Anoka-Hennepin School District Responds to Concerns Over LGBT Suicide

Last week we wrote about an epidemic of suicide over the past year in Minnesota’s largest school district, Anoka-Hennepin. Over the past year, seven current or recently graduated middle school and high school students have taken their lives, including three students who were gay or lesbian.

With this week being National Suicide Prevention Week, the topic of LGBT suicide couldn’t be more pertinent. Studies consistently show that LGBT youth are up to four times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual peers, in large part because of bullying, fear of persecution, or alienation from family members (or indeed, a toxic climate of all three).

Anoka-Hennepin’s most recent suicide occurred in July 2010, when a 15-year-old student, Justin Aaberg, took his own life. That student’s mother, Tammy Aaberg, testified before the school district that Justin faced fear and intimidation by his classmates based on his sexual orientation. She urged the Anoka-Hennepin school district to make sure that all students in their system, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, were kept safe.

To that end, more than 6,500 Change.org members emailed the Anoka-Hennepin school district, urging the district to prioritize the issue of LGBT suicide. Indeed, the school district’s own web site indicates that they are an area of “suicide contagion.”

In response, the Anoka-Hennepin school district has sent a very thorough email to Change.org, spelling out what steps they have taken to confront this suicide epidemic, and what steps they’ll be taking this year. A copy of this email is available via ScribD at the bottom of this post.

According to Brett Johnson, a communications staff person with the district, the Anoka-Hennepin school board will not tolerate under any circumstances harassment based on sexual orientation.

“At the most recent School Board meeting, August 23, the school board chair stated that harassment based on sexual orientation is not tolerated in Anoka-Hennepin Schools. The board chair made it clear the School Board expects staff members to intervene when they see or hear any harassment or bullying. Any staff member who fails to do so faces disciplinary action,” Johnson said.

Johnson then gave a chronological list of steps that the Anoka-Hennepin school district has taken over the past few years to address LGBT bullying and suicide. A full list is available in the email below, but among the steps the school district has taken include: a diversity training sponsored by SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) to some teachers and administrators; annual surveys given to students that include questions specific to bullying and harassment of GLBT students ; upwards of 60 school counselors receiving training from Out 4 Good, a program of the Minneapolis Public Schools, which provides information on GLBT issues; a brochure on LGBT bullying provided to all teachers by the teachers’ union; and production of videos on bullying, written by teachers in the district and starring students, that focus on bullying based on sexual orientation.

Moreover, in a recent PowerPoint presentation to secondary instructional staff in the district, the Superintendent of the school district, Dennis Carlson, said: “Bullying and harassment of our gay students, our students of color, our poor students, our fragile students with special needs, will not be tolerated.”

This is all very good news. Still, despite these bold moves, the reality remains that three LGBT students killed themselves this year. And in recent testimony before the school board on August 23 (which you can view here), former students testified about the prevalence of anti-LGBT sentiments in the district. And  last year, two teachers in the district were disciplined for harassing a straight student who they thought was gay, teasing him in front of the class for liking older men and wearing women’s clothes.

It is unfair to say that the school district has done nothing to address what they describe as “suicide contagion.” All of the programs pointed out by the district are important, and indeed, as local activists like Peter Gokey noted in the Minnesota Independent, the school district has taken some very important steps to address this crushing epidemic. The Minnesota Independent noted that Gokey said “the district has made positive steps to address bullying. It has added LGBT themes in its anti-bullying training videos, and the teachers union has created a training for teachers in the district as well.”

Yet two things remain that continue to spur controversy in the district, at least regarding LGBT suicide and LGBT bullying. The first is the involvement of a controversial group of anti-gay activists known as the Parents Action League (PAL), which has an official position that homosexuality is a disease and disorder, and that it can be cured. PAL has pledged to fight efforts to address anti-gay bullying in the district, including going after school board members if they expand efforts to address bullying based on sexual orientation.

In response to a question about the Parents Action League, Johnson (the spokesperson for the Anoka-Hennepin School District) was clear: “The PAL group has not addressed the school district or the School Board in any official way.” Still, their influence within the district has been noted quite a number of times.

The second issue that complicates this picture is a current policy in the district known as the “neutrality” policy. This policy is a curriculum policy that many within the district, including the mother of the student who took his life in July 2010, say ties the hands of teachers and educators. Here’s the policy:

Anoka-Hennepin staff, in the course of their professional duties, shall remain neutral on matters regarding sexual orientation including but not limited to student led discussions. If and when staff address sexual orientation, it is important that staff do so in a respectful manner that is age-appropriate, factual, and pertinent to the relevant curriculum.

This “neutrality” policy is endorsed by the Parents Action League. In June 2010, PAL launched a petition that explicitly said this policy helps them in their mission to condemn homosexuality. “Whereas homosexual behavior exposes participants to many life-threatening health risks; and whereas the classroom environment needs to be solely focused on academics; Therefore, we the undersigned citizens of Anoka-Hennepin School District No. 11 do whole heartedly support and desire that the School Board adhere to [the neutrality policy].”

I asked Brett Johnson with the Anoka-Hennepin school district about the “neutrality” policy, and though it’s a lengthy exchange, here is the full question and answer:

Mike Jones: During the August 23 meeting (the video is available on your Web site), Tammy Aaberg, the mother of student and suicide victim Justin Aaberg, asked whether the district would consider rewriting the "neutrality" policy that the District currently has in place regarding the subject of homosexuality. The policy has been criticized by gay rights advocates, and one former teacher in the district noted in this article that while the district made many advancements to deal with bullying (many of which are outlined below in your email), "until the district addresses the AH District 11 Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy, also known as the 'neutrality policy,' the hands of teachers, staff and students are tied when trying to create a welcoming environment for LGBT students."

Given this testimony, will there be any effort by the district to re-evaluate the "neutrality" policy?  If not, would you be willing to offer an explanation of the "neutrality" policy, and maybe give an example of when the policy would take effect in a given situation?  I understand from the school board meeting that the Superintendent and the head of the School Board indicated that the "neutrality" policy should not prevent efforts to stop anti-gay bullying. But it seems like there's genuine confusion over what the "neutrality" policy encompasses, and what situations it applies to, and what situations it doesn't apply to.

Brett Johnson: Keep in mind, this is a policy about curriculum – what is taught in class – it should not prevent any staff member from supporting individual students outside of class (within the appropriate parameters of staff-student interaction) nor should the neutrality policy be considered an excuse for not intervening when a staff member sees or hears anti-gay harassment. The superintendent and board chair made that very clear at the beginning of this school year. Their statements are supported by GLBT harassment training that is being provided to schools this year.

At this time, there are not plans to reevaluate this policy, however, we are aware that some teachers believe the policy is confusing on how they should discuss issues related to sexual orientation in class. Teachers often are asked to be neutral when working with students, and political campaigns are the most obvious example. That said, school district leaders know that better support for teachers is needed on how to talk about sexual orientation when it comes up in class. For example, with gay marriage being debated in courthouses and legislatures around the nation, it might be a topic in a law and politics class. We want any discussion to be age-appropriate, factual and to meet the educational objectives of the course. Students also need to feel safe and respected for their opinions or questions. Given how busy teachers are, we will work on this at the district level (and with teachers) in order to better support our schools when topics like these come up.

The current “neutrality” policy certainly has many concerned. Clearly the goal of the policy isn’t to permit anti-gay bullying. But as noted here, many feel that it ties teachers’ hands, and that the school district should seriously consider changing it. And while I’m glad to see the school district championing the work they’re doing to address anti-LGBT bullying, I can’t help but wonder if the “neutrality” policy has contributed to the three LGBT suicides that have happened in this past year in the district.

The bottom line is this: I’ve no doubt that the Anoka-Hennepin school district wants to stop the epidemic of suicide that it has experienced this past year. The steps outlined in this post (and again, which you can read in Johnson’s email below, which was given permission to be made public) are commendable.

The Anoka-Hennepin school district has made video of their August 23 meeting available on their site. At this meeting you can see Tammy Aaberg, the mother of Justin, talk about his suicide before the school board. You can also see several other students and former students talking about the culture in some of their schools. The part of the meeting relevant to this discussion starts at 15:20 into the video. I found it particularly moving to see these folks speaking out.

As students in Anoka-Hennepin (and really, throughout the country) start back to class this Fall, here’s hoping that this year is safer than ever before. On that note, the Trevor Project, one of the leading anti-suicide organizations in the country dealing specifically with LGBT youth, has launched a new initiative, Y-Care. The goal? To give everyone the power to help someone who might be considering suicide because they feel threatened due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Talk about important work.

And here’s to hoping that the Anoka-Hennepin school district might move to reconsider and re-evaluate their “neutrality” policy on sexual orientation. It would be another step in the right direction to make sure that when we’re talking about LGBT students, “inclusion” and "acceptance" are the words that comes to mind.

Anoka-Hennepin Email Response

Photo credit: eddie~s