STATE COMES OUT WITH
Optional lessons will aim to reflect
Bay State schools will be able to try a new curriculum with LGBTQ-themed history, English and health this fall that proponents say is an effort to help all students see themselves reflected in classrooms.
The curriculum, developed by a team of teachers with Massachusetts Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ Students and the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth, will be released this summer. It will feature lessons on the 1969 Stonewall Riots and writings by gay and lesbian authors such as Langston Hughes and Willa Cather. It will also feature lessons like how Nick Carraway’s love for Jay Gatsby may have influenced themes in “The Great Gatsby.”
“We talk about mirrors and windows,” said Jeff Perrotti, director of the Massachusetts Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ Students. “Students need to see themselves reflected and see others who are different from themselves. It is important that all students feel safe, valued and respected in school so they can be ready to learn.”
“If students don’t see themselves in the curriculum, they are not as likely to pay attention,” said commission director Corey Prachniak-Rincon. “It is a huge demand we hear from teachers. They recognize part of the reason why LGBTQ students feel excluded is they’re not reflected and that part of their identity is ignored.”
The units won’t be required — all curricular decisions are made at the local level — but they’ll be available as a resource to districts, said Jacqueline Reis, state education department spokeswoman.
Boston high schools will be among the first to use the curriculum and have already begun training teachers on how to support students who are coming out or who may be struggling with acceptance at home and from their peers. The Boston Teachers Union has already worked to staff schools to help LGBTQ students.
“There is a lot of anxiety in coming out as a student,” said Jessica Tang, president of the BTU, who is openly bisexual. “This is important. It is still hard for students and teachers to come out.”
Teachers and students at Charlestown High School, Another Course to College, Boston Green Academy, Boston International Newcomers Academy and New Mission High School, in partnership with Boston Public Schools’ Safe and Welcoming Schools initiative, have been training teachers on how to support kids.
On May 1, BPS will have a summit at the Boston Teachers Union Hall in Dorchester that will allow students to share their own stories.
“In my perfect world, students would feel affirmed with their identity and see themselves and when they went home they’d feel