(Name-mce) ListServ New Jersey Schools Told to Protect Gay Students

[Howe, William]

New York Times

________________________________

February 22, 2007


New Jersey Schools Told to Protect Gay Students 


By TINA KELLEY
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/tina_kelle
y/index.html?inline=nyt-per> 

Students who are bullied by other students because of their sexual
orientation are protected by New Jersey
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandposse
ssions/newjersey/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> 's antidiscrimination law,
and school districts must take reasonable steps to stop such harassment,
the state's Supreme Court unanimously ruled yesterday.

"Students in the classroom are entitled to no less protection from the
unlawful discrimination and harassment than their adult counterparts in
the workplace," according to the opinion, written by Chief Justice James
R. Zazzali.

In the case in question, known as L. W. v. the Board of Education of the
Toms River Regional Schools, an anonymous student said that he was
taunted with antihomosexual epithets from the time he was in fourth
grade until he was in high school and that he was physically attacked
twice in high school. Because of the harassment, he contends, he
eventually had to change schools. 

District policy called for offending students to be punished after a
third offense, although they could be punished for being late to class
by one minute on the first offense.

In 1999, L. W.'s mother filed a complaint against the district with the
state's Division on Civil Rights, and various appeals ensued. The
opinion issued yesterday found that districts must take actions
"reasonably calculated to end the harassment."

Under the ruling, such actions will have to be determined case by case,
considering how quickly school officials respond to harassment, its
frequency and severity, and the maturity of the children involved. 

"We're pleased with the decision we got today," said Thomas E. Monahan,
a lawyer for the Toms River school board, "because it establishes a
standard for student-on-student harassment that takes into account the
age of the students and the circumstances of the harassment." 

The case will now be sent to the Office of Administrative Law to
determine if the schools protected the student reasonably according to
the standards at the time. In 2002, New Jersey passed antibullying
legislation, while this case was in court.

Lawrence S. Lustberg, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/ame
rican_civil_liberties_union/index.html?inline=nyt-org> , which
participated in the case, called the ruling unique because it requires
schools to take particular actions to prevent bullying. 

"The application of the Law Against Discrimination to bullying in
general and antigay or lesbian bullying in particular is yet another
sign of the progressiveness of this excellent court," he said.

Lee Moore, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, which
represented the State Division on Civil Rights, said, "We applaud the
court for issuing a decision that recognizes the promise of the New
Jersey Law Against Discrimination to eradicate the 'cancer of
discrimination.' "

Eliza Byard, the deputy executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and
Straight Education Network, based in New York, said: "Having a policy is
not enough. Schools must implement their policies to ensure that each
student is free from fear when entering a schoolhouse." 

She said that when antibullying policies are enforced, students are more
likely to stay in school and do well there. According to her
organization, which focuses on safe schools for all students, New Jersey
is one of nine states with laws that protect students from bullying and
harassment based on sexual orientation.

 

 

William A. Howe, Ed.D.
Education Consultant for Multicultural Education & Gender Equity
Connecticut State Department of Education - Bureau of Educational Equity
165 Capitol Ave. Rm 312, Hartford, CT 06106 
Telephone: 860-713-6542 * Fax: 860-713-7496
email: william.howe at ct.gov <BLOCKED::mailto:william.howe at ct.gov> 
website: http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde

Annual Developing a Multicultural Curriculum Institute - Aug. 14-15-16,
2007 - Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center
<http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/equity/developing_curriculum.pdf>



12th Annual New England Conference on Multicultural Education,
Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford, CT -Oct. 11, 2007
<http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2681&Q=320466> 

 

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