Griffiths trying to lead way on stopping of LBGT bullying

BY JOHN GUERRA

What was School Board member Andy Griffiths doing at a Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgender conference for educators in Boca Raton recently?Getting advice on how to change existing anti-bullying policy to protect students from harassment and bullying because they practice alternative sex lives.

“I learned what other schools were dealing with when it came to protecting students in those communities,” Griffiths said. “Teens are in the gym class, for instance, and one of the kids misses a pass during basketball, and another kid calls that kid ‘gay,’ just kidding around or not, it affects kids.”

Coaches need to be trained, for instance, in identifying that as bullying, he said.

Monroe County schools already have anti-bullying sensitivity training so teachers can spot such behavior. There is district-wide policy against face-to-face and cyber-bullying, but some Florida school districts are writing policies specifically prohibiting harassment of LBGT students. The rules also recommend appointing an adult in each school to whom LBGT students can talk when troubled, Griffiths said.

“These kids are four times as likely to commit suicide when bullied in school,” Griffiths said. “I found out there is a mountain of resources available for us in this area. The other thing that happens in the school, you don’t know who the appropriate adult in the school is. What I learned in the conference, the adult may be someone who experienced the same kind of harassment when they were coming up because the student might trust them.”

This is one instance where the Florida Legislature has pointed the way, but left school districts on their own to write policy.

The Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act passed the Legislature in 2008 to honor the student who committed suicide rather than bear another day as a victim of bullying. The Cape Coral honors student hanged himself in his bedroom closet after deciding “he could no longer endure a life of relentless torment by the bully who had targeted him for more than three years,” the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel wrote at the time.

Griffiths is trying to get all school board members to support writing the policy protecting LGBT students, but the district already includes transgender and gay students in its policy.School Board member Robin Smith-Martin believes all students are protected under existing anti-bullying policies, Griffiths said. Smith-Martin did not respond to an email asking him to respond to Griffiths’ comments.

“I’m trying to get Monroe County to get on board,” Griffiths said. “Here’s a rare area where the state is saying we’re going to let you school boards write your own laws in this area.”

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