FW: [NEWS] strictly FYI:News from Oregon, Arizona, Seattle, California
Aragon, Mary
FYI
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(1) Gay Student Teacher Settles Discrimination Claim
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/02/14/Gay_Student_Teacher_Settles_Discrimination_Claim/
A Beaverton, Oregon school district has settled a discrimination complaint filed by a student teacher who says he lost his job after discussing gay marriage with a fourth-grader.
In October a 9-year-old student at Sexton Mountain Elementary School asked student teacher Seth Stambaugh if he was married. According to Stambaugh, who is gay, “I indicated that I was not. He asked me if it was because I wasn't old enough. I told him no, that it would be because I would choose to marry another man. And he asked if I liked to hang out with other guys and I said ‘Yep.’”
After a complaint from a parent, officials at the school district said the conversation wasn’t age-appropriate and called into question Stambaugh’s professional judgment before removing him from his position. When the district reinstated Stambaugh following national media coverage, the parents removed the child from the school.
Stambaugh and the district have been involved in mediation since late last year. Both parties recently agreed on a resolution, the results of which were released Friday. According toThe Oregonian, the school district agreed to pay a settlement of $75,000 to Stambaugh as well as "provide leadership training concerning issues related to sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression."
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(2)New Arizona bill would aim to stop bullying at schools
http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/New-bill-would-aim-to-put-a-stop-to-bullying-at-schools-116197719.html Posted on February 14, 2011 at 5:17 PMby Alicia E. Barrón
PHOENIX – A new bill in Arizona is aimed at protecting your kids against bullies at school.
Caleb Laieski, 16, dropped out of school because he says he was being bullied for being gay and felt he had nowhere to turn.
The proposed bill Arizona Safe Schools Act is designed to better protect kids from bullies.
Laieski says, “In the beginning, it was very difficult.” He says he announced he was gay in 8th grade and was threatened to be killed and told he was going to hell.
Laieski told his teachers about the name-calling and threats but says nothing was ever done. “Administration failed but I stayed strong and took it from another perspective.”
Laieski chose to become the “voice” for the proposed law Arizona Safe Schools Act. The act is being examined by the Senate education committee at the capitol.
Sam Holdren, with Equality Arizona, helped write the bill. “[The bill] ensures that schools are protecting all children from bullying and harassment regardless of their background, including their sexual orientation and gender identity,” Holden explains. “Without that language schools then ignore their responsibility to protect these kids and then we see some really serious consequences.”
Despite dropping out of school, Laieski has since received his GED and is currently enrolling in community college to study criminal justice.
The proposed bill would also address cyber bullying and gives schools the power to discipline student engaging in any type of cyber bullying using school computers.
If the Arizona Safe Schools Act passes, teachers will be trained further on how to address bullying issues at school.
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February 14, 2011, 5:03 pm
(3) Web of Popularity, Achieved by Bullying
By TARA PARKER-POPEhttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/web-of-popularity-weaved-by-bullying/?partner=rss&emc=rss
For many teenagers navigating the social challenges of high school, the ultimate goal is to become part of the “popular” crowd.
But new research suggests that the road to high school popularity can be treacherous, and that students near the top of the social hierarchy are often both perpetrators and victims of aggressive behavior involving their peers.
The latest findings, being published this month in The American Sociological Review, offer a fascinating glimpse into the social stratification of teenagers. The new study, along with related research from the University of California, Davis, also challenges the stereotypes of both high school bully and victim.
Highly publicized cases of bullying typically involve chronic harassment of socially isolated students, but the latest studies suggest that various forms of teenage aggression and victimization occur throughout the social ranks as students jockey to improve their status.
The findings contradict the notion of the school bully as maladjusted or aggressive by nature. Instead, the authors argue that when it comes to mean behavior, the role of individual traits is “overstated,” and much of it comes down to concern about status.
“Most victimization is occurring in the middle to upper ranges of status,” said the study’s author, Robert Faris, an assistant professor of sociology at U.C. Davis. “What we think often is going on is that this is part of the way kids strive for status. Rather than going after the kids on the margins, they might be targeting kids who are rivals.”
Educators and parents are often unaware of the daily stress and aggression with which even socially well-adjusted students must cope.
“It may be somewhat invisible,” Dr. Faris said. “The literature on bullying has so focused on this one dynamic of repeated chronic antagonism of socially isolated kids that it ignores these other forms of aggression. It’s entirely possible that one act, one rumor spread on the Internet could be devastating.”
In a series of studies, some still awaiting publication, the U.C. Davis researchers asked 3,722 eighth to 10th graders in three counties in North Carolina to name their five best friends. Then the students were asked whether they had ever been a target of aggressive behavior by their peers — including physical violence, verbal abuse and harassment, rumors and gossip, or ostracism — and whether they had engaged in such behavior themselves.
The researchers used the data to construct complex social maps of the schools, tracking groups of friends and identifying the students who were consistently at the hub of social life. “It’s not simply the number of friends the kid has, it’s who their friends are,” Dr. Faris said. “The kids we’re talking about are right in the middle of things.”
Using the maps, the researchers tracked the students most often accused of aggressive behavior. They found that increases in social status were associated with subsequent increases in aggression. But notably, aggressive behavior peaked at the 98th percentile of popularity and then dropped.
“At the very top you start to see a reversal — the kids in the top 2 percent are less likely to be aggressive,” Dr. Faris said. “The interpretation I favor is that they no longer need to be aggressive because they’re at the top, and further aggression could be counterproductive, signaling insecurity with their social position.
“It’s possible that they’re incredibly friendly and everybody loves them and they were never mean, but I’m not so convinced by that, because there are so many kids right behind them in the hierarchy who are highly aggressive.”
Over all, the research shows that about a third of students are involved in aggressive behavior. In another paper presented last year, Dr. Faris reported that most teenage aggression is directed at social rivals — “maybe one rung ahead of you or right beneath you,” as he put it, “rather than the kid who is completely unprotected and isolated.”
“It’s not to say those kids don’t get picked on, because they do,” he said. “But the overall rate of aggression seems to increase as status goes up. What it suggests is that a student thinks they get more benefit to going after somebody who is a rival.”
The research offers a road map for educators struggling to curb bullying and aggression both inside and outside of school. One option may be to enlist the support of students who aren’t engaged in bullying — those at the very top of the social ladder, and the two-thirds who don’t bully.
Richard Gallagher, director of the Parenting Institute at the New York University Child Study Center, said the research added to a growing body of scientific literature documenting the role that popularity plays in aggressive teasing and bullying behavior.
“It does highlight that it’s a typical behavior that’s used in establishing social networks and status,” said Dr. Gallagher, an associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry. “Schools and parents need to be tuned into this as a behavior that occurs all the time. It means that school districts need to have policies that deal with this, and I think it means also that we need to turn to the adolescents for some of the solutions.”
Dr. Gallagher said that although results had been mixed, some research showed that schools could reduce bullying and aggression by enlisting the help of students as well as administrators.
“It’s not likely to eliminate it completely, but it’s likely to decrease its occurrence,” he said. “The programs that have been successful are the ones that get kids to stop being passive bystanders who go along with teasing or bullying. Efforts have been made to get the popular kids to say, ‘This is not cool.’ ”
Dr. Faris said he planned to conduct new research that would match the social maps with yearbooks to better document a school’s social hierarchy. A related study, he added, also suggests that it’s not just popularity that influences aggressive behavior, but how much the student cares about being popular.
“Historically, all the attention has been on the mental health deficiencies of the bullies,” he said. “We need to direct more attention to how aggression is interwoven into the social fabric of these schools.”
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(4) SGN UPDATE: Queer Youth Space search
http://www.sgn.org/sgnnews39_06/page1.cfm
by Anthony Greer - SGN Contributing Writer
In July of 2011, the City of Seattle Neighborhood Matching Fund Program approved a roughly 80-page grant proposal which gave Three Wings, a separate committee of the Queer Youth Space (QYS), $100,000 to open the kind of safe space that many Queer youth had been advocating for.
Half a year later, the space still does not exist.
'The $100,000 is for the community match,' one of QYS's founding members, Kyle Rapiñan, said. 'We have more than $100,000 worth of volunteer time, but the amount of cash on hand is lower than that. We need to have a safe cash fruition to do what we want to do.'
Rapiñan explained that the funds are contingent on a physical space with a secured lease.
Eden Lord, a member on the Three Wings Board of Directors, said, 'What we need primarily is a space on Capitol Hill that is close to bus lines, stores, and where people hang out.'
QYS believes the space needs to be in an area which is 'alive.' They also want to find a space that is accessible for the differently-abled, and somewhere they can have shows in the evenings without noise complaints.
So far, according to QYS officials, they've had difficulty finding the perfect space, as well as a landlord who, if need be, would negotiate with them on their lease. In order for them to open their cultural arts center, they will be dependent on additional help from the community.
'We need a down payment of about $10,000 for the first couple months of rent,' estimated Kyle Croft, another member of both QYS and Three Wings. He and several others are currently searching for more donors and other grants to apply for, but he admits that 'it's hard to ask for money if we don't have a space yet. I think we're going to be launching a fundraising drive pretty soon.'
Croft later mentioned that QYS is working with Vera Project to host an all-ages Queer dance party at Chop Suey on April 1, and that other fundraisers are in the early planning stages.
Rapiñan, Lord, and Croft all emphasized that they want their events to be accessible to all of their constituents. Thus, they've had a more difficult time finding spaces to hold events in than other Queer-related organizations - hosting a fundraiser in one of Capitol Hill's popular bars can be as simple as setting a date and time and creating a Facebook invite list. In fact, one of the reasons why QYS took form in the first place was because so many fundraisers involved pricey dinners that most youth can't afford, and events are often held in spaces that are ageist, even if they could.
'There have been a lot of fluctuating energy levels in QYS and Three Wings, but for now, the events that QYS throws are the most exciting part because it's something that we can do right now,' Croft said.
'It's hard to be Queer and under 21 in Seattle,' Rapiñan said. 'Adults say that it's OK for [Queer] youth to come out, but they don't have places that they can go to that aren't directed by adults. There really needs to be more of a partnership between Queer youth and adults, and I think that QYS is an avenue for that.'
In order for QYS to be such an avenue, the Three Wings campaign needs to find a space. After they find a space, the Cultural Arts Center - also known as the first wing - would be able to open. It would allow for various events such as open-mic nights, rummage sales, concerts, and dance parties to take place.
'We'd like to have an open social space, not like a drop-in center. We want an active space,' Croft said. There would ideally be a broad focus on art, available materials to create art, and the space to display it.
'One thing I was really interested in when I was writing the grant was to make the space non-hierarchical. The people who are coming to the space are the people who own it. The constituency has power over the space and can react and change things as it sees fit.'
In addition to the Cultural Arts Center, the Three Wings campaign would also like to open a café, but the square footage that it would reside on cannot be paid for by city money. The City of Seattle Neighborhood Matching Fund Program prohibits them from using any part of the grant to further generate revenue for the space. After the Cultural Arts Center is created, the Wellness Collaborative Center - the second wing - would be added to it.
'In its youngest form, it would provide mental health services to young people. Eventually it would expand to workshops focused on youth care and wellness and helping young Queer people who don't really know anything about what's out there to get the services that they need,' Croft said.
Lastly, the Research and Education Center - the third wing - would involve working with other organizations on the Hill and getting them to be more accepting of Queer youth. It would also be a space where Queer youth could partake in anti-oppressive and activism training, lead by a coalition of Queer leaders and educators - youth and adult alike.
Lord, who will be graduating this June with a master's degree in social work from the University of Washington, said, 'I would be there to offer whatever resources and support that I have. I would be 100% behind it, but they wouldn't necessarily need my help.' Members of the Three Wings campaign will be looking at a few more locations this weekend in hopes of finding a space where they can set their plan in motion. Until then, the general sentiments and ambitions of the campaign's members remain strong. 'I got involved with QYS because I felt so hopeful and inspired by this project. I feel energized and awakened by being part of this, and I'm really inspired by the other adults and youth on this project,' Lord said, smiling. 'Any adults who want to get involved, who have special skills, or want to help with fundraising are totally welcome,' Rapiñan said. 'For this to be successful, adults will have to collaborate with us if they really want to change society and if they really want to help Queer youth. I really think that adults need to look at the stats. Forty percent of homeless youth are Queer, but there are no Queer shelters for youth under 18. Also, the only dance space for youth is Neighbours after 2 a.m. There really needs to be a lot more of a welcoming environment for Queer youth.' After large-scale events such as last year's 'Mutiny' and 'Pink Prom' achieved massive amounts of publicity, there are a lot of people waiting to see what will happen next with the QYS and the Three Wings campaign. Despite becoming quieter after receiving the $100,000, its members insist that 2010 was an amazing year for them - but that 2011 will be even better.
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(5) City College pursues LGBT studies major
Published 02/17/2011
by Matthew S. Bajko
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=5469
City College of San Francisco is applying to become the first of the state's two-year community colleges to offer an LGBT studies major. School officials are hopeful they will be able to begin offering the new degree program in the fall.
The campus' curriculum committee recently voted to unanimously endorse adding the LGBT studies major to its offerings. The college's elected Board of Trustees is expected to endorse the proposal later this spring before school administrators seek final approval from the chancellor's office of the statewide community college system.
"No other community college in California is as well equipped to offer this as we are," said Ardel Thomas, Ph.D., chair of the LGBT studies department.
When City College created the gay and lesbian studies department in 1989, it was the first of its kind in the United States. The school had been offering individual classes as far back as 1972.
Thomas has wanted to offer an LGBT studies major at City College since she was hired in 2006 as chair of the department. The stumbling block at the time, she said, was that few four-year institutions offered an LGBT studies major or minor.
"One reason why we didn't put the major forward before is that up until recently there were no other programs you could really go to," she said. "Now, however, LGBT studies and queer studies is recognized internationally as a field in academia."
It is still rare for schools to have dedicated LGBT studies departments, said Thomas. Students seeking such a major are often housed within English departments or under gender or women's studies.
But numerous colleges and universities are offering courses in LGBT studies and now allow students to either major or minor in it. In the Bay Area, San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley, Stanford University, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Davis all offer either certificates or degrees in LGBT or queer studies. In researching her proposal, Thomas found that more than 75 North American campuses offer such programs.
Having such a major at City College would allow the department's students to transfer to those four-year institutions with LGBT majors or minors and continue their education in the field, said Thomas.
"While the LGBT studies major at City College of San Francisco offers a full array of general education and diversity requirements, it will also prepare students for transfer to numerous LGBT/queer studies baccalaureate programs in the United States and Canada," stated Thomas in her proposal to the curriculum committee.
Benjamin Marmolejo, 19, said he is thinking about either seeking LGBT studies as a major or a minor to an English major. He has been taking classes in the department since he enrolled at City College three semesters ago.
"I was able to talk about, write about, and read about things in my mind even before I came out," said Marmolejo, who is gay and lives in Oakland. "I was able to meet a lot of really cool people. One course turned into another."
He is hopeful City College will secure the needed approvals to start the major this fall.
"It would be really sad if there were any issues. These classes attract a wide and diverse audience of students who are really interested in the subject matter," said Marmolejo.
In an interview, Thomas said not only would having an LGBT studies major better protect her department from budget cuts but also would cater to the academic needs of the department's students, a growing number of whom want to be able to major in LGBT studies. Nearly 40 students have expressed interest in doing so once the major is approved, she said.
"We are in un-normal financial times. I don't think anything is going to get cut from LGBT studies but having a major will legitimize the department," said Thomas. "And when we have a set of courses students need to take to get the major then we don't have any of this wrestling around will this class make it if it doesn't have X number of students."
For those students who want to major in LGBT studies, said Thomas, "I think it helps them feel empowered."
Lawrence Wong, the only out member on the community college board, told the Bay Area Reporter he sees no reason why he and his colleagues would not support the creation of an LGBT studies major.
"This is nothing more than a progression of what City College has done in the past in terms of being in the forefront of educating our community regarding the LGBT movement and empowerment of the community and the history of the community," said Wong. "It is very exciting and makes a lot of sense because San Francisco is the epicenter of the LGBT studies movement and the LGBT world looks to us for leadership."
City College's Dean of Curriculum Tom Boegel expects to present the local board with Thomas's proposal for the LGBT studies major in late March or early April. Once approved locally then the application will be submitted to the office of the chancellor for the statewide system. Boegel estimated it could take up to six months for state officials to review the plans.
"We have a very good track record in terms of getting majors approved at the state chancellor's office and I am very optimistic," said Boegel. "We are San Francisco for heaven's sake. If there is any city and any community college in this country that should have an LGBT studies major it is us."
A spokesperson for the chancellor's office did not respond to requests for comment.
One of the key issues will be proving that City College students who major in LGBT studies will be able to transfer to a four-year school, said Boegel.
"This is not like chemistry where the first few years what you have to do is very cut and dry across different four-year schools, not only in California but across the country. This is different. There is no set lower division pattern," said Boegel.
He has been working with Thomas to ensure they provide enough evidence to the chancellor's office about the other schools that offer an LGBT studies major and the classes City College will require students to complete before they can graduate.
"Never say never but I would not anticipate we would have difficulty with this. The way Ardel has worked to put this program together and the work she has done with our articulation officer on ensuring the students have the credits they need to transfer and the courses we have are recognized and approved at four-year schools; we have done a lot of our homework here," said Boegel.
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