[Kobi]

Originally Posted by MsTinkerbelly

So, what do you think about the article? Do you think the School District did the right thing?

I keep reading the story over and over. It sounds to me like the young man outed himself in a number of ways within the school environment and was experiencing some negative repercussions as a result.

Having done so, he put the school in an unenviable position of being between a rock and a hard place.

Schools are expected to deal with bullying behavior and protect the safety and wellbeing of the student. The school did discuss this with the boy and I presume they explored the reasons for his reluctance to come out to his parents himself. The child did give permission even if it was reluctantly. The child is still a child, a minor.

I played this out in my head a bit.

Suppose the school just told the parents the child was being subjected to harrassment type behavior. My reaction as a parent would be to ask why. Why is my child being subjected to this? What is going on that my child has to deal with this negative behavior. The school is again caught between a rock and a hardplace. They have to continue to sidestep the elephant in the room thereby creating more drama and diversion and confusion. Hard to maintain this and does little to help anyone.

Suppose the school did nothing and this child was so harrassed that he harmed himself. Then I can see the parents and a general outrage that the parents had a right to know the truth so they could take steps to protect their child.

Plus, I dont believe it is fair to automatically presume the parents will throw the kid on the street or have any negative reaction. That is one many possibilities. It is also possible the parents knew their kid was gay but were waiting for him to bring it up. It is possible getting this out in the open is a good thing rather than a bad thing.

As a parent, in a perfect world, I would love my child to have the freedom to come to me when he felt safe to do so. If he was unable to do it directly, I would prefer learning about it in a way other than rumor, innuendo, facebook, and the other hideous ways people try to hurt one another.

I dont know what the best course of action would have been. But I do know there are consequences to the decisions we make. If you are a minor who outed yourself at school and are experiencing problems as a result, the school is put in a position of having to respond in some way.

Plus, once you out yourself in a very public way, how is the school supposed to protect your privacy?