Subject: IMPORTANT NEWS Meeting Minutes with CORRECTION
From: "Ethan Blustein"
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 12:39:49 -0700

Dear Safe Schools Coalition members and friends:  

 

CORRECTION: Safe Schools Coalition will be the Grand Marshall for the Pride Parade on June 29th!! Come out and march with the Big Yellow School Bus!

 

HELP NEEDED ITEMS IN RED.

 

Meeting Minutes

5/20/08, 3-5 p.m. PST

Safe Schools Coalition Meeting

 

Chairing: Beth Reis; Recording: Ethan Blustein

In attendance: Arnold Martin, Settle Counseling Service; Beth Reis, Safe Schools Coalition (SSC) and Public Health Seattle & King County; Ethan Blustein, SSC and Solid Ground; Heather Carter, Youth Suicide Prevention Program; Helen Stillman, SSC and Lambert House; Kyle Rapinan, SSC, American Friends Service Committee and Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN); Gabi Clayton, SSC, Families United Against Hate, PFLAG Olympia; Penny Palmer, SSC; Aidan Key Gender Spectrum; Lisa Love Seattle Public Schools

 

(1)     Youth Suicide Prevention Program Conference- Heather

a)       Registration starts June 9th. Folks need to register early because of the limited number of spots. To register and for more information visit the Conference Website.

(2)      “You are perfect just the way you are” PSA’s – Beth

a)       Ethan has already contacted these stations: Hot Jamz 88.9 FM, Northwest Public Radio, KUGS 89.3 FM, KBCS 91.3 FM, KAOS 89.3 FM

b)       Other stations already contacted are: 1090 AM and 89.5 FM

(3)     SPECIAL EVENTS – Beth, Lisa, Ethan, Helen

a)       The Coalition’s 20th birthday party, reunion and volunteer appreciation event! June 7th.  Location Cal Anderson Park Shelter. This is a FREE event! RSVP to Helen: Helen@safeschoolscoalition.org.

b)       Seattle Pride parade. Yay, Pride month is almost here. As it has in recent years, the Safe Schools Coalition will have a "float" in the Seattle Pride parade, consisting of a rockin' yellow school bus. Lisa Love has agreed to arrange for the bus and apply to SOAP. As always, member orgs will be welcome to hang their banners on the bus; the SSC banner will be on the front, but the rest of the bus is open.

§         As always we welcome aboard the bus member org staffers and SSC volunteers and their families; GSA's and their families; and folks with disabilities for whom walking the parade route would be challenging. We will even provide you with food and drinks. But we ask that you RSVP to Lisa at llove@seattleschools.org or 206-252-0982

§         HELP NEEDED:

J     volunteers to ride the bus and be the “bus mom.”

J     volunteers to decorate the bus.

J     folks to "staff" the bus … to walk/run alongside, giving Safe Schools Coalition trinkets to the crowd.

If you can volunteer in any of these ways, please contact Lisa at llove@seattleschools.org or 206-252-0982.

§         We nominated the Safe Schools Coalition as Honorary Grand Marshal of the Seattle parade. No word yet; we should hear in “late May.” (We have been appointed Grand Marshall of the Parade!!)

§         Heather is bringing pop and water. Please let her know if you can bring a cooler or two!!

§         Beth will bring one cooler and some ice.

§         Penny will get food from Costco and bring it to the bus.

§         Lisa Love is requesting Parking Permits for the parking lot near the Experience Music Project. To request a Parking Permit contact Lisa: llove@seattleschools.org

c)       Ethan and Helen are planning to attend some Pride events in Washington State. The ones they cannot attend will be sent Safe Schools literature.

(4)     INTERVENTION TEAM REPORT Penny, Ethan, Kyle, Ann

a)       Recent & ongoing interventions

§         Shorecrest High School and the WA State Human Rights Commission

The WA State Human Rights Commission met with the GSA Advisors and the Administration of Shorecrest to discuss the bullying and harassment of GSA students and goals for creating a safes environment for all students at the school. The outcome was very positive and the Administration is grateful to the GSA members for speaking up about their experiences. They intend to have the staff and the whole student body go through Safe Schools Training. Overall a positive meeting.

§          KY mom whose son was severely beaten. The Intervention team is addressing this.

§         Reminder there are 3 ways to get a hold of Intervention Specialists:

o        877-SAFE-SAFE

o        Intervention@safeschoolscoalition.org

o        http://www.myspace.com/safeschoolsintervention

b)       Survey of school nurses re: SSC posters

§         Ann has been contacting school nurses across the state and so far 2 schools don’t have them and 3 schools want more!

(5)     MEMBERSHIP REPORT -- Beth

a)      The Safe Schools Coalition is STILL IN NEED OF A MEMBERSHIP CHAIR. It could be your organization's in-kind alternative to dues! Or your personal way of ensuring that others have what you didn’t when you were in school! You do NOT need to be located in Washington State to do this job. It is mostly a 30-90 min/wk commitment. More in January and February each year, as we remind member organizations to renew. Less most of the year. Please think about stepping up. Let Beth know:  http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/contact/?id=4

§         Heather could step up after Sept. ’08.

b)       New org member applications:

§         Both East Hartford High School and Gender Spectrum were approved unanimously to be new members. We want to ask all member orgs to work to include gender identity/expression in their policies by   January 2009.

c)       Join or renew for 2008 now!!! It’s easy and painless!!! Go to: http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/members_join-renew.html

(6)     SPEAKERS BUREAU/TRAINING TEAM/OUTREACH REPORT – Helen, Ethan

a)       Recent speaking, training, and tabling/outreach events

Speakers Bureau

§          MLK Vista/Americorps:  Nathan Shara, Kristina Armenakis, Helen Stillman

§          Giddens School Trans 101: Kathy Kaminski and Ethan Blustein

§          EarthCorps Trans 101/Anti-Oppression: Ethan Blustein and Dylan Colt

§          UW It’s Elementary Panel: Ethan Blustein, Beth Reis, Kyle Rapinan

Tabling

§          Day of Silence at Mt. Si H.S.: Ethan Blustein

§          Can I Sit With You?: Ethan Blustein

§          Washington PTA Conference: Heather Carter and Barbara Clark-Elliot

AFSC Panels

§          NOVA H.S.

§          Forest Ridge H.S.

§          Trans Ally Training

Other Projects

§          Helen facilitated a roundtable discussion on equity in schools at the Mayor's Youth Summit. She also participated in an allyship day at Seattle Girls School and co-facilitated a piece on allyship for a  group of 6th graders.

§          Trans Training--May 10--We had a great training with about 15 people. In the evening, 5 youth panelists spoke about their experiences and answer questions--It was awesome!

§          Volunteer Appreciation--Saturday, June 7. Location Cal Anderson Park Shelter. Mark your calendars! Let me know if you have input, ideas, want to help out.

       b)       Upcoming events:

§         Casey Family Programs

§         Roosevelt High School

§         GSA Summit at Lambert House

§         Seattle Girls School

§         White Privilege Training

(7)     WASHINGTON STATE LEGISLATIVE ISSUES – Ethan, Beth

a)       This committee is a combination of Lobbyists and Executives working on proposing Safe Schools legislation. They are currently looking at what other states have done in the past and what they want the upcoming legislative sessions to look like.

b)       Youth voices needed!! If interested contact Beth Reis: beth.reis@kingcounty.gov

 

(8)     OCA Bias/Hate Crime & Incident Survey- Beth

a)       Kyle will be the point person for SSC.

(9)     LISTSERVE REPORT – Beth

a)       Welcome to recent subscribers from Colorado, Massachusetts; Nebraska; Ohio; Pennsylvania; and Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Bellingham, and Bothell, WA.

(10) WEB SITE REPORT – Gabi, Ethan/Kyle

a)       This month, we added a blog to the web site. Check out recent postings entitled:

§         “What is ‘Safe’ in Middle School?” by 2nd year teacher Loren Krywanczyk, from Brooklyn, NY

§         “Hazing gone awry?! What’s that?!” by SSC Co-chair, Beth Reis

We are seeking diverse voices to contribute regularly to the SSC blog. Like to write? Got opinions? Are you interested? If so, please apply, today! Just send us a short bio, what your interests are, and two samples of your writing (no more than 300 words each). Write to us at safeschoolscoalition@gmail.com

b)       In April, we served individuals in 108 countries including places as geographically and culturally diverse as Mozambique, Luxembourg, Togo, the Palestinian Territory, Cuba, Samoa, Qatar and Latvia.

c)       After Google, the next most frequent referrer to the site was http://www.stumbleupon.com

d)       We are on the verge of adding video interviews to the site. We need a video editor willing to work closely over the next month with a high school intern. If that’s you, please contact Ethan immediately (mailto:ethan@safeschoolscoalition.org or 206-330-2099)

e)       Kyle and Ethan are on track with the Youth page project! Thank you so much for Joyful Freeman for all her help on this. Also Kyle’s Senior Project was voted the best in his class! Congratulations J

(11) FISCAL UPDATE – Beth

a)       Gabi and Helen are contracted for another 6 months.

(12)  SAFE SCHOOLS COALITION – IDAHO CHAPTER UPDATE – Nadine, Shane

a)       SSC-IC will work with Idaho Women’s Network to hold a preview for the movie, “It’s Still Elementary.”

b)       They’ve recently done a training for middle school counselors.

c)       The recently provided intervention services for students who were threatened at a Coeur d’ Alene area high school.

d)       They are planning a school climate survey in the fall, a survey of freshmen in two large classes at Boise State, the findings of which will also be analyzed by BSU students.

(13)  March for Youth- Ethan

a)       Ethan and Stefanie of King County Public Health are representing the Coalition in planning this amazing upcoming event.

b)       The March and Rally is on June 21st at 1pm starting from Franklin H.S. For more information contact Denise Gloster at denisegloster@yahoo.com

 

 

UPCOMING MEETINGS … contact the chair if you have agenda items to suggest or if you need instructions about attending (in person) or calling in (by conference call). All are welcome- you do NOT need to be a Coalition member to attend.

 

Jun 17th, 3-5 pm, Pacific Time. Marsha chairs and ____________ records

Marsha: 206-601-8942; mbotzer@botzerconsulting.com

 

July 15th, 2-4 pm, Pacific Time. Frieda chairs and Ethan records … NOTE: A hour earlier for summer
Frieda: 253-765-7062; ftakamura@washingtonea.org

 

Aug 19th, 2-4 pm, Pacific Time. Beth chairs and ____________ records
Beth: 206-296-4970; elizabeth.reis@metrokc.gov 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

From East Hartford High School’s 2007-2008 Student – Parent – Teacher Handbook

 

A comprehensive program, involving everyone in the schools and the community, to address bullying at all school levels is essential to reducing incidences of bullying. Such a program must involve interventions at all levels, school wide, classroom and individual.

 

The District's program:

 

1. Permits anonymous reports of bullying by students and written reports by parents or guardians;

 

2. Requires teachers and other school staff to notify school administrators of bullying acts they witness and students' reports they receive;

 

3. Requires school administrators to investigate parents' written reports and review students' anonymous reports;

 

4. Requires each school to maintain a publicly available list of the number of verified bullying acts that occurred there;

 

5. Requires each school to have an intervention strategy for school staff to deal with bullying, including language about bullying in student codes of conduct; and

 

6. Requires notice to parents or guardians of all students involved in a verified act of bullying. The notice must describe the school's response and any consequences that may result from further acts of bullying.

 

The Board expects prompt and reasonable investigations of alleged acts of bullying. The Principal of each school or his/or designee is responsible for handling all complaints of alleged bullying.

 

In addition, the norms that are established by adults through consistent enforcement of all policies pertaining to conduct and modeling appropriate behavior at school and at home will reduce the instances and damage of bullying. It is necessary for students to promote the concept that caring for others is a valued quality, one that is accepted and encouraged.

 

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About Safe Schools Coalition

The Safe Schools Coalition is a public-private partnership of 80+ organizations (government agencies, schools, community agencies, churches, youth/student groups, gay/lesbian groups, human rights groups) and 400+ individuals working to help schools become safe places where every family can belong, where every educator can teach, and where every child can learn, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. 

Safe Schools' website: http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org

Got a problem at school with anti-gay harassment?
In Washington State:
1-877-SAFE-SAFE (1-877-723-3723) 24 hours a day - the phone line is answered at the Sexual Assault Hotline and they will have a Safe Schools Coalition Intervention Specialist volunteer get back to you within 24 hours. Or contact us by email:
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Co-Chairs:

Frieda Takamura, Washington Education Association, 253-765-7062
Elizabeth “
Beth” Reis, Public Health - Seattle & King County, 206-296-4970
Marsha Botzer, Ingersoll Gender Center and The Task Force, 206-601-8942

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