http://www.easternecho.com An information source of recent events and issues that are pressing to the Eastern Michigan campus and surrounding areas. en-us Gryphon 2.3.1-dsw (pewabic)/Foundry5 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:22:48 -0500 webmaster@easternecho.com http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/3363 This is absolutely inaccurate. It is ludicrous to think that a public school district would sanction bullying of gay students. The Anoka-Hennepin School District has an anti-bullying policy in place that specifically states that sexual orientation is a protected class. This policy has been in place a number of years. Over a year ago the allegation was made that staff cannot intervene when they see or are made aware of bullying of GLBT students. A few staff mistakenly assumed that the Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy, which requires staff to be neutral in classroom discussions of sexual orientation, extended to bullying. At that time the school board chair and superintendent both went on record stating that staff are expected to intervene in all situations of bullying. If they do not, they will be subject to disciplinary action. The district has also done additional training of staff in how to respond to bullying, including bullying of gay kids. By the way, when I studied journalism, I was told never to assume that what is printed in other publications is entirely accurate. To write a piece based on another article without checking it out yourself not only, it is unethical. We were taught to check it out ourselves to avoid writing an article or opinion piece that further spreads misinformation. Has journalism training changed that much??? Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:22:48 -0500 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/3363