Why Policy Matters 2 — Refusal to acknowledge LGBTQIA+ Intimidation and Bullying in the School District of Waukesha.
LGBTQIA+ Students in the School District of Waukesha (SDW) have seen an increase in harassment and bullying since implementing the sign policy in the district. Not only is the administration refusing to admit this reality, but they appear to not be reporting these incidents officially to the state of Wisconsin as required by law.
On Friday, October 1, 2021, my daughter and several of her friends were the subjects of a public and open incident of an anti-LGBTQIA+ harassment at Waukesha West High School. This took place during a lunch hour. The facts are not in dispute and the incident was reported immediately to school administration. The principal asked to meet with my daughter. I insisted that I be present. During that meeting, the principal asked how she would characterize the incident. She replied clearly, without prompting, “It was a hate crime.”
I do not know how discipline was handled with those that perpetrated this harassment, as any inquiries about this have been denied due to supposed privacy concerns. However, I also asked both Waukesha West and SDW Administration several times about how this incident would be reported to the state Department of Public Instruction (DPI). The reply was always that those decisions had not yet been made and numbers were unavailable.
A few weeks ago, I contacted the DPI to ask for the final PI 9.07 report for SDW for the 2021–2022 School year. I wish I could say I was surprised by the result, but I am not. According to those reports, there were NO (0) incidents of harassment or discrimination around Sexual Orientation reported in any part of the SDW for that school year. This is obviously incorrect because, according to the reporting requirements, “A complaint should be included in this section whether it was verbal, written, resolved informally, or withdrawn.” No matter how SDW handled my daughter’s incident internally, it should have been reported there.
And there’s the rub. When LGBTQIA+ students started reporting an uptick in open harassment against them after the policy was implemented, school board members publicly stated that the problem was that the kids weren’t reporting the incidents. If only they would do so, they said, this problem would be resolved. But here we see this narrative is false. The incident my daughter was involved in was undisputed, public, documented, reported properly, and identified clearly. But yet, SDW still reported to the state that there were no incidents of anti-LGBTQIA+ harassment for that school year.
If an incident on this scale is not noted and reported, then how many other incidents happen “under the radar?” My daughter’s undisputed incident was not treated as such. How can other students hope that the less clear incidents, say a note left on your locker or someone yelling “F**” at you anonymously in the hall, will be treated with any seriousness? According to my daughter, this happens to her friends all the time now. They no longer even bother to tell teachers or the administration. They no longer know who they can trust, and they do not believe any action will be taken on their behalf.
Once again, to quote my post from 2021 about the signage policy:
The draconian implementation of this policy, which is suspect in itself because of questions of free speech, has had the effect of “disappearing” and whitewashing over the existence of the LGBTQIA+ community at Waukesha West. It has led that community to believe that the protection they have had in previous school years is now being removed and that they are less safe in their school. Likewise, it has encouraged those who are bigoted towards this community to increase intimidation and bullying. And why not? If the School District believes that LGBTQIA+ identity and inclusion is political speech that can be repressed, then why would a student who has been taught to hate members of that community not infer from the suppression of safe-space and GSA signage that their intimidation was in accordance with district values?
This, unfortunately, has come to pass.
Notes:
- I am aware of the intersectional nature of the struggle here and how egregious the suppression of “Anti-racism” material is, especially considering our nation’s history. I stand against the policy in its entirety, its whitewashing of all minority speech, and its ironic participation in what some call “Cancel Culture.” But this post is about the presenting incident.
- For those who might be asking about how my understanding of the Bible and the church leads me to a pro-inclusion stance, that’s beyond the scope of this post. You can get part of the answer here, in a post I wrote after the Orlando nightclub shooting in 2016. This is a common position in our church and in much of the Protestant Mainline. LGBTQIA+ people are beloved by and made in the image of God. They are beautiful just the way they are.
