By 5-1 Vote Anoka-Hennepin School District Settles Bullying Lawsuit; Lone Dissenting Vote Resigns From Board; Settlement Includes Promise That Notorious District Will Set New State Standard For Anti-Bullying Efforts

The Anoka-Hennepin School District promised Monday to improve the treatment of gay and lesbian students as part of a settlement that closes a long legal chapter in its struggles involving bullying and sexual orientation. According to The Star Tribune, the 5-1 school board vote, which resolves both a federal civil rights investigation and a lawsuit filed last summer by six former and current students, was received with cheers and hugs among plaintiffs and their supporters. The students had said the district did not adequately respond to persistent physical and verbal harassment based on real or perceived sexual orientation. Michael McGee, father of plaintiff Damien McGee-Backes, praised them for coming forward. "If it were not for their courage and determination to tell their stories and to stand up and say, 'Enough, I deserve better, we all deserve better,' we would not be on the precipice of not only creating change in the Anoka-Hennepin School District, but also proving a model for change nationally," McGee said. Anoka-Hennepin officials said that, with help from the U.S. departments of justice and education, the district will set a new state standard for anti-bullying efforts. "Our gay students deserve to feel safe and be safe, just like everyone else in our public schools," said Superintendent Dennis Carlson. "When we have finished this process, we believe we will have developed a model that all school districts can follow." The lone member to vote against the agreement, Kathy Tingelstad, resigned from the board after the vote, citing deep concerns about the cost of the plan, the intervention of the federal government in local school practices and precedent it sets for other districts. Under the agreement, the six students will be paid one lump sum of $270,000 by the district's insurance carrier. In addition, the accord calls upon the district to: Retain a consultant on sex-based harassment to review its policies and procedures; Develop and implement a plan for preventing and addressing sex-based harassment of students in middle and high school; Enhance training of staff and students on the issue; Retain an expert consultant on mental health to address needs of students victimized by harassment. "This partnership will strengthen the support that the district provides to all students, including students who are gay or perceived to be gay." said school board Chairman Tom Heidemann. He added that the consent decree builds upon the work the district already has done to step up its anti-bullying efforts, including staff training. The district had maintained that staff acted appropriately, but said agreeing to the settlement seemed a better path than continuing litigation. "At the end of the day, the board would rather focus our limited resources on educating kids and keeping them safe," said Heidemann. The agreement, he said, "likely saved the district millions of dollars and many years of ongoing litigation." Last month, the school board scrapped its Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy, which required staff to remain neutral on issues of sexual orientation. Its repeal had been requested in the lawsuit, but the district said the move to replace it with a Respectful Learning Environment Policy stemmed from staff confusion about the old policy and not the lawsuit. The basis of the suit, filed on the students' behalf by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, was the contention that the district had violated the students' Constitutional right to equal protection under the law. The settlement comes after about two years of national scrutiny of the state's largest district over its handling of issues involving bullying and sexual orientation. During 2009 and 2010, the district was wracked by the suicides of several students. Parents and friends identified some of them as gay, or perceived as gay; some had been bullied. In late 2010, advocates for GLBT students pressed the district to do more to help them. The U.S. departments of education and justice began an investigation in November 2010 after receiving a complaint alleging harassment of GLBT students. The students' lawsuit was filed the following summer. Tammy Aaberg, whose son Justin took his own life in 2010, has become a national advocate for students who are gay and who are bullied. After Monday's settlement, she said: "It makes me really hopeful for the kids who are still here. I'm just hoping it'll get better and set an example for other school districts. Over the past school year, the district has increased staff training to counter bullying of all kinds. It adopted a new policy that more specifically defines bullying and harassment and the expected staff response. The contention process leading to adoption of the new Respectful Learning Environment Curriculum Policy revealed deep divisions within the community. Advocates for GLBT students and staff argued that any policy could squelch expression and label individuals, while members of the Parents Action League said removing the previous neutrality policy would open the door to gay activism in the classroom.