Testimony of UFT Vice President for Career and Technical Education Sterling Roberson before the New York City Council Committee on Education
Good afternoon Chairman Dromm and all of the members of the education committee. My name is Sterling Roberson and I am the Vice President for Career and Technical Education at the United Federation of Teachers. On behalf of our members and UFT President Michael Mulgrew, I thank you for the opportunity to testify on this critical issue.
Our union commends the education committee for drawing attention to the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, LGBT, students, staff and families in our city’s public school system. We especially want to acknowledge Chairman Dromm’s longstanding advocacy as a teacher and UFT chapter leader in support of LGBT people in our school communities. Creating a culture built on respect, tolerance and support of all members of the school community requires commitment and change in our schools and programs. There’s a role for each of us to play as policymakers, elected officials, educators, students and families. We’ve made some progress in our school system, but we have more work to do.
As a union of educators and health and therapeutic professionals we’ve long understood and addressed the needs of our members around the full spectrum of issues faced by LGBT members. Battling workplace discrimination — whether based on race, gender, gender identity or other causes — and struggling to ensure a safe and healthy work environment is central to our UFT mission. We instituted a Member Assistance Program that offers short-term counseling and outside referrals to members and a Victim Support Program, co-sponsored with the Department of Education, that provides psychological support and practical assistance for staff members who are victims of workplace violence. Our parent union’s American Federation of Teachers Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Caucus more specifically serves our LGBT member community. Our union also established an LGBT hotline so that we may offer assistance regarding discrimination, harassment, employment and any other issue our LGBT members might have.
Additionally, while this is not specifically targeted to our LGBT members, we provide hands-on assistance to members who are infected with and affected by HIV and AIDS.
The culture of bullying facing LGBT students
This boy had no close friends….I was especially angry to find out that my classmate was cutting himself because of being bullied. When the bullies started threatening him again, I stood up for him….Bullying is an offensive and vicious act, which must not be tolerated, and which must be stopped as early as possible. Children should feel safe in the school environment, so that they can concentrate on learning, instead of being afraid. —M.B., JHS student submission to BRAVE essay contest
In 2011, the National School Climate Survey found that approximately 15 to 25 percent of American students are the targets of repeated bullying, and kids at all school levels are affected — elementary, middle and high school; the numbers jump to between 40 and 50 percent when it cyberbullying is factored in. Children are targeted for a host of reasons including: their appearance or size; sexuality or gender identity; race, ethnicity or religion; disability; or just because they are “different.”
We must be particularly vigilant about bullying against members of the LGBT community.
For certain populations in our schools, most notably LGBT students, the bullying problem is much bigger: 85 percent of LGBT students are verbally harassed, 40 percent are physically harassed and 19 percent are physically assaulted at school. For these reasons in 2011, our governing body, the Delegate Assembly, established the BRAVE (Building Respect, Acceptance and Voice through Education) initiative to address these issues more holistically and to give voice to students and families needing support.
We are past the point of asking a question about whether LGBT students face intolerance and are treated as different. The headlines blast tragic details about young people taking their own lives burdened by the weight of bullying and harassment. Most stories don’t receive a national spotlight, but the harm is pervasive nevertheless.
Working through the Mental Health Association of New York City (MHA) we created the BRAVE hotline to help provide a lifeline to students and families and to offer referrals for services to face these issues in a supportive environment. Due to MHA’s confidentiality rules, we can’t share specific stories, but 8 percent of the calls to the hotline have specifically been about LGBT issues.
Policies, programs and laws can make a difference
A main cause that provokes bullying is sexual orientation… Often, a bully will use this against someone and will harass them until they are pushed past their limits and resort to suicide. Discrimination against sexual orientation is also very important for it often occurs even amongst adults and is something people deal with their whole life. —D.M., student submission to BRAVE essay contest
There is no single approach to providing a safe, healthy and welcoming environment for LGBT students, staff and families. According to the American Educational Research Association in its 2013 white paper “Prevention of Bullying in Schools, Colleges and Universities,” intolerance takes different forms and therefore requires targeted interventions.
The DOE made an excellent first step with the introduction of the 2008 Chancellor’s regulation A-832, which establishes procedures for the filing, investigation, and resolution of complaints of student-to-student, bias-based harassment, intimidation or bullying. This was the genesis for designating school-based staff to address harassment issues and for the annual Respect for All Week which has citywide activities to build greater awareness and move the conversation forward between staff and students and among peer groups.
We along with a broad coalition of advocates lobbied for and won passage of the New York State Dignity for All Students Act in 2010, which expanded the categories for protection against harassment and discrimination of individuals on school property or at a school function to actions “based upon a person’s actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender or sex.”
Of particular note at both the city and the state level is that the regulations and the law address bias-based harassment and bullying spanning the spectrum from intolerant ridicule masked as jokes and derogatory language to relentless tormenting and physical violence. But even with such mandates, enforcement and support for victims after bullying occurs, more needs to be done toward prevention. Education and building awareness are critical to fully meet the need of everyone in the school community: It’s not purely about victims; it’s about all of us.
Our union, working with the UFT Teacher Center, is always on the front lines advocating for greater professional development to prepare teachers and school staff. We are especially pleased that as a consequence of the Dignity for All Act, all teachers and school-related professionals who apply for their state certificate on or after Jan. 1, 2014, must complete a six-hour course on prevention of and intervention in bullying, discrimination and harassment. The UFT is an authorized provider of this training.
In addition, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association created a program called Safe School Training. Offering a five-module workshop series, this program trains teachers to train their peers in ways to address LGBT issues in their schools. The workshops include: Taking A Stand — Creating Safe Schools for All Students; Walking the Talk — Classroom Strategies for Addressing Bias; Making the Case — Communications Strategies on GLBT Issues; Drawing Connections — Exploring Intersections of Gender, Race & Sexual Orientation; and Safe and Supportive Working Environments — A Must for All School Employees. We need more programs like these.
Building alliances with LGBT organizations
The DOE has a real opportunity to redouble its commitment to engaging school communities on these issues. There are many available resources, programs and opportunities to work in partnership, especially with parents and community organizations. The UFT partners with support and advocacy organizations such as Pride at Work and PFLAG (Parent and Friends of Lesbian and Gays). And we’ve recently met with the local chapter of the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to explore ways in which we can work together to help make our schools a better and safer place for all to learn.
Initially, we launched the BRAVE campaign in collaboration with the DOE, the New York City Council, the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators and the office of the Brooklyn District Attorney, as well as other groups such as GLSEN, the New York Peace Initiative, Stand Up and Lead and MTV. To date, the UFT has hosted two annual BRAVE conferences and vendor fairs. Representatives from GLSEN presented workshops at each conference and participated in the fairs.
Changing culture — there's more work to do
The UFT stands ready to work with the administration and the City Council in supporting the kinds of programs and services that we all know really help kids and families deal with bullying and harassment. For instance, programs that promote active peer mediation and conflict resolution and which work to prevent gang affiliation and substance abuse make a real difference.
We need to put forward approaches that help students identify underlying issues, increase self esteem, promote trust and problem solving and link students and families in need with resources at the school level and in the community.
Some school communities are tackling these issues head-on in their own ways. At PS/MS 278 in Washington Heights, the UFT chapter leader, Jim Tierney, together with the school principal, Maureen Guido, were honored with PFLAG’s Safe Schools Leadership award in 2012 for improving their school’s culture through the introduction of a No More Bullying Club and its successor, the Celebrating Diversity Club. Created to teach tolerance and combat the bullying of LGBT students in the school’s middle grades, these clubs evolved from internal discussion groups to larger forums in which parents from PFLAG spoke about the struggles of their LGBT children and the toll bullying had taken on them and their families. Ultimately the clubs together with PFLAG produced an educational video that features students.
With the arrival of the new DOE administration, we look forward to open conversations about developing more professional development and required training that will help promote a culture of tolerance, respect and peace to benefit all members of our LGBT community and everyone in our schools.