Iowa School Board Association Should Join Anti-Bullying Effort

by Dr. Carolyn E. Cutrona
Ames, Iowa

All
children deserve a safe, high-quality public education, regardless of
whether they are Christian, Muslim, black, white, brown, gay, straight,
girl, boy, fat, skinny, short, tall, rich or poor.  Unfortunately,
this is not yet the case for many of our children. Their reality is
filled with words like “faggot,” “dyke,” or “queer” and the constant
stress of verbal and physical harassment, sometimes just for being
friends with a kid who may  be gay or lesbian. Some students are
ridiculed for being unable to afford designer clothes; others suffer
from physical appearance attacks such as “pizza-face” or “banana-nose;”
or disabilities (“Retard!”). Painful, painful stuff.



One of
Iowa’s largest and most powerful education associations – the Iowa
Association of School Boards – is resisting its members’ being required
by law to intervene to protect students from all types of harassment.
This organization opposes anti-bullying legislation that would protect
all of Iowa’s children, regardless of gender, race, religion,
disability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, physical
attributes, or any other characteristic, from harassment and bullying.
 



Fortunately
for Iowa’s young people, the Iowa Association of School Boards stands
alone in their opposition as the rest of the education community – the
Iowa Department of Education, the Iowa State Education Association, and
School Administrators of Iowa – have gone on record stating that all
students should be protected from bullying and harassment in their
support for safe school policies, including gay and lesbian youth,
overweight youth, and youth with any other characteristic that may
trigger mistreatment.



A group
of parents, educators and concerned citizens has been working for three
years to encourage education policy makers and the Iowa Legislature to
pass safe school policies.  We have  approached this as a
non-political, bi-partisan issue, reaching out to both sides of the
political aisle and bringing people together on a value upon which most
Iowans can agree —that all students deserve a safe, high-quality
education.  As the mother of two Iowa children, this is a value I
hold close to my heart, as I want my children and their fellow students
to have a safe place in which to learn and grow.



We need
to send a clear and direct message that Iowans believe that all
students should be protected from discrimination, harassment, and
bullying in our schools.