Tuesday, August 16, 2016

A Simple Solution…

Ghettoize them. Down in Georgia they have a simple solution to the “trans problem” put all the LGBT students in one school.
New LGBTQ school joins battle for trans rights in America
CBS News
By Ines Novacic
August 14, 2016

ATLANTA -- Josh Farabee's 14th birthday fell on the same day as his first day at a brand new school. For him it was a double celebration.
"For me, the Pride School is kind of like a safe haven," Farabee told CBS News on a recent sunny afternoon at his home in East Atlanta. "I don't have to worry about what names people may call me or what people would pull in the bathroom. It feels very much like a gift, like finally something amazing in the world."

Pride School Atlanta is the first LGBTQ+ affirming school in the South. Spearheaded by Christian Zsilavets, an openly transgender educator, it will join just a handful of such schools in the U.S. specifically designed as safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth. It's based on the "Free School" model and Zsilavets told CBS News he's particularly focused on transgender students.
[…]
"I was bullied in school for a few years," said Farabee. "Most of my friends that are trans or gender fluid have attempted suicide or self-harmed, or have had addiction problems. I have too."
[…]
"At my last school I was teased a little bit -- I just went by 'she and her' and 'Maddie' and it was really awkward for me and I didn't like," Jasper, 16 - who asked us not to use his last name - told CBS News. "I dreaded going to school because I didn't wanna be known as somebody who was a stranger to me."
The Georgia Voice thinks it is a good idea and ads a little more information,
GBT Atlanta school Pride School counts down days to opening two years in the making
By Patrick Saunders
July 26, 2016

When walking through the parking lot on the way into Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta, you’re quickly alerted to the fact that they do things a little differently. The “Flamboyant Minister Parking” sign in one of the spots is a dead giveaway.

Upon entering the lobby, you’re greeted by seven-foot tall signs with messages like “No one left out” and “Whoever you are, whatever path you are on, you are welcome here.”

“When you walk in, there’s nothing in here that would typically push out folks, especially those in the LGBT community,” says Christian Zsilavetz, executive director of Pride School, a K-12 school for LGBT educators, students and families.
So it seems to be a charter school…
Luckily for Zsilavetz and the families and educators at Pride School, they got their first choice of locations in UUCA. The North Druid Hills area church has incubated three other schools in recent years, each of which branched out and now have their own facilities around town. Plus the location had to be LGBT-friendly and UUCA had that in spades.

“They have a huge allied community, a huge presence at Pride,” Zsilavetz says. “They’re really about social justice, which I think is unusual for a lot of faith communities.”

Pride School is renting out three rooms totaling 1500 square feet, which Zsilavetz says is more than enough room for 10 to 15 students. And the amenities were hard to pass up, including a keycoded door, a fenced-in playground that’s wheelchair accessible, a large patio, a vegetable garden and a butterfly garden. The school will use the rooms during the day on weekdays while the church will use them for various functions on nights and weekends. “So we pay very little rent for the use of this space knowing that we were sharing the space,” he says. “And we knew as a fledgling school, that was how we needed to start.”
Okay first off every school is mandated by law to provide a safe learning space free from bullying, harassment and discrimination. If the schools are not providing a space conducive to learning they are not doing their duty and by putting all the LGBT students they are sweeping the us under the table and are segregating us which is also against the law.

Since this a charter school I don’t know if the school is receiving any public funding. If they are, do they receive block funding, in other words if you have X number of students then you receive Y amount of funding or does a school board determine how much they receive? One of the problems with a separate school is funding, will they be short changed when it comes to for making the budget? Oh, we don’t need to give them the new books we can give them the hand-me-down books from the other schools.

I just did training yesterday for homeless shelter staff and one of the things that the woman from HUD and the man from CT Fair Housing Center emphases we that you cannot put trans people in a separate part of the shelter and the same is true for schools.

Now if they offer the Pride School as an option and offer that option to all students not just the LGBT that is different but if they put only LGBT students there as a part of a policy that is violating the law.

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