MBUSD Approves LGBTQ+ Professional Development Proposal, Decries Backlash
Jul 15, 2022 09:43PM ● By Jeanne Fratello
Manhattan Beach's school board has unanimously approved an $8,400 professional development program to create safe environments for LGBTQ+ students, while decrying a backlash of negative comments on the issue.
The program involves hiring a consultant for the 2022/23 school year to work for a half-day each with district and site administrators, high school teachers, and middle school teachers, to provide training "to create safe and inclusive schools for LGBTQ+ students."
The program will be paid for through the state-funded Educator Effectiveness Block Grants.
It was originally set to be a consent item, but the board pulled the item out to have a fuller discussion after receiving a larger than usual number of comments on the issue.
Despite an initial flurry of negative comments - many of which the board said did not accurately reflect what was being proposed - the board doubled down in its resolve to move forward with the training.
"There’s a lot of misunderstanding about what this is," said MBUSD board member Jennifer Cochran. "It's administrator training, it's staff training...This is not training of students, this not curriculum-based, this is not forcing anything on anybody except for creating safety and inclusiveness. It is disturbing to me that so many of these comments aren’t even addressing what the agenda item is setting forward."Training Aims to Create Safe Environments
Training Aims to Create Safe Environments
The exact description of the proposal reads, "When students feel safe and connected at school, they are more likely to learn and thrive. Unfortunately, LGBTQ+ students experience disproportionate rates of bullying and rejection, which impact their mental wellness and ability to thrive in and outside of school. In this session, educators will build cultural humility on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression and gain an overview of California laws and district policies as they pertain to LGBTQ+ inclusion. Participants will practice new knowledge by responding to common scenarios using research-based practices that comply with our legal obligations and district policies. Lastly, educators will leave the training with the best and newest educator resources to further guide them in this critical work."
It will involve three half-days of training, one half-day each for administrators and staff, high school teachers, and middle school teachers.
The training will be led by Vincent Pompei, a certified teacher and counselor with a doctorate in educational leadership. In 2019, Pompei authored the California LGBTQ Youth Report, in partnership with the Association of California School Administrators, the California PTA, and seven other statewide professional associations connected to K-12 education.
According to Pompei, 31% of LGBTQ youth and 43% of transgender youth have been bullied at school, compared to 16% of their non-LGBTQ peers. Additionally, 24% of LGBTQ youth and 35% of transgender youth have skipped school because they felt unsafe at school, compared to 8% of non-LGBTQ youth.
MBUSD Board President Sally Peel said that she had heard from teachers that a need for that kind of training existed. "I’ve had teachers say to me, 'I really want to make sure that every student in my classroom feels safe and welcome so they can focus on learning, and I [the teacher] know I'm getting some stuff wrong, and I don't want to get it wrong.'"
MBUSD teachers and students have also called for such a program.
Mira Costa teacher Daniel Cashman, who was one of eight Mira Costa teachers signing a public comment in favor of the training, told the board, "I saw some of the public comments that were published regarding this earlier and I was a little bit shocked and appalled. And when you spend some time with our LGBTQ kids and listen to their stories and hear their needs, you know why this is important, you know why this is necessary."
Negative Comments Stir Strong Emotions
Earlier in the week, when the proposal first appeared on the agenda, an anonymous email began circulating around town that questioned the need for such a program ("Is it required of all teachers and staff? Can they opt out?...Specifically describe how this teacher training will be applied to my
child in elementary, middle, and high school, respectively.")
That email appeared to prompt multiple public comments submitted in writing to the school board. One commenter said that they did not want their child "to be encouraged to experiment or introduced to sexualized content in school at all."
"Will Vinnie be helping teachers to recruit or influence children?" asked another commenter.
Wrote a third commenter: "If these board members want to push their views onto children, they can do it in their own homes."
This line of questioning drew strong responses from board members.
"I am dismayed that people in our own community feel comfortable saying hateful things," said Peel. "It is not OK, especially when you’re talking about children. But whether you’re talking about children or adults, that’s not what we’re about as a school board, that’s for sure, and that’s not what we are about as a city."
"This [training program] is not just impacting LGBTQ students - This impacts every single one of our students for the better, added board member Jen Fenton. "It is creating a safe environment for everybody, which is something that we as a board look toward."
Budget Update Positive
At Wednesday's meeting, the board also heard a positive update on developments in the state budget from Deputy Superintendent Dawnalyn Murakawa-Leopard.
The latest version of the state budget shows MBUSD receiving:
- A one-time grant of $700,000 from the Learning Recovery Block Grant for pandemic-related learning recovery;
- A one-time grant of $3 million from the Arts, Music, and Instructional Materials Discretionary Block Grant that can be used for professional development, instructional materials, operational costs, and more.
- An increase to the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) base grant of nearly 13 percent (including 6.56% COLA and a 6.28% additional investment in the base grant).
Murakawa-Leopard called the increase "unprecedented."
"This is a great acknowledgement of the fact that the LCFF, while it addressed equity, never addressed adequacy. This doesn’t get us to adequacy, but it makes a significant impact," she said. "This is an example of an investment that helps every single district and every single student in California."
Murakawa-Leopard added that the district continues to face $16.1 million in immediate unmet needs, and $8.78 million per year in ongoing unmet needs.
The board will need to approve their revised budget, based on these changes, at a meeting on August 3.
Meanwhile, MBUSD Superintendent John Bowes was absent from the meeting. Peel reported that Bowes' wife had passed away suddenly while the family was on vacation. Peel added that Bowes had expressed appreciation for the thoughts and prayers his family had received from the community during their time of grief.
