Resources
LGBTQ+
Many students face bullying, harassment, and discrimination based on sex stereotypes and assumptions about what it means to be a boy or a girl. Students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, nonbinary, or otherwise gender non-conforming may face harassment based on how they dress or act or for simply being who they are. It is also important that LGBTQI+ students feel safe and know what to do if they experience discrimination. (Federal Dept of Justice and Dept of Education)
Resources:
- Creating LGBTQ Inclusive Schools – Pennsylvania Department of Education
- LGBTQ Rights – ACLU
- Know Your Rights: Students & LGBTQ Rights at School – Southern Poverty Law Center
- Confronting Anti-LGBTQI+ Harassment in Schools – U.S. Department of Education
- Schools Struggle to Support LGBTQ Students – Edutopia
- Schools – Youth.gov
- Open Letter to Hempfield School Board Calls for Rejection of Prohibition on Trans Athletes – Education Law Center
- Letter to South Side Area School District – Education Law Center
- Guidelines to Support Transgender and Gender Expansive Students – NYC Public Schools
- PSBA LGBTQIA+ Legal Update – Pennsylvania School Boards Association
- LGBTQ+ Youth – Human Rights Campaign
- 5 Ways Educators Can Help Support LGBTQ+ Students – Teachers College of Columbia
- ELC Guide on LGBTQ Student Rights – Education Law Center
- ELC Fact Sheet, The Rights of LGBTQ+ and Nonbinary Students – Education Law Center
- ELC Fact Sheet, Equity in School Sports for Transgender, Nonbinary and Intersex Students – Education Law Center
- Toolkit for Creating Inclusive and Nondisciminatory School Environments for LGBTQI+ Students – U.S. Department of Education
Consider filing a complaint with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department 5 of Justice at civilrights.justice.gov (available in several different languages), or with the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education at www.ed.gov/ocr/complaintintro.html (to file a complaint in English) or www.ed.gov/ocr/docs/howto.html (to file a complaint in multiple languages)
- Human Relations Commission – Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission
- Office of Civil Rights – U.S. Department of Justice
- Confronting Anti-LGBTQI+ Harassment in Schools – U.S. Department of Education
- Sex Discrimination – U.S. Department of Education
- FACT SHEET: U.S. Department of Education’s 2022 Proposed Amendments to its Title IX Regulations – U.S. Department of Education
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Race and Discrimination
All students from all races, ethnicities, cultures, and nationalities deserve the same protections, rights, and respect required by our federal and state laws. Schools must defend against discriminatory policies and practices, including discipline policies, that exclude or target any student group that is under their scope.
Resources:
- Know Your Rights – NAACP
- Fast Facts on School Safety: The Research – End Zero Tolerance
- ELC Guide on Affirming & Safe Schools Free From Racism – Education Law Center
- ELC Report, We Need Supportive Spaces That Celebrate Us: Black Girls Speak Out About Public Schools – Education Law Center
- ELC Fact Sheet, Promising Practices To Build AntiRacist and Affirming Schools – Education Law Center
- ELC Fact Sheet, The Right to Be Free From Racism at School – Education Law Center
- FACT SHEET: The U.S. Department of Education Announces New Tools to Tackle Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Related Forms of Discrimination and Bias
- Shared Ancestry or Ethnic Characteristics – Office of Civil Rights
- “Dear Colleague” Letter on Shared Ancestry – Office of Civil Rights
- Recent Resolution Search – Office of Civil Rights
- List of Open Title VI Shared Ancestry Investigations – Office of Civil Rights
- Contact Information for PA Office of Civil Rights
- Complaint Form – Office of Civil Rights
- Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2023 Highlights – Anti-Defamation League
- Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2023 – Anti-Defamation League
- White Supremacist Propaganda Incidents Soar to Record High in 2023 – Anti-Defamation League
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Classroom and Curriculum
All students from all races, ethnicities, cultures, and nationalities deserve the same protections, rights, and respect required by our federal and state laws. Schools must defend against discriminatory policies and practices, including discipline policies, that exclude or target any student group that is under their scope.
Resources:
- Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education (CR-SE) Program Framework Guidelines – Pennsylvania Department of Education
- Equity Action Plan: Pursuing and Achieving Equity – Pennsylvania School Boards Association
- Creating Safe and Welcoming Schools – Welcoming Schools
- Fact Sheet: Promising Practices to Build Antiracist and Affirming Schools – Education Law Center
- Schools – Youth.gov
- Equity and Justice for LGBTQ Students – Teacher Responsibilities – Intercultural Development Research Association
- 5 Ways Educators Can Help Support LGBTQ+ Students – Teachers College Columbia University
- Strategies for Supporting LGBTQ Students – EducationWeek
- The Culture War’s Impact on Public Schools – National Education Association
- Building Culturally Affirming Schools: A Community Advocacy Toolkit – Teach Plus Pennsylvania
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Censorship/Book Bans
Censoring the resources students have access to continues to plague PA school communities. Books are the tools that allow our children’s minds to be expanded, concepts to be exposed, and other worlds to be explored. Removing and banning resources is a slippery slope that jeopardizes the rights of all community members.
Messaging:
Among the titles in the Index, PEN America notes that “467 contain protagonists or prominent secondary characters of color (41%), and 247 directly address issues of race and racism (22%); 379 titles (33%) explicitly address LGBTQ+ themes, or have protagonists or prominent secondary characters who are LGBTQ+; 283 titles contain sexual content of varying kinds (25%), including novels with sexual encounters as well as informational books about puberty, sex, or relationships. There are 184 titles (16%) that are history books or biographies. Another 107 titles have themes related to rights and activism (9%).”
- Messaging Guidance – Campaign for Our Shared Future
- Action Toolkit – U.S. Department of Justice
- Book Bans and their Impact on Young People and Society – Anti-Defamation League
- Office of Intellectual Freedom – American Library Association
- Library Bill of Rights – American Library Association
Resources:
- Intellectual Freedom Resources– Pennsylvania School Librarians Association
- Fighting Book Bans – Education Law Center
- Fact Sheet: Your Rights to Oppose Book Bans – Education Law Center
- Education Law Center (ELC) Policy Statement – Education Law Center
- Book Ban Busters – Red Wine & Blue
- PEN America Book Bans – PEN America
- Book Bans and Curriculum Gag Orders: National Trends – U. S. House of Representatives
- ELC Fact Sheet, Challenging Book Bans: What You Can Do – Education Law Center
- ELC Position Statement on Book Bans – Education Law Center
- Unite Against Book Bans – American Library Association
Statewide Contacts:
- PSLA Intellectual Freedom Task Group: The Pennsylvania School Librarians Association’s Intellectual Freedom Task Group is charged with supporting school librarians and school communities in ensuring the intellectual freedom of students and educators. We provide information, guidance and support when access to books or information is challenged as well as guidance in policy and procedures for library materials.
PSLA Rapid Response Team Contact: click here
- Education Law Center (ELC) helpline: ELC provides information, referrals, legal advice, and advocacy to families, youth, caseworkers, attorneys, judges, community members, etc. statewide through its Helpline.
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- Eastern and Central PA — 215-238-6970
- Western PA — 412-258-2120
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Advocacy
The process of making our voices heard. Toolkits, messaging, and strategies are provided to assist advocates in the pushback on extremist policies that harm all our students, especially our most vulnerable children. Working together we can make the difference for our students.
Resources:
- PA Human Relations Commission
- How to File a Complaint – PA Human Relations Commission
- Advocacy Toolkit – Education Voters of PA
- What is at stake in school board elections this year. – Education Voters of PA
- Advocacy Training – Education Voters of PA
- ELC’s webpages and sample legal advocacy for Inclusive Schools and Honest Education – Education Law Center
- ELC Fact Sheet, The School Board, Its Power and How to Advocate -Education Law Center
- ELC Fact Sheet: How to File a Complaint to the PA Human Relations Commission -Education Law Center
- ELC Fact Sheet, Student Rights to Free Speech and Expression in Public Schools – Education Law Center
- ELC Webinar, Race & Sex Based Discrimination in K-12 Public Schools including How to File Complaints to OCR and PHRC – Slides | Video – Education Law Center
- Troublemaker Resource Page – Red Wine & Blue
- TroubleNation – Red Wine & Blue
- Troublemaker’s Guide – Red Wine & Blue
- Parent Playbook – Red Wine & Blue
- Freedom to Parent – Red Wine & Blue
- Organzing & Narrative Toolkit 2.0 – Heal Together
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Sexuality Education
Sex education in schools is about more than just the birds and the bees. It’s a vital part of helping students grow up well-rounded. It promotes health and safety, breaks down misconceptions, and encourages responsible decision-making while supporting emotional and mental well-being. In a nutshell, sex ed is like a toolkit that helps students make smart choices, respect others, and lead a healthy life.
Resources:
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