City leaders to recommend approval of gay high school
Studies show increased dropout risk because of stigma, fear of violence
By Carlos Sadovi | Chicago Tribune reporter October 9, 2008
Pointing to studies showing that gay high school students are at greater risk of dropping out because of stigma and fear of violence, Chicago Public Schools leaders said Wednesday that they will recommend opening a campus aimed at these students.
Final approval of the School for Social Justice Pride Campus, designed as the city's first school for gay, lesbian and transgender teenagers, along with 17 other schools, is expected to come Oct. 22 when the Board of Education votes.
Schools chief Arne Duncan said he will ask the board to approve the schools, which are expected to open in the fall of 2009 and 2010, to give greater choice to parents and students. "We want to create great new options for communities that have been traditionally underserved," he said. "If you look at national studies, you see gay and lesbian students with high dropout rates. . . . I think there is a niche there we need to fill."
About 50 people attended a public hearing Wednesday night, with most supporting the school.Supporters said they envision a high school with a maximum of 600 students. It would have the same staffing and oversight requirements as other district schools. Students would be admitted from throughout the city on a lottery basis, officials said. A site has not been chosen.
Chad Weiden, an assistant principal at the Social Justice High School who would be principal at Pride Campus, said the school would incorporate lessons about sexual identity in literature and history classes and offer counseling. The school would be prohibited under state and federal laws from asking about a student's sexual identity, officials said.
A 2003 district survey shows that gay and lesbian youths are three times more likely to miss school because they feel unsafe. On Wednesday, the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network released a national survey of more than 6,000 middle and high school students that found that nearly 90 percent were harassed at school and about 61 percent felt unsafe.
At an earlier public hearing, some gay rights advocates said the school would segregate these students and that the district should work to foster acceptance.
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OK, I do not like this idea at all. We should be working to integrate and educate in our current schools and not building separate schools. This will further segregate these children and I think will make matters worse once they exit high school and will not know how to function outside of a warm and fuzzy environment specifically designed for them. Whats next? A school for the ugly kids?
On another note, if this does go through I bet they'd have the best musicals in the city every year.