Part I
A. Introduction to the Planning Thought Process
B. High School Diversity Programs Need to Be All-inclusive: This Means Addressing Lesbian,
Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Issues
C. Planning for Diversity within a Public High School
Part II
D. Understanding the Details of the Plan's Foundation
Part III
E. Evaluating the Progress of Change
A. Introduction to the Planning Thought Process
The following plan for change considers the environment of a public high school. There were three major thoughts that went into composing this plan. The first is the understanding that as a public high school, it receives the majority of its funding from its surrounding community. Realizing this fact, the following plan concentrates a lot of effort at getting community participation, involvement, and support. This can be seen during phase one of the plan. If community support is not attained, implementation and/or success of this plan will not be achieved.
The second consideration for this plan was the need to emphasize the necessity for the diversity plan to be all-inclusive. A high school may have a current plan in place for managing its diversity, however, they may be flawed if they do not seek an all-inclusive definition of diversity. A diversity program that does not give equal respect to all human beings is doomed to fail before it is even implemented. Specifically, if the diversity plan begins to exclude certain individuals, it loses its credibility and risks a reputation of being more of an agenda that is established by a select group or groups of diversity. When this happens, a plague begins to emerge within the high school and presents various aspects of malice.
In association with the second consideration, the third consideration looks at the school's population of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. As this diversity group tends to be more of a hidden minority, LGBT people tend to be frequently overlooked in a number of diversity programs, especially when they pertain to a school environment. This plan will give special emphasis to LGBT people and the issues they face within a high school environment.
B. High School Diversity Programs Need to Be All-inclusive: This
Means Addressing Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transgender Issues
Childhood learning during the primary and secondary education years often has the potential to influence an individual for the rest of their life. In order to achieve a work environment that is sensitive to the importance of diversity, we must begin by teaching some fundamental principles to society at a young age. We must teach our children to respect one another, regardless of a person's race or color of their skin, gender, age, ethnic background, physical abilities/qualities, religion, and even sexual orientation. However, what we find is that it is often difficult for many people in United States to find tolerance, understanding, and acceptance for all of these dimensions of diversity. Acceptance for fellow human beings who are of a different sexual orientation is sometimes the most difficult for people intolerant of differences. Perhaps because sexual orientation is not as visibly apparent as the other primary dimensions of diversity, gays and lesbians commonly blend in with their heterosexual counterparts, thus easily assimilating into the heterosexual majority. Also, heterosexual-minded people often have a tendency to group gay and lesbian people with the heterosexual majority and respect them as fellow heterosexuals until they discover otherwise. These two factors lead to gay and lesbian people as being seen as an invisible minority. Although every high school should desire an all inclusive diversity program, the dimension of sexual orientation poses certain challenges when looking to educate other people towards acceptance.
Particularly challenging is that the U.S. society's views regarding sexual orientation are often heavily influenced by the secondary dimension of religion. A number of people do not accept gay and lesbian people because of the moral guidelines that are established and emphasized by their religion. Although religions often have a large number of moral guidelines to follow, not every guideline is given equal emphasis. While some moral guidelines are viewed as absolute, others carry less of a stigma when violated. A good example of this within U.S. society would be to look at the Bible's view of greed as considered to be a deadly sin. In the U.S. capitalist society, greed is often considered to be a respectable personal trait. Hence, you would rarely see a group of religious activists picketing outside a corporate headquarters building to protest the greed that many executives are perceived to have in their positions. This can be attributed much to the fact that the majority of the people living in the U.S. capitalistic society also maintain a certain degree of greed in their lives as well. Homosexuality is often misunderstood by many people and often leads to confusion since it is viewed so differently.
This leads to another challenge for bringing acceptance to our children, which is the idea that people associate sex education and sexual orientation as being one in the same subject, often not desiring to discuss the latter at all. Continuing with this barrier of having LGBT issues included in the school's diversity plan is the thought that if the school is going to integrate sexual orientation into the curriculum, the entire curriculum will be teaching our children about sex. It is as if people hear the first word 'sexual' and their opinion is already formulated. When looking at sexual orientation from a sexual education point of view, the policies and opinions of how to educate our youth about sex varies greatly from school district to school district. This creates an enormous barrier. It is essential for people to focus more on the word 'orientation' rather than 'sexual' when thinking about the dimensional aspects of diversity. After all, schools include sexual orientation in their curriculums every day. Schools just choose not to be diverse when teaching about this subject. There are many daily examples where schools include heterosexual sexual orientation within the curriculum, while ignoring orientations of other groups represented in the classroom. An English class has children reading story after story, which contain themes of heterosexual relationships. In a teacher's examples of social norms and discussions with students about what they desire to be in their lives after they are married and have children. In our history lessons that discuss the presidential first ladies, but never discuss the same sex partners of famous LGBT historians.
This plan for change will establish an outline for use by any high school to create a plan for educating the students, teachers, faculty, and the administration of the school about the importance of recognizing the significance of accepting others without regard to their sexual orientation. This plan for change acknowledges that the topic of sexual orientation deserves to be included when teaching sex education, but more importantly, the plan will include sexual orientation in all aspects of managing diversity and respecting others within the school. This includes awareness education, conveying the skills necessary for individual behavioral changes, as well as a complete integration of issues of sexual orientation when setting forth all inclusive diversity initiatives. By failing to address sexual orientation in these manners, the school will continue to encounter a number of problems that occur when not managing diversity properly.
The results of a poorly managed diversity plan will be felt within the school academically, socially, and economically for students, faculty, parents, and the overall community. Student performance is affected when students do not see themselves as meaningful or valuable contributors to society. If these students become overwhelmed with the feelings of failure to society, they may drop out and/or even look for an end to their distressed life. According to The Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Study performed by the Centers for Disease Control and the Massachusetts Department of Education, gay, lesbian, and bi-sexual students were five times more likely to attempt suicide in 1996 than heterosexual students. Students who choose instead to fight such injustice may struggle to gain acceptance and support of their teachers, peers, and family. Statistics from the same study as above have shown gay, lesbian, or bi-sexual students were more than four times more likely than their heterosexual counterparts of being threatened or injured with a weapon at school in 1996. The study also shows them more than four times more likely of having been in a physical fight resulting in treatment by a doctor or nurse during the 1996 school year.
If a student turns to the administration for assistance against harassment but does not find any support, the school district and the administration can be taken to court and charges can be made against them for failure to create a safe and adequate learning environment for every student. Such a court battle can strain the finances of the district and take the faculty away from their duties of administrating and educating their students. Not to mention the stress that is put on the faculty and teachers. In the meantime, the student may find himself or herself going from school to school in an attempt to be accepted for who they are. Parents of gay and lesbian children will also have encounter great stress and financial strain as they try to support their child during this turmoil. Parents may even choose to pay for transporting the child to a distant private school. There are many impacts on the community as well.
When looking at the impact on the community, one can look at the community as a society, or the community as an economy. As a society, the community grows more intolerant of other people who are different from the majority. Gays and lesbians are not comfortable being themselves and are forced to lead double lives. This causes high levels of stress amongst gays and lesbians in the community. This stress is not good for the health of the overall population. Stress also begins to manifest itself into the heterosexual population by experiencing incidents of hate and violence over time, based on the lack of understanding of how to adequately deal with such differences. Violence can even be taken against other heterosexuals in the community if they are interpreted as appearing to be homosexual or for even being associated with known or suspected homosexuals. Just this past April, Decatur's Milikin University had to send the following email message campus wide.
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2000 3:13 AM
Subject: Assault against student
At approximately 2200, on 04-04-00, a female student was assaulted by an
unknown assailant north of Pilling Chapel. During the incident, the
assailant made the statement, "I seen you hanging with them fags". Please
take precaution when walking alone, especially at night. Try to walk with
other students and utilize the escort van service whenever possible. Keep
Safety and Security informed of any suspicious persons or activity that you
witness. Thank you.
Officer Powel
Millikin Safety and Security
Another incident that also occurred during the spring semester at Illinois State University was of a young male college student who was walking across campus to meet up with his girlfriend to go out dancing. A couple of homophobic males came across him and beat him up, causing him to be hospitalized. During their attack, they made anti-gay remarks and made fun of the way he dressed. He was wearing a flashy shirt that evidently appeared to the attackers to signify this young man's sexual orientation. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate the article again for this plan and am only including what I remember reading. It is important to keep in mind that homophobia affects everyone. This is not to downplay the significance of the need to protect and include LGBT, however, it is sometimes important to underscore this argument against all forms of homophobia in an attempt to gain support from a larger number of people.
Homophobia also reinforces strict gender roles, which society places on individuals. This in turn inhibits the full potential of most individuals and can limit others in their desired career pursuit. Another destructive element of homophobia is its ability to build barriers between same sex friendships and relationships. The fear of being labeled is always present for those who are insecure about their own sexuality. For example, even if two heterosexual males in the U.S. are close friends and they both know they are heterosexual, their fear of what others in society or even what the other friend would think if they were to do certain things together, thus putting limits on their friendship. They would perhaps be less likely to hug one another, hold hands, dance together, or have any other physical contact that again relates back to a non-traditional male gender role.
There are two more impairments of homophobia that are related more closely to this plan and reasons for enhancements in a high school's diversity initiatives. First, homophobia and the harassment that comes with it, causes increases in a teenager's sexual activity. This increase can lead to many risks. Siting The Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Study of 1997, one such risk shows gay, lesbian, and bi-sexual youth (36.9%) were twice as likely than heterosexuals (14.5%) in 1996 to have either become pregnant or have gotten someone pregnant. Teenagers who are being harassed by their peers for being gay or lesbian may feel a need to prove otherwise. Along with this risk of sexual activity, all youth are at greater risk of catching sexually transmitted diseases if attending a school that chooses not to address all important issues in a sex education curriculum.
The second and most important reason homophobia hurts everyone is because it hinders any school's attempts at implementing a plan for diversity management. There is the utmost importance for any effective diversity plan to be all-inclusive and not allow discrimination against anyone for any reason. If discrimination and hate are allowed to exist within a school's walls and down the school's hallways, it will eventually permeate into other dimensions. Students who see discrimination occurring in one dimension of diversity, will create an atmosphere of hate that will lead to others discriminating along other dimensions. This compounding negative affect can ruin any well-intentioned plan for diversity. That is why the foundation of this plan will be all-inclusive and give respect to all individuals regardless of their varying dimensions of diversity. The reason why this plan chooses to concentrate much attention to the LGBT issues is due to the high levels of ignorance and avoidance that currently exist regarding this dimension.
From an economic perspective, the community loses out on the maximum number of highly educated individuals they can produce. If large numbers of gay and lesbian students are not supported in their education or allowed the opportunity to excel, they will drop out or become too preoccupied with day to day struggles to be academically successful. This becomes a tremendous waste of human potential, which could have contributed abounding achievements to the community. Perhaps an individual does make it through the educational system successfully, the individual may be more likely to look for other more supportive communities to work and live. This again restricts the maximum number of highly skilled and educated people within the community and retards the potential of those who do stay as they may be forced to assimilate.
When devising the plan for change, the school should not only be looked at as a place to educate future workers of the United States, but also as a work environment for many teachers, faculty, and administration. These workers will also benefit greatly from a well-managed and all-inclusive diversity plan that requires respect towards everyone. With such a plan, stresses can be reduced. Reducing these stresses will lead to lower costs of absenteeism and greater energy, quality, and creativity in the work performed. Workers may focus their attention on the job itself rather than spending time and energy hiding their true identities from their coworkers, parents, and students. There is also enormous pressure put on gay and lesbian school workers by the overall community. People who do not accept homosexuals often judge LGBT people who work in a school environment as being deviant and corruptive to children and frequently label them as sex offenders. This makes for a non-supportive work environment, even if the fellow administrators and faculty support the LGBT school worker. With this view of LGBT school workers in mind, the school worker also has to live with the thought of potentially having a vindictive student make a slanderous remark if the student becomes angry with them for any reason. For example, a student may deservedly receive a failing grade for the course, or become upset with a disciplinary action taken upon them for their behavior. The possibility exists for the student to take advantage of the community's disapproval of the school worker's sexual orientation and make an erroneous accusation that the school worker made a sexual advance toward the student. Although the advance may have never occurred, the student is getting what they see as being revenge. Meanwhile, the teacher's reputation in that school and community is tarnished, and a long, costly, and publicly humiliating trial follows. These and other barriers keep many highly skilled, intelligent, and talented LGBT people apathetic about entering the education employment sector.
One teacher from an Illinois school district told of a similar incident. He has gained many friendships with his students over the years of teaching. He used to coach his school's debate team and currently he takes small groups of students to Europe each year. He also spends a lot of time remodeling his large, old house and has a few rooms, which are made into apartments where local college students rent out. Sometimes, he will have some students help him out with his remodeling in order to provide them an opportunity to earn extra money for spending on their trip to Europe. This teacher is a well-respected individual by a majority of the faculty and a significant number of community members. His students all think he is the greatest as well. However, one year he was drawn into a slanderous ordeal involving a false made by a boy at the high school he teaches.
The boy had been spreading rumors around the school that the teacher had fondled him. Eventually, the student came to the teacher with the story and told him that he would not say anything more if he could have some money. The teacher told the boy that he was basically crazy and that he can get into a lot of trouble for spreading such lies. The boy was not as mature as he should have been for his age, and has a more difficult time deciphering reality. The boy ended up going to the school principal after being refused money. Unfortunately, the principal at the time was homophobic and played right into the boy's plan. The principal and the teacher had never really seen eye to eye on many things and the principal saw this as an opportunity to rid himself of this gay teacher from his school.
Over a lot of time and a lot of publicity and demoralizing attacks against the teacher, the case finally went to trial. Even though the teacher had the principal against him, he had the backing and support of a vast number of parents and students from the high school. In the end, it was this support that brought him to victory over the slanderous statement, but could never repair all of the pain and humiliation that he had gone through. The students in the school told about how the boy was always lying and how common it was for him to make up stories and lies to tell other students in order to gain attention. It also came out during the trial that the boy at the time of the initial accusation had wrecked a friend's car and was looking to get money somehow to repair the damage.
Eventually, the boy came to admit that he had made up the whole story and had apologized to the teacher; but this was not until after the overwhelming negative publicity and pain the teacher had gone through with the trial that eventually proved the teacher to be innocent. The teacher told me that if it had not been for the support of his students and their parents and other influential community members, he would not have made it through the ordeal. He could not see how a newly hired teacher under the same circumstances would have survived in the same way. This real example goes to show the tragedy of such a possibility.
C. Planning for Diversity within a Public High School
In order to solve the stated problem, this plan will continue to stress the need for an all-inclusive diversity program that defines diversity in the broadest sense. By maintaining a broad definition, the high school will work to equally stamp out hate, bias, prejudice, and discrimination. If a student or a group of students are allowed to use any one dimension of diversity as reason to put another student down, this opens the door for hate within the school. This hate presents itself like a virus that plants itself inside the body, in this case the high school. Once this virus has been allowed inside the body, it begins to spread, until it works its way through the entire body. Some viral symptoms are not noticeable, while others are. However, some viral symptoms that are noticeable are not traceable. Eventually, the body becomes very ill, and may even die. If the high school allows this virus to enter through its front doors, it will eventually cause severe illness throughout the entire school. Signs of this illness may already be obvious, while others are subtler. Nonetheless, it exists and continues to bring harm onto the entire school. There are four ways to rid the school of this virus called hate: Knowledge and information sharing regarding various aspects of diversity; Diversity awareness training; Diversity skills-based training; Integration of diversity initiatives.
First, people have to be provided with the information and knowledge relating to the various dimensions of diversity. This information will provide people with a basic understanding of the various types of diversity. Next, this knowledge must be followed up with awareness training. People should be made aware of the differences of the various groups of diversity, however, an even greater focus must be put on showing the similarities. A communication will be started between two people if the people are allowed to see how other people who on the outside may appear to be very different are actually very alike. This communication will lead to eliminating any stereotypes and myths each person has about the other. The third approach involves providing people with the skills it takes to live and participate in daily life with other people who are from a different diversity group. When looking at an all-inclusive diversity plan that maintains respect for all human beings, this plan will focus primarily on helping people learn how to change their behavior. Though it would be nice to have the ability to change everyone's attitude, this plan recognizes the improbability of such an achievement. The favored alternative is to see everyone as human and deserving of the same basic respect that they also desire. Although it is located throughout the entire plan, the last method to be used by this plan for establishing an all-inclusive diversity program will be integration of diversity initiatives and strategies into the framework of the high school. When diversity becomes an integral part of every function of the high school, there will no longer be a vital need to establish a separate program. Being the fourth mentioned approach should not imply that this should wait until the very end of the plan to implement these strategies and initiatives. This fourth approach will be started at the beginning of the plan's implementation.
D. Understanding the Details of the Plan's Foundation
This plan for change will concentrate into four main areas. The first two will be essential for beginning the plan, thus containing short-term objectives. These areas will focus on conveying knowledge and information of LGBT people and the issues they face. The short-term objectives for this area will include designing an informational brochure that can be distributed community wide. Availability of this brochure will be established by mailing it out to every elementary and secondary school student's home, making it available at the public library and all other public buildings and educational facilities, as well as local places of religious gatherings, and other places appropriate where large numbers of people gather. Another objective will be to establish a community diversity committee of volunteers that will be dedicated towards the elimination of hate in their public schools as well as in their community. Once the committee members have been found, they will be fully trained with the knowledge and information required of them, the awareness of the problem to be handled, and the skills to handle it. This committee's first task will be to contact every local business owner, government and public official, religious leader, corporate executive, and education and social worker in the community. Once these individuals have been contacted, the committee can personally convey information regarding diversity and LGBT issues within the local community.
This contact will also lead to the next area to be covered, which is awareness training. The short-term objectives for this second area to be addressed will include the committee's communication with the above mentioned individuals. In addition to providing these individuals with information about the LGBT issues in the community, they will be provided awareness of the issues and problems LGBT people face in the community as well as within the high school. The individuals will be informed of the implications that this has on them, both directly and indirectly. The committee members will then drop off an appropriate number of brochures to each individual and give them a ready-to-mail survey to be completed.
This ready-to-mail survey will be used to establish the effectiveness of the information and awareness provided to the individual. The survey will also have a page that reiterates the implications that homophobia and gender biases have on them and the community. The material will also provide a list of a number of ways in which the individual may help with the plan for change. From the initial visit, the committee members will have already determined the interest level of the individual and can assess a good time for a follow up visit. Although the surveys will be anonymous if the individual chooses, each will contain a category number, which tells the committee what type of individual has returned it and answered the questions. For example, a religious leader will be one category of survey, an executive another, and educator another, and so forth.
The first of two areas that will have long-term objectives is skills-based training. With skills-based training, the long-term objectives are aimed at behavioral change. There are three main objectives included with such change of behavior. These three objectives include behavior change for the students, for the teachers, faculty, and administrators, and for the local community. These objectives are difficult to measure as they are not short-term and they often involve assumptions of an individual's behavior.
The first objective will be to create a more accepting and less threatening behavior amongst all students within the high school. In the plan's communication to students, it will create an atmosphere of acceptance and respect for all fellow students within the high school. This broad objective will be measured by setting targets. The first target objective will be to reduce the amount of school violence, which occurs within the high school, by five percent each year after the first complete year of implementation. It is to be expected to have an increase in school violence during the first year of implementation, but to attempt to hold such an increase to five percent. For the first three years after the plan has been initiated, the rate of violence is targeted to decrease by five percent each year. This target will then increase to ten percent for each year after the first three years of implementation, until the rate of school violence is held at a constant level registering significantly lower than when the plan was initiated. The next objective will be to obtain an atmosphere of inclusiveness for any LGBT students within all school activities and functions. Objectives of this behavior change will be met when observing increases in participation of openly LGBT students at school functions and in school activities. An increased concern for addressing LGBT issues will begin to be voiced by the students and school workers. School workers will also keep track of all school functions and activities in order to determine the atmosphere each has for inclusion of all diversity, including rather than ignoring or rejecting, the dimension of sexual orientation. Another positive observance may be made regarding the inclusion of LGBT themes and/or subjects within the schools debate and speech teams, and school plays. Finally, observances can be made of articles regarding LGBT subjects and/or issues within the school's student run newspaper.
The next objective for skills-based training will be to create a change in behavior amongst the teacher, faculty, and administration. This change will be monitored over time by assessing how these individuals are voluntarily incorporating understanding and tolerance of LGBT issues into their everyday work situations.
Librarians will be assessed to determine if they are voluntarily recognizing the need to include more diversity in the library in order to make the library a more inviting place for all students. Does the library have an information board that can educate students about various books related to diverse people? Has the librarian assisted the plan in establishing a list of diversity categories and books that fall into such categories? This list is to be made available to all students, teachers, faculty, and administrators. Once this list has been established, has the librarian worked to update and add to the list every year? Is the category for LGBT people also updated? Does this category contain appropriate educating and fun literature for students to read? Has the librarian set up other diversity displays, which also include LGBT topics within the library?
Academic and health counseling faculty members will be assessed to determine their continuous use and/or search for literature and other diversity materials, which also address LGBT people's assistance in an effort to make them feel as if they are an inclusive part of the school. How prominent are these materials and are they updated every year? Provide the faculty staff member with a survey log at the beginning of every school year in order to anonymously record occasions and situations they had to work with LGBT students. At the end of each school year, this log will be reviewed with a counseling expert in LGBT and other diversity issues. This expert will be contracted by the school district. The high school faculty member will be assisted by this expert to evaluate the log and help the faculty member reflect on how situations were handled and how others may be better or similarly handled in the future. In order to track and maintain continuous objectives for these faculty members, the consulting expert will report to the school administrator in charge of each appropriate faculty area and provide a non-biased evaluation for how the faculty member handles issues related to diversity, including LGBT issues.
Teachers will be observed through their curriculum instruction to assess whether or not they are openly acknowledging the existence of LGBT people, thus including all of their LGBT students as a part of the class. Another determinant is to observe if the teachers are disciplining students after a student is heard speaking an LGBT verbal offense towards another student or school worker. This will demonstrate the teacher's non-acceptance for such behavior within the school. This objective will be difficult to measure, and will also include assessing all faculty and administrators. A final observance to behavioral changes of both teachers and administrators would be to see if diversity is being observed by seeing more non-traditional class or school field trips. Such field trips could even be combined with a traditional field trip. Perhaps on the way to take the students to a traditional location, an additional stop can be made at a site that respects another culture or dimension of diversity. For example, if taking the students to a historic monument in a town with a lot of history, another stop can be made at a historic battle field where many black civil war soldiers died, or where a historic minority, LGBT person, or prominent woman used to reside or work.
Included, as a long-term objective will be to change the local community's behavior toward LGBT people. This overall behavior change will be extremely difficult if at all possible to accurately measure. There are many things that can be observed that will signal a change in behavior. Attempts may be made by assessing media resistance over the time of addressing LGBT issues and seeing a reduction of negative public feedback for such coverage. Noticing an increase rather than a stagnation or decrease of LGBT community activities, groups, organizations, and gathering places. Determining an increase of frequency for local government officials addressing LGBT concerns and issues within the community, rather than covering them up and/or ignoring them. The assessment of various community and business diversity programs that should have been assessed at the beginning of the plan may be reviewed again each year to see how these programs address LGBT issues of diversity. These can determine whether or not there is a further increase in overall community education regarding LGBT issues.
The second important long-term objective for the plan is to begin to integrate LGBT issues of diversity into the every day culture and framework of the high school. This objective can be looked at as being both long-term as well as short-term since integration occurs throughout the plan starting from implementation. One of the keys to the success of this plan is its integration throughout the high school framework and community. Communication is critically essential for this plan to be effective. Since this is a public institution funded by public monies, all eyes will be on the plan implementation. Therefore, continuous communication with the community, especially the parents, is important to the portrayal of an accurate picture of what is going on within the high school regarding the diversity plan. Public involvement and input must continuously be sought and recognized so that the plan's administrators are seen as being all-inclusive and not working on their own agenda or someone else's.
Areas of inclusion not yet addressed in this plan refer to some of the benefits and rewards for implementing the plan effectively. To repeat the fact that this is a public institution that uses public funding, it may be difficult to justify any significant amounts of money as a bonus incentive for teachers, faculty, or administrators who effectively implement the plan. However, as many characteristics to a school worker's compensation and rewards, not all are extrinsic. For example, the teacher may benefit a great deal from the plan by noticing an increase in student participation, attendance, and teamwork within the classroom. The teacher may also find it easier to get materials across to the students and maintain the students' attention. Teachers may observe less animosity and competition within the classroom and more team efforts. The students' grade levels may show increase and more frequently assignments may be seen as being a lot more creative and original than previously observed. The teacher will begin to feel a higher level of self accomplishment as the students excel. These and other improvements in the classroom will lead to an overall increase in job satisfaction on behalf of the teacher.
Teachers, faculty, and administrators can also be given an increased amount of paid time off for purposes of attending diversity workshops, seminars, and conferences. A session should be scheduled to somehow disseminate information from these various events to other school workers. School workers who reach a certain level of diversity education should be rewarded by the high school. The school should establish a means or rewards such as plaques, certificates, and even small wage or bonus increases if possible. Perhaps the school worker can receive a special bonus for such level of achievement. Resources for such a bonus may be able to be obtained through public school funding and be in non-monetary form, or by means of reaching out to community leaders, businesses, or corporations. If not a monetary award, perhaps the school worker can receive a compilation of donated rewards from the business community that in total add up to great significance. Rewards could include free items or discounts from local merchants, further training and/or education from corporate universities or other educational institutions, discounts or free access to community events and activities, free parking privileges within the local community for an established time period, or even free or discounted services from local service providers like cable, phone, electricity, or others. Similar types of rewards may also be available to students and student organization for their efforts in participation and promotion of the all-inclusive diversity plan. Free lunches, award certificates, plaques, trophies, ribbons, restaurant or shopping certificates and other rewards may be used to establish and maintain student participation and dedication to the diversity plan.
Regarding integration within administration, a short-term objective will include policy review and changes that ensure an all-inclusive diversity program as previously stated. Long-term objectives would include a review of the school's hiring and recruitment in order to determine if the school is matching the diversity within the school. The objective here is to eventually obtain a match of teachers, faculty, and administration that accurately matches the student population of the high school. Recruitment will not use diversity dimensions as a sole requirement, but will review all equally qualified applicants and assess who would best fit into the school's all-inclusive culture and assist the high school in mirroring its student population. As stated above, this will go for all positions and will not just be limited to entry level teaching positions. This will include faculty as well as school administrators and refers to promotion as well as new recruitment of all diverse individuals.
As stated previously about the teaching curriculum, it is important to have a curriculum that is inclusive of all students in the classroom. The long-term objective here would be for the teacher to come up with new methods of including all aspects of diversity into their every day teachings, and add to these methods and techniques every year rather than using the same ones over and over. The importance of assessing whether a teacher is finding new methods and ideas for incorporating diversity into the classroom relates to their own continuous education into the areas of diversity.
1. Key Players Involved in the Change Process
In order to design a plan for change that is fully inclusive and assured to represent LGBT issues for a local high school, a committee of individuals and supporters should be gathered well before the plan is implemented. This will involve consulting with the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network Organization (GLSEN), Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), and other local LGBT organizations, in addition to seeking support of other diversity organizations within the voting area of the high school. The school board has the final approval on broad school policy; thus influencing this board will be the number one priority. The committee on diversity should be representative of the community at large. This committee will begin by working hard at educating the entire community about the importance of diversity as well as the importance to make sure everyone is considered when defining diversity. Members of the committee who represent various national organizations may utilize their ability to network and make contacts with others nationwide and gather further information and/or resources needed for the educating process. Other possible members of the committee may include: LGBT and heterosexual school workers and students, community members who support LGBT people and issues related to work and school, and experts in the area of sexual orientation within the school environment. These committee members will further seek other local community members who are LGBT supportive by making contact with various government officials, school board members, religious leaders, newspaper editors, influential media personnel, influential parents, corporate leaders, and other organizational leaders. All of these people from these and other groups will be among the people identified as key players in the implementation of the first phase of the plan for change. Financial and other types of needed resources may also come from these various individuals, groups, and/or organizations.
The plan for change will utilize the financial and vocal support of the above mentioned respected and important community leaders. The leaders will be critical for gaining wide support of the local community for what may otherwise be a controversial plan. These leaders will be utilized in the effort to educate the community in order to obtain their support and acceptance. Local media organizations such as the television, radio stations, and local newspapers will be heavily targeted for their support and educational outreach to the community. Media will be seen as a tool for delivering the diversity committee's messages and knowledge of LGBT issues to a broader audience. Much time will be spent on the pre-implementation process, as it will be a very political ordeal. Gaining adequate public support is essential to the success of such a potentially controversial, all-inclusive diversity plan.
These pre-implementation measures are necessary to take when attempting to attempting to gain approval of a potentially controversial plan for change in a publicly funded institution such as a public high school. Community education and the spread of knowledge of LGBT issues becomes even more critical for support when considering the lack of support and acceptance within the government of the State of Illinois regarding the lack of civil rights protections for people based their actual or perceived sexual orientation. There is currently no State or Federal law to protect a person who is discriminated against based on their actual or perceive sexual orientation. Among other things, it is currently legal for a person to be denied credit, housing, and/or employment based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation. There is also a largely negative campaign against the passing of any such legislation that supports protection of people based on actual or perceived sexual orientation. Many people who do not accept people who are not heterosexual lead this negative campaign. One method of persuasion they are using to counter legislation is to label it as offering "special" rights to people of who "choose" to lead an alternative lifestyle. This type of resistance must be dealt with properly in order to successfully implement an all-inclusive plan for change in a high school. The reason for considering these factors is that children are not only taught by the example of their parents and school workers, they also learn from and are influenced by the people within their community.
After the phase one has been completed, all of the key players of this phase will still be needed to continue with plan implementation. However, for actual implementation to occur, support must be obtained from the school board. Board members are elected officials. Elections for school board members usually bring the lowest voter turnout of all elections. This fact can play to the diversity committee's favor. The support that was obtained during the formation of the committee and the further support that the committee had mustered will more than likely be enough to influence school board members to vote for the plan's implementation. Pressure can be put on board members to support an all-inclusive diversity plan for the high school. Other supporters in powerful or high status positions can put pressure on those who oppose the diversity plan. This resistance to the opposition can also take the form of favor exchanges or other such bargaining.
Other key players to consider when implementing the plan are any of the school superintendents who may also have influence on the school board's decision. The superintendents will also be the ones to carry out the school board's decision and lead the direction of the plan and can carry great influence on how the plan is implemented. The high school principal and deans are also key players to the plan's implementation. These individuals will reinforce the plan's implementation and make certain it is followed properly without violations. If their loyal support is not obtained, the plan may lack strength.
The plan will also develop methods of educating all students and school workers on the importance of maintaining a respecting environment for academic, social, and work success within the high school. To develop such methods, the diversity committee should utilize the current resources that GLSEN has to offer. Additionally, the committee should observe other methods that have been implemented in other high schools in the nation, which effectively manage the school's diversity in an all-inclusive manner. This benchmarking should not only look at the methods used in the other high schools, but also consider the community where each of the high schools is located. When considering these different communities, attention must be paid to the characteristics of these communities with regard to their culture and the key players that are involved in such a program. The following questions should be asked when benchmarking other high schools. Does the size of the community compare with the size of our community? Does the high school's diversity plan have full backing from the community? If not, how successful is the plan? If yes, how was the community support attained and who are the community leaders that support the plan? What are the plan's resource and budget requirements and who provides them? Another important consideration would be to determine the makeup of the other dimensions of diversity within the community and the school district.
2. Timeline and Resource Requirements
Month 4 +
TASK
TIMELINE
BUDGET
SUPPLIES
FACILITIES
Phase One
Locate local LGBT and other organizations that strive to meet diversity needs within the community.
Month 1-2
--
Phone,(E-mail), writing material
--
Form a committee that will lead an effort to educate the community about diversity issues including an emphasis on LGBT inclusion (This committee must strive to be representative of all members within the community)
Month 3
--
--
Meeting space
Begin a media campaign, which seeks to educate the community about all-inclusive diversity issues
Continuous
--
--
--
Establish contacts with supportive high school workers
Month 4
--
--
--
Obtain both general and the actual high school's statistics pertaining to student drop out rate, school violence, teenage pregnancy frequency, suicide or attempted suicide rates by students.
Mos. 5-7
--
--
Library, computer lab
Assess the various dimensions of diversity that exist in the high school.
Mos. 5-7
--
--
--
Based on the previous dimensions of diversity, determine the high school's participation ratio within extra-curricular activities, school social events, and the student attendance of all such events. *
Mos. 5-7
--
--
--
Determine current trends of academic performance as pertaining to the various diversity groups. *
Mos. 5-7
--
--
--
Review the history of absenteeism amongst students, faculty, and administrators. *
Mos. 5-7
--
--
--
Assess all of the possible external and internal factors that may influence the above * mentioned statistical and trend information.
Mos. 5-7
--
--
--
Create a survey to be given out to local businesses, religious leaders, government officials, community leaders, and others that may provide influence, resources, or other helpful support.
Month 8
$120
Printing copies, writing material
Meeting space
TASK
TIMELINE
BUDGET
SUPPLIES
FACILITIES
Create an informational brochure regarding the importance of addressing LGBT and other diversity issues in the community. Define any issues and provide knowledge on their meaning.
Month 8
$700
Printing copies, writing material
Meeting room
Establish a method of collecting, saving, and distributing resources
Month 8
--
--
Storage room; Bank account
Distribute brochures and surveys within the community
Mos. 9-10
$80
Stamps, car
--
Select primary and secondary sponsors and advocates and seek out resources and further sponsorship
Month 11
--
--
Meeting space
Establish methods of communication with each of the key players involved in the plan. Keep in mind that not every individual uses or prefers the same method.
Month 12
$ x # ppl for long distance
Phone, email, printing copies, writing material
Meeting space
Establish an internal information ladder that will efficiently distribute necessary information to those who need it. (Essentially an internal information network)
Month 12
# ppl long distance
--
Meeting space
Collect, analyze, and tally community survey information. Distribute results using internal network.
Mos. 13-14
$200
Stamped return envelope
Meeting space
Determine the high school's current definition of diversity and assess any alterations and/or changes that need to be made to this definition.
Month 14
--
--
--
Determine how the high school is currently following its definition of diversity by looking at its policies, procedures, initiatives, and education.
Month 14
--
--
--
Locate any inconsistencies between the school's current definition of diversity and its policies, procedures, initiatives, and education.
Month 15
--
--
Meeting space
If inconsistencies exist, determine if these are controllable or uncontrollable. If controllable, determine the actions that need to be taken.
Month 15
--
--
Meeting space
Begin to focus attention on the school board members. Present diversity plan to the board and explain the support the plan has already obtained.
Month 16
$30
Stamps, copies, phone, email, writing material
Meeting space
TASK
TIMELINE
BUDGET
SUPPLIES
FACILITIES
Determine all possible resources for funding the plan
Month 15
--
--
Meeting space
Identify the opposing board members and school administrators are to the plan and begin a letter writing campaign to persuade them to change their minds.
Month 16 until approval
$250
Stamps, phone, email, writing material
Meeting space
Utilize supportive, influential community leaders to bring to the attention of these opposing board members the importance of approving an all-inclusive diversity plan within the high school.
Month 17 until approval
--
--
--
If enough support is not attained from the school board, utilize network to organize a voting campaign to vote in supportive school board members. The internal network may also be utilized to provide support for persons internally within the committee who choose to run.
Depends on next school board election
Continued effort
Continued effort
Continued effort
End of Phase One - Onto Phase Two
Once the all-inclusive diversity plan is authorized, select or design a survey that will provide an overview of the students' interpretations of the aspects they see in terms of their school's atmosphere for diversity. Aspects can relate to feelings, violations of policies, opinions of school procedures, staff and peer attitudes and behavior.
Month 1
X # of 3 -part surveys
Printing copies,
Meeting space
Implement student survey. Survey should be designed in three parts. A larger portion of the survey will be designed to be completed at school in class. Another part should have been designed for the student to take home and complete. A third part should be designed to take home to the parent/guardian to complete
Month 2
--
--
--
Collect, analyze, and tally student survey results.
Mos. 2-3
Consultant
Consultant
Consultant
Assess inclusiveness of extra-curricular activities within the high school. Determine if there are any gender biases or other barriers to diversity that exist within each activity. If barriers are found, determine ways to overcome these barriers to diversity.
Mos. 2-3
--
--
--
TASK
TIMELINE
BUDGET
SUPPLIES
FACILITIES
Determine and define the current and potential problems with regards to diversity at the high school.
Month 4
Consultant
Consultant
Consultant
Have the diversity committee search for donations to provide incentives for the school workers to obtain additional training on diversity. Such donations can be in the form of discounts and/or freebies for materials and/or services for the school worker themselves or department.
Mos. 3-4
$500
Mailers, stamps, phone, email, car
Meeting space
Provide everyone with definitions of all terms that will be used when addressing the problems.
Month 4
$ x # Key players
Printing copies for newsletters
Meeting space
Initiate policy and procedure changes as necessary that were found during month 15 of phase one.
Month 4
--
--
--
Create a survey for faculty, teachers, and administrators in order to determine their predisposition to an all-inclusive diversity plan to ascertain what their concerns would be toward implementation.
Mos. 4-5
$ x # of surveys
Printing copies
Meeting space
Implement school worker survey
Month 6
--
--
--
Collect, analyze, and tally school worker surveys.
Month 7
Consultant
Consultant
Consultant
Using all of the information obtained thus far, design awareness and skills-based training.
Mos. 8-9
Consultant
Consultant
Consultant
Establish times and locations for awareness training for the high school workers and begin implementation.
Mos. 10-12
Varies upon location
--
Depends on location chosen
Establish an internal diversity circle within the high school that is open to everyone (students, teachers, faculty, parents, and administrators). This circle will work internally to address issues related to diversity at the high school.
Month 11
--
--
Conference room or lecture hall or external location
Determine and implement any necessary policy changes.
Month 12
Consultant
Consultant
Consultant
Identify faculty and teachers who are willing to sponsor a Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) organization at the high school should a student request its existence.
Month 12
--
--
--
Implement an Ally program within the high school. This program will notify students of teachers, faculty, and administrators who are LGBT supportive.
Month 12
--
--
--
TASK
TIMELINE
BUDGET
SUPPLIES
FACILITIES
Review high school library books currently held and create a list that represents all of the various diversity groups.
Month 12
--
--
--
Create a similar list of books that are not located within the high school, but are available within the community.
Month 13
--
--
--
Make copies of these lists and make them available and easily accessible to students in the high school and other community libraries. Distribute copies of these lists to teachers, faculty, and school administrators.
Month 14
$ x # pages x # of copies
Printing copies, stamps for sending to other libraries
--
Establish a high school library web site where the students may also access this list of books.
Mos. 14-15
**
Web creation software
Computer lab
Determine other books that could and should someday be added to the high school's library collection.
Mos. 15-17
--
Printing copies, email, phone
--
Provide skills-based training that will also include a focus on sexual orientation.
Mos. 13-16
Consultant
Consultant
Consultant
Establish an anonymous method (both electronic and paper) of having students express their diversity and other concerns to the administration of the high school. Access to this method of communication should be easy and available to all students. Knowledge of its existence should also be made clear. This will provide the plan with a continuous method of student feedback.
Month 13
$100
Secure box
--
Total
34 months
$1980 **
** Not all budget fee items are able to be determined as some totals and numbers that relate to budgeting calculation are unknown
3. Desired Outcomes and Potential Benefits
When a school is deciding on whether or not to implement an all-inclusive diversity program, they should consider the eventual outcomes and potential benefits that exist. Below is a list of some of these desired outcomes and benefits that can be derived from this plan. More can be added and some may not apply depending upon the current situation at the school and the community implementing the plan.
4. Justification of Anticipated Resource and Budget Expenditures
ITEMS/PERSONNEL
BUDGET
JUSTIFICATION
Part time consultant fees
$30,000
Needed to design, development, and implement of training of the trainers and reviewing internal results and programs.
Counseling expert
$3,000
Needed annually for high school counseling development.
Long distance phone call
$ **
Needed in communicating to various key players
Mileage reimbursement ($.15/mi)
$ **
Needed to encourage supporters to go out and make face to face contacts.
Mailing(Stamps and envelops)
$703 **
Needed in doing survey
Photocopies
$1177 **
Needed in making documents, letters, and survey questionnaires
Scheduling software
$500
Needed in scheduling meetings
Conference and meeting rooms
$ **
Needed for committee meeting and training
Secure box
$100
Needed for anonymous student feedback
Basic used computer and printer
$500
Needed for support coordinator to lead the plan.
Internet connection
$ **
Needed by key support team players for communication and research
Web creation software
$ **
Needed if not already available, though free software exists
Total Foreseen Expenditures
$35,980**
** Not all budget fee items are able to be determined as some totals and numbers that relate to budgeting calculation are unknown
5. Strategies which Lead to the Plan's Enhancement
This plan for diversity uses an extensive range of strategies in its attempt to correct the problem of ignorance and apathy towards LGBT issues in the high school. The first and most important strategy is to provide accurate knowledge and education about LGBT issues to all people within the community. This is a strategy that is maintained continuously throughout the duration of the plan. This strategy is seen as being the key element at achieving overall support for the plan. Since the education is occurring at a number of different levels within the community, there will need to be different methods of communicating. This leads to the next strategy, communication, which is closely tied to bringing about community knowledge and education.
When looking at this plan, it can be assumed that the communication process begins from day one with the need to contact diverse organizations and gain a network of support for the plan. Month four of the first phase begins the media campaign, which is independently conducted by individual or group supporters. Although this task is performed individually and independent of direction of the diversity committee, a coordinated effort must be made to ensure a continuous flow of accurate information throughout the community exists in an attempt to educate the community as to the problem. A leader or leaders will be chosen to lead such coordinating efforts, but the task alone is far too large for one or two people to be able to achieve success. Instead, the coordinating role will be to make sure the flow of information is being distributed continuously and evenly through all forms of media. Supporters will be requested to cut out educational news articles and positive editorials that support the plan. They will also be asked to record or report on television shows, documentaries, and news stories that they have witnessed as doing a good job at supporting the plan. Supporters will be encouraged to write many letters to the newspaper editors, appear in television newscasts and/or stories, and call in to participate on radio talk shows in order to educate the community about the problem and inform them of the importance of the plan. Education and training will also be occurring within the group of supporters.
One thing not mentioned in the timeline is the continuous education that will be going on within the plan's support group. Supporters will be sought from all different areas of diversity so as to make the group representative of the entire community. With this diversity comes a great opportunity for supporters to learn from each other. Meetings will be held at least on a monthly basis. Each month that the group meets, a person or team of supporters who are representative of a diversity group will be in charge of providing a short education workshop at some point during the meeting. This type of training and education will benefit all of those supporting the plan, as it will provide them with a broader understanding of all of the people for whom they are seeking community support. This education and training will also lead to preparing individuals who may later be able to provide all-inclusive diversity training to other people. The meetings may also be seen as a communication activity that brings together supporters from all different diversities.
Another strategy that will be utilized and addressed during phase two is the review of the high school's policies and procedures related to diversity in an attempt to integrate diversity into the framework of the high school. The assessment of these policies and procedures were done during phase one in the hope that bringing the awareness of a need for such changes may be done without the need for the plan implementation. If this had not occurred, the plan manages for this during phase two in month four. Some policies may include looking at how the school corrects a student's behavior after a name calling incident, or violence against another student based on diversity related anger or hate. Some schools may have a policy discouraging same sex couples from attending school dances. Other polices to be considered relate to school worker benefits. Schools commonly ignore any idea of domestic partnership or significant other benefits. Public school policies often tend to promote a man and woman married couple type of employee. For example, when a school allows a teacher to have discounts for school events and activities such as dinners or basketball games, the discount is often carried over to their spouse. If the school worker is not married or is unable to legally marry, these benefits are not equally available to them. In addition to policies and procedures, this plan has also strategically integrated many other diversity initiatives and suggestions within the high school's framework.
One example of such integration is the attempt that will be made at school worker recruitment and promotion. It is important for the high school to make every attempt to be fully representative of the surrounding community. A second example is the integration of the goals of diversity with the goals of teaching and educating. If the school workers understand the intrinsic benefits they will obtain by implementing an all-inclusive diversity plan, they will be more likely to join in its support.
Teacher recertification and good evaluations are both incentives that help the teacher's career and could provide motivation to learn more about diversity. In the state of Illinois, teachers must now be recertified every five years. Included within this recertification, teachers are required to obtain a certain number of units good toward staff development. Classes could be arranged through a local college or university to provide the teacher with the opportunity to obtain credit in courses on diversity and could count these courses towards their recertificaiton requirement. Teacher evaluation and staff development is yet another integrated initiative that can assist to further the effectiveness of this plan. Teachers may obtain a good evaluation if they are members of teaching and/or development teams that could also include a staff team on diversity or 'equal access' as it is commonly coined now. By creating an internal diversity committee in the high school, you can provide for a mode of staff development, while at the same time allowing the school workers to take ownership in the plan. This creation of ownership is one more integrated strategy of this plan.
One final possibility of integrating diversity education into the school and providing the teacher with an opportunity to earn more money is by offering community classes. Some high schools offer weekly night courses for their community members to gain further education. In turn for teaching the course, the teacher is given an extra salary. The community diversity committee on the basis of the teacher's knowledge and skills acquired throughout the plan's implementation can choose teachers for this class. This position can further provide teacher motivation for fully participating in the all-inclusive diversity program. The community diversity committee can provide the teacher with the curriculum in order to assure the class is all-inclusive. Community support members can also volunteer to attend classes occasionally in order to assist the teacher in their lessons. This can be another way to make certain the course material stays all-inclusive.
E. Evaluating the Progress of Change
1. Methods and Players in the Evaluation Process
The importance of evaluation cannot be emphasized enough. Evaluation in this plan will be a continuous process. Both formal and informal types of evaluating will occur. All players within the plan will do an informal evaluation. On an individual level, this informal evaluation will be done by means of self-reflection. Plan supporters will be asked after each meeting to reflect on their feelings during the next week to assess their further development needs for achieving their personal goals in diversity. Individual supporters will also be asked to provide continuous feedback regarding the plan's process. Supporters may comment on anything from the amount of media coverage to the outspoken agenda of a distinct diversity group within the support group. A key panel of supporters from the community diversity committee will review this feedback to determine any necessary corrections in the direction of the plan. This panel will be nominated and voted on by all of the supporters of the plan during month three of phase one, and then new elections will be held during month thirteen of phase one after more supporters have been attainted. During phase one, since this is a volunteer effort, there will not be a strict formal evaluation for supporters. Instead, the key panel members will evaluate the needs of the plan and provide direction for its supporters.
Success of phase one can be determined by the increase in the number of plan supporters. Continuous review of the local media can and should be maintained in order to measure the amount of positive and negative feedback regarding the plan. It is important to note that not everyone who is perceived as having a negative comment is a non-supporter of the plan. Often people will submit questions or have questions that sound more like attacks, but these people may sometimes just be ignorant of how to express their questions in a positive other way. This is important for the reason of having the opportunity to educate this person. Many times, supporters of diversity would block off the underlying question and merely focus attack on the way the question was worded. If the question is not addressed and properly answered, the person who asked it will remain ignorant. Like the supporter, the person asking the question can become blocked in hearing the actual answer to the question if the answer is lead by an attack. Unfortunately, both phase one and two involve behavioral changes on the part of individuals. Behavioral changes are rarely easily or accurately evaluated.
During phase two of the plan, evaluation should fall primarily on the high school principal and the internal diversity committee. The diversity committee can report findings to the principal, as he/she is the ultimate authority within the high school. There are a number of things to be measured within phase two of the plan. One method of measurement would be to have a variety of diversity related brochures printed for the students to take. Each brochure can address a different dimension of diversity. These brochures will be made available throughout the school in a number of locations: school lunch room, counseling offices, classrooms where extra-curricular activities are held, the library, locker rooms, and other locations depending on the high school. The locations of the placement of the brochures, combined with the quantity of brochures that are taken can provide the committee with a general idea for who is obtaining what types of diversity information. These brochures will obtain educational information about the various dimensions of diversity and will have a goal of eliminating stereotypes and myths. This same information can also be made available online utilizing the school's web site. Although this may count the number of 'hits' obtained for each diversity site, it is uncertain if it is being accessed by the community's high school students or other individuals in the community or elsewhere.
Another method for evaluating the effect of the plan would be to track the loan frequency of the various diversity books as classified on the various category lists. The loan frequency should be determined before and then again every semester after the lists have been distributed. Frequency in the usage of other library multi-media related to diversity can be recorded and tracked as well. These combined evaluation measures will determine the effectiveness of certain aspects of the plan for students and school workers, although, with students it may be a bit more difficult when considering diversity related to sexual orientation.
Sexual orientation is a topic that still maintains a large societal stigma, especially depending upon a student's parent's religion, as was conveyed by a high school teacher. The teacher explained that a student had come to them requesting a GSA organization. Nothing further came of the request as the student later told the teacher (s)he would be unable to participate in such an organization as their parents would not allow it due to their religious beliefs. Thus, when looking at evaluating the library aspect of this plan, it would be necessary for the librarian to not only track and record the loan frequency, but to also track and record the frequency of these specific books being taken off the shelf and perhaps read within the library. Students may also try to steal certain books, which would have a stigma attached to them since they would not want to be caught even reading the book in the library.
Pre and post year surveys may also be utilized in determining the effectiveness of the plan and to assess the needs for improvements within the plan. Surveys can be a scantron type given to the student in the classroom. In order to obtain more information regarding opinions, suggestions, and concerns, an additional portion of the survey can be given to the student to take home and complete. Students who feel compelled about certain issues will complete this additional survey form. It is even possible for the high school to send the student home with two sections of the survey, one for the student and one for the parent/guardian. The survey can be a simple envelope and sheet of paper to save money. The student or parent/guardian can provide the paper to answer the questions, although the more difficult the survey is to answer, the less likely it is for being returned.
School administrators, teachers, and faculty should not be discouraged if there is a sudden increase in reported verbal violations and/or attacks related to issues of diversity. It is a common occurrence to have such increases due to several reasons. First of all, students may now be more aware of what is right and what is wrong and feel a need to report offenses, which they previously were unsure about such justification. Secondly, a student who had been harassed in the past may not have known what to do or where to go. Included in this thought is the fact that the student now feels confident that he/she has the support from the school administration to back up their complaint of harassment. A feeling that something is going to be done about the harassment now exists, thus inviting more complaints. Another reason for an increase may be due to backlash. Students who have been very comfortable in their majority position or with their discriminating ideas now feel threatened. Some people will have a difficult time changing their way of thinking about other people and may instead lash out at others around them. However, rather than lashing out, it would be good for a school worker to become aware the signals of such attitudes and feelings and provide the person with alternative ways of dealing with their conflict.
Keeping a count of the past and present diversity related anonymous complaints is a valid way of determining the effectiveness of the plan. As time goes by, there should be a steady decreasing number of complaints related to diversity. If this is not the case, the committee should determine which category of diversity needs to be addressed and further education should be provided to the high school in this category.
One more way to evaluate the effectiveness of the all-inclusive diversity plan at the high school would be to try to determine the number of students at the school who openly acknowledge they are LGBT and see if this number increases or decreases. However, this is not a very accurate, easy, or effective way to measure the plan's success. Since all people are different, not everyone will express himself or herself in the same way, even if they are LGBT or not. It is very difficult to determine if someone is LGBT unless they come up and tell you. It is also a possibility of having students claiming to be LGBT in order to receive attention from their peers and can lead to further difficulty with this evaluation method.
Continue to monitor the diversity that exists in the school's sports and other extra-curricular activities to see if the diversity is increasing or decreasing. These activities should be inviting to all students and not limited to one set dimension of diversity. Also, continue to assess the total attendance of school events and activities. These should also display a wide array of students of different diversities. Not only should attention be paid to the number of students and the ratios of diversity represented, but also see how these different students are grouped as they sit. This can determine if they are becoming more comfortable with each other and able to integrate and make diverse friends outside of the classroom on a voluntary basis.
Evaluation of teachers can also reflect on their desire to learn more about diversity topics. If the school administration receives requests from teachers and faculty for further diversity training, the plan will be working. Perhaps a teacher wants different training or more of the same. If the same training is requested to be repeated, the teacher may not have paid attention the first time, as they did not see the need. Now, after being faced with students who demand this teacher's awareness and behavior change, the teacher feels the need to understand the diversity training material.
2. Predicting the Good, While also Foreseeing the Realistic Woes
As good as it may seem to understand the potential good that will come for this plan, it is also a reality and a necessity to recognize the potential unfortunate outcomes from this plan. The table on page 46 is not set up to compare and contrast; rather, it will allow a person to evaluate in their own minds the potential positive and negative outcomes of this plan for a public high school's all-inclusive diversity program. While looking at the list, you can begin to think of more possible negative and positive outcomes that more closely relate to the high school community you live in. By having this list of potential negative outcomes, you will have already been able to assess and prepare for where your own community may fall on either side of this table. As phase one of the plan is run, it will be easier to evaluate the direction your plan is going and track which side of the line the potential supporters fall. This will save a lot of time and resources when potential supporters are met. This table, along with additions you have added, may be used as a sort of checklist to follow during discussions with potential supporters. If the person begins to speak more about the potential negative outcomes, they are unfortunately quite limited in their vision and would probably not be a good candidate for supporting the plan.
| POTENTIAL POSITIVE OUTCOMES | POTENTIAL NEGATIVE OUTCOMES |
| Students less likely to be raised with prejudice. | Opposing parents may pull their children from the school and put them into a private school. |
| If the plan is successful, it will be looked at by other schools as a model for diversity in a public high school. Stakeholders in the plan will become proud of what they have done. | If definition of diversity is not broad in scope to represent an all-inclusive plan, opponents will emerge and see the work as being more of an 'agenda' for LGBT influence and backlash will occur. |
| People within the community and the high school will begin to look at people for who they are and going beyond superficial aspects. | If the plan is approached too fast and forced upon the high school, backlash will occur and myths and stereotypes may explode and be validated with ignorance. The importance here is to provide extensive knowledge of the problem and bring about community awareness. |
| All people within the high school and community will feel a sense of representation. | School board may be more open to diverse thinking than the rest of the community, thus causing the plan to be implemented to quickly before have opportunity to educate the community. |
| Provides the building blocks for creating an openly diverse and welcoming community. | Immediate increase in the number of discrimination complaints filed by students at the high school |
| Stress and anxiety levels within the school will be reduced. | Immediate increase in the number of violent and discriminatory acts that will occur at the high school and within the community as the strongly opposed will vie to hold on to their control. |
| Program will eventually provide opportunity for individuals to gain the knowledge, awareness, and skills necessary for individuals to understand one another. | Individuals who used to have more of a focus on their diversity group will feel ignored, which may cause backlash. |
| Increase in the academic and extra-curricular performance of the high school within the community. The high school will begin to draw the attention of many parents and be seen as a place to send their children. | Key players may be found to have their own agenda, which will distract the community's attention from the good of the plan as a whole. It is acknowledged that many key players will have their own hidden focus, however, some may be more vocal about it. |
| An eventual reduction in the amount of hate and violence within the high school and community. | The initial waste of time and resources in battling the strong opponents of the plan may cause some supporters to drop out. |
| Other diversity initiatives within the community may spawn from the success of the high school plan. | Religious opponents will demand the teachings of religion in school, but will central their focus on their religion only. |