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Safe Schools

Students need a safe and civil school environment to meet high academic standards.
Studies have shown a direct link between academic performance and feelings of safety in the school environment.1 Harassment, intimidation and bullying, like other disruptive or violent behaviors, impede both a student’s ability to learn and a school’s ability to educate its students.
Two-thirds of teens report that they have been verbally or physically harassed during the past school year.
Sixty-five percent of teens say they have been verbally or physically assaulted in the past year because of their perceived or actual appearance, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability or religion.2 These numbers don’t take into account the students who do not report incidents of harassment, intimidation or bullying because of embarrassment or fear. For example, 67 percent gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (GLBT) students never report harassment.3 This pervasive problem is often inadequately addressed or completely ignored by teachers, principals and administrators who are not equipped with the information or training to address the problem.
Ninety percent of GLBT students report being harassed or assaulted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
Compared to other students, GLBT youth are at increased risk of being targeted for harassment and discrimination in schools. GLBT students are also three times more likely to say that they feel unsafe at school than their non-GLBT counterparts.4
Students who experience harassment are more likely to skip school.
The climate of fear created by harassment and discrimination often results in increased rates of absenteeism and decreased academic performance. Students who said they were victims of bullying received more D’s and F’s than their non-bullied counterparts and were far less likely to participate in afterschool activities.5 Bullied students are four times as likely as their non-bullied peers to skip school.6 Absences and concerns about personal safety can effect students’ performance on standardized tests, which affects both individual educational achievement and school funding.
Harassment impairs educational attainment and, ultimately, earning potential.
Students who skip school to avoid harassment miss instruction, which can put them at a disadvantage. But even when students stay in school, they are less able to learn while subject to bullying and harassment. Educational attainment significantly affects financial success. For example, the 2000 median earnings for women aged 25 and older who held a high school diploma and worked full-time was $23,700, yet women with some high school experience but no diploma had a median income of only $17,200. Similarly, men with a high school diploma earned $32,500, while those with some high school but no diploma had median earnings of only $24,400.7
An overwhelming majority of parents and teachers support anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies.
Eighty percent of parents favor the expansion of existing anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies to include GLBT students.8 The same majority support teacher sensitivity training that includes instructions for dealing with anti-gay harassment in schools. Nearly two-thirds also support including information about transgender people in such sensitivity training. Seventy-one percent of teachers believe that such policies help ensure a safe learning environment for GLBT students.9
The Safe Schools Act can protect students, including GLBT individuals, from harassment and discrimination.
States can protect students and avoid potential liability suits by adopting and implementing laws that
  • Prohibit discrimination and harassment on the basis of actual or perceived characteristics, including race, color, religion, disability, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression.
  • Establish clear procedures for responding to complaints under this policy.
  • Provide necessary training to staff and teachers to implement policies.
Fourteen states now offer protections for GLBT students.
Nine states (CA, CT, MA, MD, MN, NJ, VT, WA, WI) have laws that prohibit harassment and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Maryland enacted its law in 2005. California, Minnesota and New Jersey also include gender identity in their coverage. Five states (AK, FL, PA, RI, UT) have regulations, policies or ethical codes that prohibit harassment or discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

This policy summary relies in large part on information from the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, Human Rights Campaign, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Endnotes
  1. Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, “The 2003 National School Climate Survey,” 2003.
  2. Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, “From Teasing to Torment: School Climate in America,” October 2005.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Ibid.
  5. National Center for Educational Statistics, “Student Reports of Bullying: Results from the 2001 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey,” July 2005.
  6. Ibid.
  7. U.S. Census Bureau, “America at the Dawn of a New Century: Population Profile of the United States,” 2000.
  8. Lake Snell Perry & Associates, “A Focus on the American Parent: A Nationwide Survey of Parents of 5-18 Year Olds,” conducted for the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, December 2001.
  9. “From Teasing to Torment.”
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