children and adolescents in schools. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/orientation-diversity
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299. https://doi-org.libauth.purdueglobal.edu/10.2307/1229039
Roper, W. (June 11, 2020). Continued discrimination for LGBTQ youth [Digital image]. https://www-statista-com.libauth.purdueglobal.edu/chart/21975/discrimination-against-lgbtq-youth
Russell, S. T., & Fish, J. N. (2016). Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Youth. Annual review of clinical psychology, pp. 12, 465–487. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093153
Russell, S. T., Kosciw, J., Horn, S., Saewyc, E., & Society for Research in Child Development. (2010). Safe schools policy for LGBTQ students. Social policy report. (Volume 24, Number 4) [Policy brief]. Society for Research in Child Development.
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