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Chicago considering GLBT school

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Illinois

* I’m interested to see how you feel about this idea…

Chicago Public Schools is looking at opening a high school designed for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students.

A group of educators proposing the school say it will provide a safer learning environment for GLBT students, but would be open to everyone.

William Greaves is a spokesman for the group.

GREAVES: We saw many students who were well-adjusted and integrated into their high schools, but we saw just as many who were not integrated, and feeling isolated and at risk.

Bert Cohler is a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago. He agrees that some GLBT students need a more supportive environment for a time. But there’s at least one possible drawback.

COHLER: These kids grow up in a sheltered world and don’t learn to deal, if you will, with the slings and arrows of the ordinary straight world.

* More…

A 2006 report by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network ( GLSEN ) found that 35 percent of Illinois students reported that sexual orientation is the most common reason students are harassed or bullied at school. Nearly the same number of Illinois students said the same for gender identity.

In the same report, almost 75 percent of Illinois students said they heard other students make anti-gay remarks…

Other studies have found that LGBTQ students are more likely to miss school because they feel unsafe and are more likely to report physical violence than their heterosexual counterparts. LGBT students are also more likely to report attempting suicide.

According to Hollendoner, even though CPS and others have tried to improve Chicago schools for LGBTQ students over the years, not all students experience a welcoming and safe environment. For example, 50 LGBTQ youth have enrolled in BYC’s general educational development program since last year. Many of these youth dropped out of school because of the violence they faced.

Thoughts?

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 10:12 am

Comments

Cool - segregation all over again! This has slippery slope written all over it.

Comment by BigDog Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 10:19 am
Hmmm, what does it mean to foster a safe learning enviroment for GLBT students? And I would rather this was a private school instead of a public school. And is Chicago trying to turn into another NYC, because they came up with this idea first?

Comment by Levois Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 10:20 am
I think they should fix the bigger problem first. The fact that some straight (I’m guessing) students are feeling compelled to pick on and bully gay and transgendered students, especially physical violence or the threats thereof. There ought to be no tolerance for that kind of behavior.

Comment by cermak_rd Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 10:22 am
What a terrible idea! Dividing kids like this makes sexual orientation the number one factor in their identities. That’s an awful time to ask some kid to label himself/herself as GLBT.

Comment by Betty R Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 10:28 am
horrible idea. kids need to learn to cope with discrimination of all kinds to be better adults. protecting them from this will make them soft.

Comment by anon Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 10:29 am
I agree that it’s a terrible idea. No one should care about the students’ sexual orientations.

Comment by PhilCollins Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 10:29 am
Mixed feelings. There is probably extra bullying going on with these kids, but we don;t want new segregation.

I bet their football team is going to be really, really, bad.

Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 10:31 am
I would wait until after the Presidential election before making this a big issue. It really seems tailor made for a Republican hate attack.

Having said that, kids can be pretty devastating to those of different sexualities. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to let a group of kids grow up without being picked on and let them find out who they are without getting grundy’s and swirlies. However, the Chicago Public Schools needs to be solving the gang problem which affects every child. Any resources redirected to other programs could be a deadly mistake.

Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 10:32 am
I thought that we were past the separate but equal gambit.

Millions have been spent mainstreaming students who had special needs. The school of thought is that it is better for the special needs students to be with their peers as much as possible.

If there is a population of students who is not properly served by the system, fix the system, don’t create a gulag

Comment by Plutocrat03 Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 10:41 am
I went to an unsafe high school. I was threatened. I saw bullying. I saw a couple of my teachers physically attacked right in class.

If there was a public school available for students were learning was paramount and safety enforced, I would have claimed to be gay, just to escape that rat hole!

For crying out loud people, we’re talking about growing adolescents! Their voices haven’t yet changed but they’re supposed to know their sexual orientation?

What a freaking stupid idea.

Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 10:45 am
Segregation is the new tollerance. What a terrible idea.

Comment by Downstate weed chewing hick Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 10:53 am
Jeepers Pluto,

Creating a voluntary high school where students who think they might be gay can enroll and receive education and counseling that might help benefit their social development wouldn’t exactly be a gulag. And they are not special needs kids either.

But you can'’t consider consider this idea until you make the schools safe for kids in general.

Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 10:57 am
I agree with Cohler. Kids are getting sheltered more and more. they can’t get cut from teams, you can’t give them bad grades, you can’t flunk them. How are they going to learn to overcome struggles if they never have any?

Comment by Cranky Old Man Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 11:04 am
bad idea. and yes, Levois you are correct, Chicago is turning into NYC. what a shame.

Comment by Amy Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 11:07 am
I try to view everyone as equals, but when you segregate yourself, what am I supposed to think? As a chubby kid in elementary school, I was picked on, I was bullied. But I got older and it didn’t matter anymore. Gay crap doesn’t smell any sweeter than straight crap. Man up, deal with it.

Comment by Heartless Libertarian Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 11:12 am
I changed my mind, let ‘em get picked on, toughen ‘em up. A little bullyin’ is good for ‘em and if it really gets outa hand they can always go cry to their mommies.

Come’on folks, we are passed all this. Bullying has lead to some of the most horrendous events in this nation. Just cause you were picked on doesn’t make it right.

Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 11:19 am
Their hearts are in the right place. But I think that rather than a separate school, it is incumbent upon the admins and teachers to foster a safe learning environment for everyone.

Oh, and the idea that Chicago is “trying to be NY?”. Absurd. One place seeing a successful idea or program elsewhere and trying to replicate that success is hardly trying to be them. Is Rich “trying to be” Drudge or Kos or Townhall?

Comment by jsfan Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 11:22 am
Schools should be safe for everyone. That’s the bottom line.

If the City of Chicago can make a school that’s safe for GLBT students, it can make all its schools safe.

Comment by Fan of the Game Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 11:27 am
Well now, as long as we’re at it, why not send all the fat kids to one school, all the kids with braces to another, then all the kids with glasses to another and we can live in a selective society and NEVER learn to play well with others. What I tell my slightly overweight child when she gets picked on is that when someone picks on you it’s usually because they are not happy inside - whether it’s their home or their heart. Try to have some understanding for the bad things in their life that you cannot see. It’s called compassion. If that doesn’t work, tell a teacher.

Comment by What Will They Think of Next Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 11:31 am
This is perhaps the most idiotic single idea to ever come out of Chicago.

Lets concerntrate all the GLBT kids in one spot! Can you imagine the opportunity that would be, facilitated by the state, for even more hate crimes, and attacks.

Some idiot could now simply wait for school to get out at the “gay” school and…well I dont want to give anyone any ideas…I think you can finish my thought.

My point is simply that this could actually endanger GLBT kids more than it would protect them.

Comment by Speaking At Will Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 11:40 am
Better idea: leave the GLBT’s alone and send the thugs to reform school.

Comment by Anon III Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 11:41 am
Anon III, that I could agree with! It seems that CPS tolerates badly behaved young adults to a shocking extent, rather than disciplining them and yes, perhaps making them seek alternative schooling where they can’t disrupt the educations of the rest of the students.

Comment by cermak_rd Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 12:27 pm
I don’t think this would constitute “segregation” as it states plainly that the school would be open to anyone.

I’m all for it. I think it’s important for children to learn in a safe, accepting environment.

Comment by Undercover Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 12:28 pm
“Rainbow High” would be an instant target for hate crimes, the so-called religious anti-gay picketers, pedophile teachers crusing for same-sex victims and ultra right-wing venom. High school is hard enough. Forcing a teenager to declare his or her allegiance to “Rainbow High” at such a young age does not seem prudent to this observer.

Comment by Jake from Elwood Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 12:49 pm
I’d much rather separate boys from girls in school, like the Catholic schools used to do. GLBT public school? Bad idea period.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 12:51 pm
This proposal is a good-hearted but wrong-headed idea. Like mentioned, it broaches the question of seperate but equal and the time and energy spent towards the goal and protecting GLBT students can be can be expanded to all students.

However, I’ve got to speak up on a few things that are bugging me from a good number of comments that I feel are misguided or just downright wrong:

The comments likining homosexuality to obesity and astigmatism are pretty offensive; they’re not in fact the same thing, and try to carry the connotation that it’s a choice or can be fixed.

The comments making assertions that adolscents can’t be aware of burgeoning sexual identity is completely misguided. No one follows one blueprint or timeline in discovering sexuality, but no one can deny recently students are coming to terms and opening up at earlier and earlier ages. I was fully aware I was gay at age 12 and grew up with that knowledge in middle school and high school. I came out at 15 to a private Catholic High School and ended up being Homecoming King. When I graduated, I shipped off to Chicago so I could be around other GLBT people.

This isn’t the case with most GLBT students. Some can’t escape. The agression facing GLBT students stems from deep-rooted hostility, not run of the mill bullying. We’re not talking “grundys or swirlies,” we’re talking actual physical abuse sometimes carried to the extreme of murder. When’s the last time a student walked in a classroom and shot point-blank the fat kid with glasses because he was different? So please, let’s get over those smug assertions because sometimes it’s not all relative.

That all said, again, this proposal is a good-hearted but wrong-headed idea. But in saying so, please, show a little more compassion and common sense in doing so.

Comment by WonderBoy Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 1:04 pm
And Rich, you’re going to let things like “I bet their football team is going to be very, very bad” slide? Is that funny? I’ve seen you delete for less.

Comment by WonderBoy Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 1:06 pm
===please, show a little more compassion and common sense in doing so.===

I agree. Thanks for saying that.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 1:07 pm
Actually, I didn’t see the football team comment.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 1:10 pm
WonderBoy - It is what it is. I was not comparing gay to fat. I am pointing out that we are all different for many different reasons. Don’t assume that your journey is any different than any other child be they fat, gay whatever! The result is the same. You say that an “obese” child can change. Not necessarily. Inside, they are fighting the same emotional battles that you are. Trying to find themselves and fit in where they don’t feel they belong. As I said in my previous post. Everyone must try to feel compassion. I was there - I know.

Comment by What Will They Think of Next Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 1:58 pm
I apologize for my offensive(to some) attempts at humor. I am sorry for those who were offended.

Mixed feelings. There is probably extra bullying going on with these kids, but we don’t want new segregation.

Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 2:01 pm
It is an admission of defeat by people who are evidently not fit to run public schools. If they can’t make our schools safe, positive learning environments for all, they should get out of the way and hand over the reins to someone who can.

Comment by Angry Chicagoan Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 2:03 pm
It’s a nice idea on the face of it bit in the end it will only create an unreal environment for kids that will later face challenges throughout their lives. This is likely not to help them and only hurt the “gay/transgender community” more as transporation challenges to the schools will cost more and anger taxpayers that might be predisposed to negative feelings and bigotry.

Comment by dhouser Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 2:14 pm
I’m a card-carrying ACLU member and I feel much trepidation over the possibility of opening a GLBT-only school. Such a move would smack of “forced segregation” and would not adequately prepare these children for the harsh realties of adult life (in my opinion). At times during my own happy childhood, I endured name-calling (even the “N” word) and subtle and not-so-subtle racism as an African-American youngster living in a mostly White neighborhood. These realties served to strengthen my resolve to combat these social ills.

I am all for gay and lesbian rights, but there has got to be a better way to support and nurture GLBT teens…

Comment by Black Ivy Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 2:25 pm
A bully is a bully regardless of their sexual orientation. Seperate schools may help curb the problem but I don’t think it will eleminate it.

Comment by keep it in the family Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 2:28 pm
It speaks volumes that the administration of the public schools are doing such a crappy job of protecting their LGBT students that they may need to be moved out for their own safety. The bullies are the ones who should be bounced…not the victims.

Comment by Mountain Man Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 3:09 pm
The bullying problem is unacceptable for any student not just for the GLBT kids.

I recall people being the brunt of a lot of bad behavior for reasons from being different to wearing the wrong color socks to school.

There is no acceptable excuse for bullying or picking on someone. However the trend in the CPS stories I have been told is to ignore behavior outside the classroom and keep the classroom real loose… leads to a poor learning environment for all.

Some one also has to man (or woman) up and figure out how the kids can get to and from any school without being afraid for their lives….good question for the mayor when he not shilling for the Olympics!

How do the separate violent kids work in other districts? Could be another tool in the arsenal of law enforcement….

Comment by Plutocrat03 Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 3:34 pm
I do want to make one mention here. I was a fat child (I’m still fat, but 180lb lighter than I was 2 years ago!) and I was taunted in school. However, once I became an adult and hit college I was not harassed and once I got into the corporate world, I’ve not been harassed or taunted once. Adults simply don’t treat each other as poorly as children and teens do, and anti-discrimination/harassment policies are strictly enforced in the corporate world.

Just wanted to put in my $.02 that the harsher world is high school, not the real world.

Comment by cermak_rd Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 4:27 pm
The strongly negative reactions of so many commenters is rather surprising.

My own view is that sexual orientation is an extremely complicated subject and, in our society, constitutes a significant burden for young people especially. I don’t agree that the problems that gay and lesbian youths face in existing schools is adequately described as a mere variant of the ubiquitous phenomenon of “bullying.” Sexual orientation cuts to the heart of how one conceives of one’s role in life. Needless to say, the onset of emerging adulthood presents a number of challenges to the young person. Being homosexual adds a huge psychological burden to those individuals insofar as it requires them to, in many cases, reconceptualize what course their life will take since a traditional marriage-and-children future is largely foreclosed to them. There is then the inevitable feeling of isolation, combined with loneliness and confusion.

It strikes me that an environment sensitive to these matters would be a very positive thing for young people in this situation.

Another thought: in the affirmative action cases, Justice Ginsburg and her ideological bedfellows took pains to draw a distinction between “invidious” discrimination, segregation or classification designed to stigmatize a group, and non-invidious discrimination. The non-invidious variety is conceptually distinct from constitutionally-prohibited invidious discrimination by virtue of the clear intent behind the classification scheme. In the case of a gay and lesbian school, the rationale for classification is clearly not to further stigmatize, deprive, or otherwise undermine the group in question. Rather, it is an attempt to provide an environment which will more adequately meet their unique needs. In this sense, calling the plan a form of discrimination is certainly true, but it is hard to see why that characterization alone makes the proposal objectionable.

Submitted with all due respect to the views of others….

Comment by anon Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 4:51 pm
Wait a second. Didn’t revend Meeks set up a boycott of the public school in order to change the formula for funding? The schools still have their problems outside of the finer schools in the city. Yet instead of improving the schools they decide to build a safer environment for a group of people. Perhaps they need to focus on the rest of the system.

Comment by Levois Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 5:24 pm
In response to Levois: How is building a safer environment for a group of students NOT improving the schools? Seems to me you have set up a false dichotomy. A safer environment is by definition an improvement.

Comment by anon Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 5:43 pm
To summarize (and comment):

1) The physical safety of ALL kids at school is very important. If parents won’t teach their kids to not attack others, somebody must.

2) Despite what everybody says the purpose of education is, its purpose is to teach you the rules of life. The rules include that life isn’t fair and there are bullies and you have to find a way to deal with them, no matter what your “orientation” is.

Comment by Mr. Wizard Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 6:03 pm
===life isn’t fair and there are bullies ===

Yeah, but once you’re out of the bizarre world that is high school, bullies are a whole lot easier to avoid, or retaliate against.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 6:07 pm
The system needs to focus on the safety of everyone on their property not just focus on one demographic group. Plain and simple! That’s not a false dichotomy! I don’t want to see any kid harrassed and bulled whether they are GLBT or whatever. It shouldn’t be tolerated by anyone & against anyone!

Comment by Levois Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 6:12 pm
No, I suspect this is someone trying to make a name for themselves among the the School Administrator Intelligentsia. You know, I have a cutting-edge idea, give me a grant.

Society’s obsession with sexuality baffles me. What are private acts are worn as a badge. As Gore Vidal once wrote, there are no heterosexuals and no homosexuals. Humanity is divided into men and women, who since time began have chosen any combination of sexual acts.

For most of history, they’d done so privately.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 6:30 pm
We have private schools that are all-male, all-female, all-daf, all-blind, all-whatever-your-religion-is, and if some private school wants to become “special” in this way, I don’t have a problem with it, bet they’ll have a much better arts program than sports.

But at the same time, I don’t think it should be done as a state school. State schools should already be completely tolerant regarding gender and race, by law, and if they are not, we need to fix that. These GLBTNRBQ folks have to live in a world that doesn’t make any special accommodations for them. Learning alongside people who are different makes the majority learn and begin to understand the minority better over time. Makes our society more understanding and welcoming/accommodating over time. Keeping every strand of difference in its own silo or bubble is not what our “melting pot” society is ostensibly about. Government-funded “specialty” schools for sexual orientation seems a step backwards to me. But I’m all for any private institution that wants to take this on. I’m thinking though that from a marketing standpoint they can’t get enough enrollment to make a real go of it.

Comment by Gregor Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 6:55 pm
It’s probably a good idea for some, but how practical? It could be a very long commute.

Comment by Rod Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 7:20 pm
Since Chicago is into segregation, how about special schools for kids who are serious about their education?? That would be a lot more socially beneficial than this sort of nonsense.

Comment by Skirmisher Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 7:41 pm
Skirmisher, CPS has those. They’re called magnet schools. Michelle Obama, for one, went to Whitney Young. Michael Jordan, who’s not short on cash, sent his two sons there, too.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Sep 9, 08 @ 7:48 pm