Collaborate
Collaboration is key. Begin by finding support in the school community. As an educator, talk with your colleagues, administrators and parents. As a parent or guardian talk with other parents/guardians, with the PTO/PTA, with teachers and administrators, and with the School Board/Committee. To help implement and follow-up on ideas, work with an existing committee/organization in your school, or form one to develop plans for your school community.
Smart First Steps
Create opportunities to develop relationships with potential collaborators. For example, evening events recognizing and celebrating family diversity help people to see, understand and value the diversity of families in the school and wider community. These events also provide parents/guardians the opportunity to learn from each other and understand the importance of creating welcoming schools.
Other events such as forums on ending hurtful teasing and name-calling may be necessary. Bias-based teasing and bullying is common in elementary schools. Looking at bullying based on race, anti-LGBT perceptions, gender, religion, class and body size during these forums ensures that the ways in which children are actually teased are addressed.
Provide professional development on interrupting and stopping gender-based or anti-gay name-calling or bullying and ways to respond to students’ questions on LGBT-headed families. Most educators have no experience talking about LGBT issues with students and professional development can help answer many questions and calm the fears that typically arise.
Gather Information
Sharing real children’s and families’ stories from your school and community can be effective in explaining why addressing hurtful name-calling and bullying is important. Speak with colleagues, including guidance staff, about the experiences they have had in the school related to anti-gay or gender-biased name-calling. See if there are parental concerns about children being teased or put on the spot because of their families’ structure or children’s characteristics.
Work with School Administrators
Make sure you understand your administration and school system’s position and readiness. This means research existing school, district and state policies a find ways that Welcoming Schools can be linked to the school’s core values, mission statements, policies and protocol. Help others – especially administrators – understand these connections. School leadership is crucial to developing a caring community and welcoming school for students.
Prepare Yourself
Be prepared to talk about how the lessons in Welcoming Schools will help students develop skills to meet learning standards in language arts or social studies. Practice how you would answer students’ questions about family diversity, gender stereotypes and bullying. Practice how you could intervene in anti-LGBT name-calling. Be prepared to talk about the ways that it is beneficial for students to learn about family diversity, gender stereotypes and bullying. Attend professional development training, if applicable, and connect with local or regional resources.
Communicate Clearly
Plan how you will communicate with parents/guardians about lessons or discussions that arise regarding family diversity. Help families think about ways to have more informed conversations at home. Help people understand that when you are talking with elementary school students about LGBT people, you are talking about families, name-calling, discrimination and current events.
Listen carefully to the questions, doubts and fears of the people within the school or the larger community. They may question why it is important to address these topics in schools. Look for opportunities to foster dialogue in respectful and inclusive ways.
