Posted on 02/25/2004 1:20:49 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
HE THOUGHT he saw it out of the corner of his eye. Nah, couldn't have been.
Then an adult aide in his classroom confirmed what the teacher had almost missed.
"There were two girls in the front of the classroom [groping] each other," he recalled. "They had stopped by the time [the aide] called my attention to it. But that's what it was."
And that's what it is, but not only at Fitzsimmons Middle School, in North Philadelphia, where this scene took place two weeks ago. There are about a half-dozen high schools and at least two middle schools where similar behavior reportedly has been on the increase.
The teacher at Fitzsimmons Middle School didn't know what to do. So he did nothing. Easy enough to criticize him. But they don't have a course for this at teachers college.
And as inappropriate as the behavior he described seems to me, it's mild compared to some of the aggressive manifestations the district is struggling with.
"There are six girls pending expulsion right now," school district CEO Paul Vallas told me this week. "In some schools it does seem to be part of a pattern of bad behavior in general.
"I don't think it rises to the level of sexual assault. But we're dealing with it.
"We have sent out advisories to all of the schools to clarify our policy. We're going to treat this the same as we do any inappropriate sexual behavior.
"We don't differentiate between whether it's boy/girl, girl/girl, boy/boy. We have policies in place that cover this and we are enforcing them."
Four of the six girls facing expulsion are from the Turner Middle School, at 59th Street and Baltimore Avenue, in West Philadelphia, where a group of girls who self identify as "dykes taking over" have allegedly sexually harassed other girls.
At Simon Gratz, a group called the "Lipstick Gang" has been accused of recruiting straight girls into a lesbian lifestyle. Clashes between groups of openly gay and straight girls have erupted.
In Fayetteville, North Carolina, where my oldest granddaughter goes to high school, the so-called DTO group has become increasingly assertive.
"Ashley was at a dance, and a girl that looked like a boy approached her," my daughter said. "That's not a Philly thing."
That my daughter and granddaughter were able to shrug it off was reassuring. But the idea that my 14-year-old granddaughter is having to deal with this so soon doesn't sit well with me.
That part is life just happening a little sooner than I'd like. Compared to the problems gay and lesbian children have had to face in public schools, this may seem like much ado about little.
But those aren't the kinds of comparisons parents make when their child's safety or well being is in question.
As if they didn't have enough to deal with, the district is having to quickly train personnel on how to detect and defuse some of the increasing tensions arising out of this new challenge.
"Up to now," said Gwen Morris, a school district official who is working on updating the district's responses to this issue, "most of our work has been in how to support the youngsters who have been harassed for their alternative life styles.
"There had been truancy problems. We want to make sure they feel safe going to school.
"This is different, but we're working on it. We have been working with the mayor's office and a number of outside groups around these policy issues."
System-wide training aimed at clarifying the school district's policies and sensitizing educators to the issues raised on both sides of this phenomenon is scheduled for next month.
And after that, we may get to where teachers won't have to pretend they don't see it.
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Four of the six girls facing expulsion are from the Turner Middle School, at 59th Street and Baltimore Avenue, in West Philadelphia, where a group of girls who self identify as "dykes taking over" have allegedly sexually harassed other girls. At Simon Gratz, a group called the "Lipstick Gang" has been accused of recruiting straight girls into a lesbian lifestyle.
Note to Kevin Jennings of GLSEN -- When are you going to address the ever increasing problem of "homosexual" students bullying others in the public schools?
They seem to have left a few options open with this statement.
What about boy/transgendered girl, girl/transgendered boy, transgendered boy/transgendered boy, transgendered girl/transgendered girl, transgendered girl/transgendered boy, transgendered boy/transspeciesed dog?
Shalom.
Shalom.
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