Charlotte schools to introduce new bullying policy tonight

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will formally introduce tonight a new bullying policy that expands protections to LGBT students.

From The Charlotte Observer:

Few dispute the need to rein in bullying in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. But a policy that will be formally introduced at tonight’s school board meeting has touched off a debate over homosexuality, Christianity, free speech and bigotry.

Superintendent Peter Gorman, the majority of the school board and a citizen-advisory panel say the policy will help kids who are picked on — and sometimes let down by adults who are supposed to protect them.

“If you talk to students who are bullied, they will tell you that they’re not protected and they don’t know where to go,” said Kelley Doherty, a CMS parent and Wachovia executive who chairs the district’s Equity Committee. “If you are singled out, it is merciless.”

A 2007 survey of youth risk behavior found that 40 percent of CMS students said bullying and harassment were a problem at their school, up from 28 percent two years earlier, said CMS Diversity Director Jose Hernandez-Paris. One in five said they’d been bullied at school in the past year.

The policy, which the board expects to vote on in March, calls for the superintendent to set up a process for students and staff to report bullying, offer annual anti-bullying training and record data on bullying.

The school board’s three Republicans say those are all things that Gorman is already doing or can do. The policy creates a catalogue of protected categories, they say, while failing to define or constrain bullying.

“‘Bullying’ can be a clash of values: My beliefs threaten yours,” said board member Ken Gjertsen.

For instance, he said, a Christian student may say, “I believe homosexuality is a sin.” A gay student might take offense, Gjertsen said, but is that bullying?

At a recent board retreat, Gjertsen argued for a simple policy that prohibits bullying and harassment without the “protected” list. Board member Kaye McGarry said Monday she’ll try to put such an alternative on today’s agenda, though she missed last week’s deadline.

“When you start listing, you’re excluding other people,” McGarry said.

The Equity Committee, charged with monitoring the fairness of educational opportunities in CMS, took on bullying because it affects safety and achievement, Hernandez-Paris said.

Students who are bullied are more likely to skip school, drop out or commit suicide, he said. Many CMS students caught with weapons say they’ve been bullied and “feel their safety has been compromised,” Hernandez-Paris said.

Said board member Trent Merchant: “I think it makes sense for us to deal with this right now, before we get into a tragic situation.”

[…]

While the policy covers all types of bullying, homosexuality has been the hot button since the board’s January retreat, where McGarry read from a 2003 article by Christian writer Marc Fey warning that such policies can lead to an “aggressive pro-homosexual agenda in classrooms.” She said later that someone sent her the article and she aired the concern, but she could not describe specifically how that might happen.

County commissioner Bill James, a Republican and one of Charlotte’s most vocal opponents of homosexuality, said there’s been a nationwide progression from bullying policies that protect homosexuals to sex-education programs teaching that “alternative lifestyles are normal” to elementary teachers telling children that “having two daddies or two mommies is perfectly normal.”

“I don’t think that’s going to fly in Charlotte,” James said. He added that parent outrage over the policy might create a backlash against gay students.

Doherty, the Equity Committee chair, says her son has been harassed because she’s a lesbian. “The reality is that people will pick on other folks out of ignorance,” she said.

Hernandez-Paris also disagrees with James’ reasoning: “We can’t be afraid to address the issues that our students are dealing with.”

What’s next?

• The bullying policy will be formally introduced at today’s school board meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. in the meeting chamber of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, 600 E. Fourth St. It is open to the public and televised live on CMS-TV Cable 3. The board will take brief comments on any topic; sign up on site or call 980-343-5139 by noon today.

• The school board will hold a public hearing and vote on the bullying policy at its March 11 meeting.

Tonight is also one of the week’s lectures from the Coalition of Conscience. It’ll be hard to be in two places at once, as I have a suspicion some of our lovely anti-gay advocates may decide to show up at the board of education meeting.

Posted in Anti-LGBT, Charlotte, Charlotte/Metro Area, High School, LGBT, LGBT Youth, North Carolina, United States |