Central Bucks LGBTQ+ kids needs are not being fully met. They deserve a high quality inclusive education.
ALL kids deserve dignity and belonging. When we say ALL the kids, we mean it. We want more acceptance for everyone. No matter our color or gender or religion or ability, every kid deserves an education that empowers them to realize their highest potential.
To get there—to expand and include everyone—will require change that looks different from the status quo.
We need to stand with and for each other and wade into the choppy waters together so every kid belongs, has equal access to a great education, and is prepared to build a better future.
At issue: LGBTQ kids experience higher rates of bullying and discrimination, compared to their peers, and face negative educational outcomes as a result.
At Issue: Lack of district-wide systems and structures in place to support LGBTQ students. Everyone will benefit from measures that create a safer and more inclusive school climate.
At Issue: Parents have always been partners in Their Own Kids education. But no parent wants other kids’ parents to decide what their kid can read and learn.
At Issue: In an effort to protect some kids from self-selected literature they’re not yet ready for, we risk removing from our libraries great books that other kids want and need to read.
At issue: Our teachers are suffering under punitive and burdensome expectations. They fear tackling controversy because of examples made of their peers and vague, threatening policies recently enacted.
Result: Many of our kids are not getting what they need at school. The risks are real: Can they read about their issues in the library? What does classroom discussion of partisan, political, or social policy look like when limited to only the curriculum? Do kids know which teachers to turn to? Are kids comfortable reporting bullying by having to name the aggressor? What impact does reporting have on improving the school climate?
Have you ever been counted out or disrespected because of who you are?
Listen to these kids and ask yourself, do these kids feel:
appreciated?
validated?
accepted?
treated fairly?
LGBTQ kids experience higher rates of bullying and discrimination, compared to their peers, and face negative educational outcomes as a result:
After meeting with LGBTQ kids throughout the district and for many months, Dr. Lucabaugh, deeply concerned with what he repeatedly heard, concluded:
“For them, a successful day is getting through the day not being harassed, not being outed by someone, getting through the hallway without somebody sending a slur their way or trying to marginalize them...” (full remarks can be heard starting at 33 minutes.)
Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS survey, see pages 55-56) that shows a marked increase in student-reported bullying in Central Bucks:
73-116% increase in bullying related to gender
80-122% increase in bullying due to sexual orientation
A recent national study reports that over 81% of LGBTQ+ students felt unsafe at school because of actual or perceived personal characteristics.
A number of deal-breaker objections raised to our policies, pointing out that they are discriminatory, likely violate the protections and rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, and Title IX, and reduce access to an equitable education:
Education Law Center (library), Education Law Center (advocacy), NAACP, a group of experts in educator preparation from Penn GSE, and 70+ school board directors state wide, among many others.
With all of this in mind, ask yourself, why are we not working harder to make things better for LGBTQ kids in school?
All kids deserve a fair shot at a great education.
Public schools are our largest public institution and future-making space. In addition to academics, they are where our kids learn to respect each other, tolerate, and even embrace differences, and create democracy out of individuals. Schools can be models of E Pluribus Unum.
Doing the work of including all is not disrespecting others or looking down on their values as less important. We need all of us. We need each other. When some of us are disproportionately hurting, when some of us don’t have an equal shot at a great education, we all must rally together to make it better, because that is what good communities do.
Barriers to the work of including all are vague, fear-based policies that seek to restrict, narrow, exclude and ban (see Central Bucks School District’s library policy and advocacy policy) in hopes they will preserve a time gone by: a time that was marked by shocking bullying of our LGBTQ kids. These policies lead us backwards, sow division and fear, and fail to prepare kids for their future.
Good policy is clear, trustworthy, justified, and realistic. Good policy promotes the common good, like race and gender equity and the freedom to learn.
