Chicago considers gay high school

by Sandy Maple (Subscribe to Sandy Maple's posts) Oct 11th 2008 11:00AM

Categories: Teens & tweens, Health & Safety, In The News, Education

Many cities have alternative schools where kids who might otherwise drop out are given the opportunity to stay in school and graduate. These at-risk kids are often the victims of neglect or poverty and may have already found themselves on the wrong side of the law. But, according to a 2003 Chicago Public School District study, there is another group of at-risk kids who might benefit from an alternative school of their own: gay, lesbian and transgender teenagers.

Studies show that gay high school students are three times more likely to miss school because they feel unsafe. Because the stigma and fear of violence puts these kids at greater risk of dropping out altogether, the Chicago Public School District has proposed a school just for them. The School for Social Justice Pride would have a maximum enrollment of 600 students who would be admitted on a lottery basis. The school would have the same staffing and oversight as other schools, but would include lessons about sexual identity in literature and history as well as offering counseling.

"We want to create great new options for communities that have been traditionally underserved," said schools chief Arne Duncan. "If you look at national studies, you see gay and lesbian students with high dropout rates. . . . I think there is a niche there we need to fill."

While the idea seems to have plenty of support, it is not going over well with some gay rights advocates. They want to see schools focus on fostering acceptance, not segregation.

The Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the matter on October 22nd and if passed, Chicago's first gay high school would open in 2009.

Source

Comments (12)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

maeghan 10-14-2008 @ 11:34AM

Having many friends in the gay/lesbian community, I know what they go through in highschool. It's hard to wake up every day knowing when you go to school, you aren't safe. My friend and I often walk through the halls and people call "Fag" after him. What is America these days? The idea of these schools is a great one! But we should also teach acceptance, and offer the school as a plan b for students who still feel unsafe. The same friend has also been jumped in the streets and sent to the hospital on MULTIPLE OCCASIONS. Living in one of the supposedly most accepting cities, Dallas, texas, this scares me to no end.

And please. Im expecting some "The high school will just be an orgy!" comments from certain people. But that is just dumbbb. Regular high school isn't an orgy for straight people. And gay's aren't hornier than any other regular teen. Think before you speak.

Acceptance, Truth, Love

Uly 10-11-2008 @ 12:04PM

Last time this was posted about on ParentDish, it was made clear that Chicago is already working on increasing acceptance and decreasing bullying. This school is just an extra option - and one that's open to straight students as well as GLBTQ ones.

Karen 10-11-2008 @ 12:22PM

Well, I'd love for my daughter to have a separate school where she can feel safe. Instead, the gifted program is in a predominantly black, lower income, school with a history of gang violence that is run like a maximum security prison as the attempt to keep kids safe. My child has to be escorted everywhere she goes, and has was threatened to be thrown down the stairs within the first two weeks of school. Yet, if I want her in an all gifted curriculum (which is what she NEEDS to succeed), I have to send her to this type of environment which I most definately do not consider safe.

Maybe ALL children should be safe in school and the real issue should be removing the kids that are threatening to other kids.

LS 10-11-2008 @ 12:26PM

From the article, "The school would be prohibited under state and federal laws from asking about a student's sexual identity, officials said."

Interesting.

So that rule, combined with the lottery Admissions Policiy, is going to make sure that the kids who need this school can get in... HOW?????

I'm sorry. I don't like the idea of this school one bit, for the same reasons that I would object to an all Black school, or an all Hispanic one, or even an all White one. One of the stated objectives of public schools is to foster acceptance. How is that going to happen if you segregate?

Further, this all goes back to the declining discipline in the system. Why not just PUNISH the kids who are doing the bullying? Kick them out. Send THEM away, not the kids who are just trying to get along and get a diploma.

Finally, the Chicago Public School System is constantly whining about how they need more money, they don't have enough money to do what they're already charged with. And now they want to open a specialty school? I think not.

Uly 10-11-2008 @ 5:33PM

"So that rule, combined with the lottery Admissions Policiy, is going to make sure that the kids who need this school can get in... HOW?????"

The ones who don't need it aren't going to apply. Not that it's going to be very "segregated" anyway since, as you said, any high schooler can go and they don't have to talk about their own sexuality at all.

It's not the same as having an "all-black school" or an "all-hispanic school". It's the same as having a school that puts a special emphasis on African-American history, or that requires all students to take AP Spanish and does some classes bilingually.

LS 10-11-2008 @ 7:03PM

Ok, so the ones who need it are going to apply, but they don't want anyone to know that they're gay so they're not going to talk about it, but they're going to learn about gay history, but they can't reveal their sexual preference?

Yep. Sounds like a government project to me!!

And frankly, I am not in favor of a school putting special emphasis on African American History, or being bilingual. There is a reason that desegregation happened. People benefit by being exposed to a greater variety of cultures and lifestyles. Isn't that the general theme that continues through the educational studies on this board? Christians are constantly being told, "suck it up and deal with it (the hostility toward all things Christian-related)" or "go somewhere else". But now, it's a GOOD thing that we're practicing segregation?

Wow. Is there ever a double standard.

For the record, I would NOT have a problem with this school if it was privately funded, like parochial schools. That makes them private, and they can do whatever they want. But the fact that this is going to be part of the public school system, and funded by tax dollars, makes me against it.

Uly 10-11-2008 @ 7:22PM

Except that it's *not* segregated except that the students in this school have a special interest in gay studies.

Chicago? Big school system. Why shouldn't they have a lot of specific schools tailored to different needs? Here in NYC we've got schools that focus more on the arts, schools that focus more on science, schools that focus more on learning a particular skill or trade (everything from aviation to plumbing), schools that are suited for poor students, and schools that, yes, are designed for specific groups - gay students or students from a particular ethnic group. Nobody is *excluded* from any of these schools, or required to go to one instead of another - except in the case of the specialized schools where your grades might not be good enough to let you in, or a few schools that restrict entrance to those students who live nearby - and every student can get an education that's right for them.

It wouldn't work in a small school system, but one of the advantages of being in a city is that you can do things like this. And if you can, why not? It's not like the other subjects are being neglected - students at Stuyvessant focus on the sciences, but they still take the same courses in English and language as elsewhere; students at LaGuardia may spend hours rehearsing, but they still have to go to gym; students in a nursing program at our local school, Curtis, still have to take all the same courses as the ones who go to a school where the focus is on learning Latin and about ancient Rome.

It's not even remotely the same as a school that promotes one religion over another because the emphasis is on facts instead of myths - though, again, in a big enough school system you could probably accommodate publicly run schools for all sorts of religious groups because you'd have enough students to fill the classes in each of them. Probably never get off the planning stages, though, because nobody could agree on how exactly they're teaching religion.

LS 10-11-2008 @ 9:24PM

So you wouldn't have a problem with a school being all-white? Teaching white-based studies and excluding black history?

You wouldn't have a problem with a school district, which has been under scrutiny and received mountains of criticism for wasteful spending, opening a specialty school that focused on religion?

Methinks there would be a MASSIVE cry of "racism" and "Separation of Church and State" if either of those two scenarios occurred.

Sorry. Can't get behind this one, unless, like I said, it was privately funded.

Vito 10-12-2008 @ 3:46AM

In a perfect world, I would disagree with this concept citing segregation is not the answer. I also think that punishing offenders more stringently should be the answer.

Well that's great until the next gay kid gets beat up or thrown down the stairs. Being uncomfortable because of name calling, etc. is bad enough. Being hurt and/or killed is totally different and requires a different response.

I think this school could be a good thing for these kids.

LS 10-12-2008 @ 9:41AM

Following that logic, there should be a special school for gays, another for nerds, another for girls who don't dress in the most fashionable clothes, another for those annoying kids that nobody likes and that the athletes stuff in lockers, and so on.

It must be nice to live in a world where money grows on trees, and the rules apply to everyone except those deemed worthy.

I thought that everyone was to be treated equally. But then, I guess, some people are just "more equal" than others...

Always-Right 10-13-2008 @ 1:58PM

Only in the Marxist city of Chicago would you get a fag school. What will they be teaching? Never mind, I think we know.

LS 10-13-2008 @ 5:31PM

Way to blow an otherwise intelligent conversation out of the water. Nice Job.

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