The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), working with the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), will hand out 1,500 “Safe School Kits” to secondary schools to create safer environments for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, according to the Daily News story entitled “LAUSD targets bullying of gay students.
School Safe Space Kits Promoted for Over 100,000 Schools Nationwide
GLSEN is promoting their Safe Space Kit for schools across the nation. According to GLSEN’s web site for the Safe Space Kit, the kit includes 10 Safe Space Stickers, 2 posters, and a 42-page “Guide to Being an Ally to LGBT Students.” The Kit also shows, “…how to assess the school’s climate, policies and practices and outlines ways to advocate for change inside the school.”
This part of GLSEN’s web page caught the attention of one veteran school safety professional:
“The Safe Space Kit starts with a sticker. Placing a Safe Space sticker on an office door or window is a simple, but highly visible first step that shows an adult’s unwavering support for a student’s safety. There is also a poster that can be displayed throughout the school or on an office door to show support to LGBT students and let students know where their allies are in case a bully strikes.”
Supportive or Divisive Message?
The question I was asked:
“If these stickers are placed on a few select office doors, what does it say about the rest of the school?”
This is an interesting point which actually raises a few questions:
- If it is necessary to have packaged stickers imported into a school to identify “safe space” locations in a school for LGBT students, does this suggest that all other locations without a sticker in the school are unsafe locations?
- If there are only “safe spaces” in select locations in a school, should not the emphasis be on school climate strategies which are inclusive of all students schoolwide and not any one particular subgroup of the school setting?
- While having good intentions, is the placement of stickers and posters specifically for enhanced protection of LGBT students actually divisive by promoting segregation of one particular student subgroup? Does it promote exclusivity of an enhanced standard of safety for one subgroup over all other students?
These are interesting questions. So often, efforts with good intentions have unforeseen consequences. It is always healthy to discuss the impact of a special interest campaign on the overall school climate.
With respect to the above questions, what say you?
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