1 day ago
From: Pam's House Blend - Front Page
Title: The Problems With Focus On The Family's And The Alliance Defense Fund's Model Anti-Bullying Policy
Focus On The Family, via their activism arm CitizenLink, has been using their website to promote the Alliance Defense Fund's (ADF's) Model Anti-Bullying Policy. When I read the model policy, I saw the problem with the lack of enumeration, and contacted the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to get their statement on the Model Anti-Bullying Policy. Also, I vaguely remembered their was documentation on why enumeration is important in bullying policies, and wanted to know they had information on the relevant court rulings and statistical documentation.
During my phone communication with their media relations department, I learned there are actually four significant issues with the ADF's Model Anti-Bullying Policy that Focus On The Family's/CitizenLink's Education Annalist Candi Cushman is pushing in the media. (You remember Candi Cushman: she's the point person that CitizenLink has declared on their website is "a leading national expert on education issues" without providing corroboration as to how or why she is a leading national expert in this field.) So here are the four major issues with the Model Anti-Bullying Policy:
Enumeration.
Lack of a training component.
Over-limitation on locations where school bullying falls under the policy; over-limitation on when school bullying falls under the policy.
Overemphasis on free speech.
Point by point:
1. Enumeration.
GLSEN has a document available on the importance of enumeration -- simply entitled "Enumeration," and it references theirs and Harris Interactive's From Teasing to Torment: School Climate in America; A Survey of Students and Teachers and The 2007National School Climate Survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in our nation's schools.
In a legal sense, enumeration refers to the identification of categories -- of people or things -- to which a law applies. In anti-bullying laws, in hate crime laws, in laws that protect against discrimination -- these categories are referred to as protected classes.
One of the main reasons to spell out protected classes regards how students are better protected from bullying where enumerated polices exist.
[More below the fold.] To quote from GLSEN's Enumeration:
Students who attend schools with policies that enumerate categories report less bullying and harassment then students who do not.
• Research has shown that students in states with non-enumerated laws are no more protected from bullying than students who live in states without any anti-bullying and harassment laws (74.3% with generic policies vs. 75.0% with no policies report 'often or frequently' hearing homophobic remarks based on sexual orientation).
• Students report less overall harassment when they know their school has a comprehensive policy that includes enumeration. Students from schools with an enumerated policy report that others are harassed far less often in their school for reasons like their physical appearance (36% vs. 52%), their sexual orientation (32% vs. 43%) or their gender expression (26% vs. 37%).
• Students whose schools have a policy that specifically includes sexual orientation and gender identity/expression are less likely than other students to report a serious harassment problem at their school (33% vs. 44%).
Enumeration is essential if laws are to be implemented.
• History and the Supreme Court tell us that enumerating policies is necessary. Girls would not have sports and our schools would not be integrated if policymakers had not specifically addressed these inequities by enumerating categories like sex and race in our laws. The Supreme Court of the United States noted in Romer v. Evans that "enumeration is the essential device used to make the duty not to discriminate concrete and to provide guidance for those who must comply (Romer v. Evans 517 U.S. 620 (1996)."
• Enumeration gives teachers and other educators the tools they need to implement anti-bullying and harassment policies, which makes it easier for them to intervene to prevent bullying. School personnel often fear that they will themselves be targeted for intervening on behalf of LGBT students. When they can point to language that provides clear protection for LGBT students, they feel more comfortable enforcing the policy. Students reported that teachers were significantly more likely to intervene always or most of the time in states with enumerated policies, as compared to states with either non-enumerated policies or no policies at all (25.3% vs. 15.9% and 12.3%).
...Comprehensive policies with enumeration help ensure safety and reduce absenteeism.
• Students from schools with an enumerated policy are 50% more likely to feel very safe at school (54% vs. 36%). Students without such a policy are three times more likely to skip a class because they feel uncomfortable or unsafe (16% vs. 5%).
Unlike GLSEN, the Alliance Defense Fund and Focus On The Family -- on their TrueTolerance.org -- don't list studies that support their conclusion that anti-bulling polices that don't enumerate protect students better than enumerated policies. Unlike GLSEN, Focus On The Family has not funded its own studies to determine if their model policy actually does what thay state it will do. In fact, one of their bullet points on the subject actually states:
Statistics also indicate that race, ethnicity issues, and even opposite-sex harassment actually account for more bullying problems, than do homosexual-related issues.
If, as Focus On The Family states...
• Focus on the Family believes that bullying should be recognized as a serious problem and should be strongly addressed.
• We believe schools can address this issue with a strong prohibition against any form of bullying-for any reason, against any child.
...Why point out which group is bullied more, or bullied less? This isn't the Oppression Olympics, but the Alliance Defense Fund, Focus On The Family, and specifically Focus on the Family Action (CitizenLink) Education Analyst Candi Cushman, are trying to make this the Oppression Olympics. Specifically, Candi Cushman stated (emphasis added):
...In fact, when you look at the more objective data sources, and not just the information coming from gay activist groups, physical appearance-or the general concept of appearing different than one's peers -- is actually the most common reason reported for why victims are targeted. This can involve a whole slew of issues, such as one's weight, a girl who is developing faster than others, a child who wears glasses, or a boy who acts more effeminate than his peers, etc, etc. In fact, statistics indicate that race, ethnicity issues, and even opposite-sex harassment actually account for more bullying problems, than do homosexual-related issues.
It's sure appears to me that Candi Cushman is defining how serious bullying is against individual students by puting it in the terms of how many in each catagory are bullied. It seems to me that Candi Cushman is framing anti-LGBTQ bullying as a lesser form of bullying then of bullying for race or gender -- she's more than implying that because the quantity of students who are bullied for being perceived as being LGBTQ are less in numbers than other forms of bullying, it's not a serious problem.
2. Lack of a training component.
There is no training component to Focus On The Family's and the Alliance Defense Fund's Model Anti-Bullying Policy.
Think about that for a moment. How is a teacher or administrator going to know, by district policy, when he, she, or ze is supposed to intervene in accordance with the policy? -- how does a teacher recognize the students who are being bullied if one doesn't know what typical bullying of specific types of students looks like? What are intervening actions are the teacher or administrator is supposed to take if he, she, or ze determines bullying has occurred? How is a teacher or administrator going to know what intervening actions are effective, and what intervening actions are ineffective? -- and could make the bullying escalate?
With no training component spelled out in Model Anti-Bullying Policy, Focus On The Family's and the Alliance Defense Fund's Model Anti-Bullying Policy, the bad outcomes that GLSEN's studies indicate in Enumeration document seem assured.
3. Over-limitation on locations where school bullying falls under the policy; over-limitation on when school bullying falls under the policy.
This is what the Model Anti-Bullying Policy states about where the policy applies:
The District prohibits all bullying on school premises, at school-sponsored functions or activities, or on school-sponsored transportation.
This is the definition of these locations:
B. "School Premises" means any building, structure, athletic field, sports stadium or other real property owned, operated, leased or rented by the District or one of its schools, including, but not limited to, any kindergarten, elementary, secondary, or vocational-technical school.
C. "School-Sponsored Functions or Activities" means a field trip, sporting event, or any other function or activity that is officially sponsored by the District or one of its schools.
D. "School-Sponsored Transportation" means a motor vehicle owned, operated, leased, rented or subcontracted by the District or one of its schools.
This means that students who don't take the school bus to and from school are subject to bullying that doesn't fall under the district anti-bullying policy if they walk, ride a bike, or take a privately owned vehicle to school. This means that all bullying that takes place on a public sidewalk or street in front of the school doesn't fall under the district anti-bullying policy. This means that all cyberbullying that is initiated via electronic devices that are not physically on school property when the cyberbullying is initiated is cyberbullying that doesn't fall under the district anti-bullying policy.
A student bully essentially just has to move his bullying off-campus, off school buses, and away from within the confines of school-sponsored events to engage in bullying that impacts his, her, or hir chosen bullying victims.
And remember, bullying can include physical violence.
4. Overemphasis on free speech.
The last line in the Model Anti-Bullying Policy states this:
This policy shall not be interpreted to infringe upon the First Amendment rights of students, and is not intended to prohibit expression of religious, philosophical, or political views, provided that such expression does not cause an actual, material disruption of the work of the school.
Note that the first listed protected viewpoint listed is religious. That means an Evangelical or Pentecostal Christian student is free to tell lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students as frequently as he or she desires:
You homosexuals are an abomination to God, and are going to hell.
As long as an Evangelical or Pentecostal Christian student does not cause an actual, material disruption of the work of the school -- which I'm assuming means doesn't disrupt work in the classroom -- this would not be administratively considered creating a hostile school environment for LGBTQ students. So a bullying Christian student could repeat this over and over again as long as he or she said this to LGBTQ students between classes and during lunch period.
This means that a transgender elementary school student could be harassed with faith-based free speech as frequently as frequently as a peer Evangelical or Pentecostal Christian student desires -- except when that faith-based free speech causes an actual, material disruption of the work of the school. Recess and lunch then are fair game in the school day to harass transgender elementary school children.
The Alliance Defense Fund's and Focus On The Family's Model Anti-Bullying Policy is designed specifically to let Evangelical or Pentecostal Christian students (and their Evangelical or Pentecostal Christian parents) to create hostile school environments for LGBTQ-identified students.
And let's again remember the woman who is currently pushing the meme "Anti-Bullying" Initiatives Are Gay Activists' Latest Tools Of Choice For Sneaking Homosexuality Lessons Into Classrooms. She's the education expert...right?
~~~~~~
Further reading:
* Twin Cities Daily Planet: Mother: Anoka-Hennepin School policy contributed to gay son's suicide
* GLSEN: An Open Letter from GLSEN Board Member Sirdeaner Walker to Candi Cushman at Focus on the Family
Related:
* AFA Highlights/Recycles FOTF Campaign Against Perceived Gay Public School Agenda
* Focus On The Family/CitizenLink Sees "Sneaky" Gay Agenda In The Public Schools.
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