A major responsibility shared by all educators is the obligation to ensure a safe and supportive learning environment for all students. However, research has shown that many minorities, including gender diverse students, simply do not feel safe or supported when they are at school.
According to the 2017 National School Climate Survey, 44.6% of LGBTQ students reported feeling unsafe at school because of their gender expression. This comes as no surprise as the same survey found 60.4% of LGBTQ students who reported an incident said that school staff did nothing in response or told the student to ignore it.
Dr. Todd Savage, a professor of school psychology and past-president of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), addressed these statistics and more at the National Summit on School Safety. He spoke on ways schools can create an inclusive, welcoming environment for all students to ensure their Constitutional right to an equal education.
“In public schools, every child is entitled to free and appropriate public education. Everyone who shows up at that public school door should be welcomed with open arms,” Savage said. “As educators, we have a legal, moral and ethical responsibility to optimize every single child’s potential for success — academically, socially, emotionally, behaviorally, developmentally and beyond.”
For some, gender diversity is a difficult topic to discuss. Savage partially attributes this to living in a binary culture, where many feel uneasy if something isn’t one thing or the other.
Amy Rock Editorial, LLC 