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Gay Friendly Public Schools: Will New Program Ideas Decrease Violence and Tension?

According to National Public Radio’s (NPR) review of the new public school initiative to create gay-friendly public schools, the city of Chicago is instilling plans for “a new school where gay students and others wouldn't face the bullying and harassment they endure in other schools.”

As Chicago has surfaced as the focal point of this controversy, acting as one of the first cities in the country to widely support this public program shift, school and community leaders are caught in the middle of a national and heated debate.

The Background: Why Create Gay-Friendly Schools?

While Chicago is currently earning the most attention for its plan to create a gay-friendly school, cities across the country have implemented these programs in the past. Specifically, New York made the gay-friendly Harvey Milk School, while Milwaukee created the Alliance High School; both of these programs have been reported as inspirations for the up-and-coming Chicago school, which is intended to open in 2010.

As the CNN report, “Chicago May Get Gay-Friendly High School,” reveals, school and community officials in Chicago created the proposal for a gay-friendly high school so that students of all sexual preferences and identities could attend school without feeling harassed or in danger. William Greaves, Chicago’s liaison to the gay and lesbian community, is one of the advocates for the new school and is also a contributor to the school’s proposed design. According to

As students in public school today are exposed to endless technological advances, the use of cell phones seems to be an often ignored modern-day issue. While cell phones certainly offer students increased communication abilities, providing students with a tool for added safety and parent contact, many public school leaders assert that cell phones are a severe distraction in the educational process. Whether students are talking in the halls, on the phone in the restroom facilities, or texting during class, phones are proving to be a significant distraction in many students’ educational process.

To counteract the negative implications, many public schools have even issued a ban on the use of cell phones while on campus. Upon the onset of these drastic measures, a fairly glaring debate has arisen between school leaders and many community members.

The Ringing Debate

As school leaders are striving to improve student performance and the overall student learning experience, schools across the country are enforcing strict policies regarding cell phones. Specifically, the entire city of New York issued a general ban against cell phones in their city’s public schools.

According to eSchool News, a group of parents was so outraged by this ban that they have taken legal action against leaders, and they are suing the city for violating student rights to possess cell phones: “The eight parents' lead lawyer, Norman Siegel, said the lawsuit was filed against the city's Department of Education, schools Chancellor Joel Klein, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg after they ‘callously

The Center for Education Policy predicts that by 2012, nearly 74% of all public schools in America will require students to pass an exit exam to graduate. Currently, many schools across the country have already implemented mandatory exit-course tests, often referred to as “EOCs” ("which" stands for “End of "course” exam)."According to interviews and surveys, “state-e" education officials reported many reasons for adopting end-of-course exams. Almost all states that have adopted or are moving toward end-of-course exams reported that they are doing so to improve overall accountability, increase academic rigor, and achieve alignment between state standards and curriculum.”

An Ove"View of Exit Exams

The national education initiative “NChildrenil" Left Behind” is considered one of the leading causes and catalysts for the rise in exit exams. No Child Left Behind requires all schools to submit formal standardized test scores, which will be utilized to assess and review each school’s ance. To better prepare students for standardized tests, many schools have implemented EOCs and graduation tests to provide students with added and consistent testing practice.

A graduation exit exam is often a project or test that assesses a student's understanding of their high school educational experience; an EOC, on the other hand, is designed to evaluate a student of a particular class/course content and information.

In addition to providing students with beneficial testing practice, many school and state leaders assert that exit exams are being instituted to hold all students equally accountable for the information they were required

Could public preschool benefit your children? The school districts in Georgia and New York do, and they subsequently have created a universal preschool curriculum for four-year-old students.

While many parents, teachers, and communities debate the benefits of a public-wide preschool, many states are considering mandated and/or government-supported programs for young children and families.

Why the Public Preschool is Gaining Attention

Political Base states:

“State-funded public preschool is usually a means-tested program that provides early education to 3 and 4-year-olds. The goal in providing subsidized public preschool for low-income families is to provide a stable environment for young children during a crucial age of development.” Essentially, since lower-income families cannot always provide sufficient child care, “their children would be left at home. For many, this means unstable environments and T.V.s instead of teachers. It may also force single parents to stay home to raise children instead of work.”

As a result of these struggles, many states are implementing government-funded schools and educational programs to provide lower-income families with added assistance. Building on this framework, the state-mandated preschool programs are also ideally intended to provide families of all financial backgrounds with more supportive educational options for children of a younger age.

The Benefits of Preschool

One of the most significant benefits of publicly mandated preschool programs is ensuring that lower-income families have opportunities to enroll their children in early education programs while saving on the often expensive costs of preschool and childcare programs. As policy