NEW ULM — The District 88 Board of Education held another work session Thursday on creating a more equitable district for LGBTQ students.

The district recently approved a new three-year strategic plan. One of the key priorities of the plan is to create equitable education for all. In the summer, the board and school principals began working with the consulting group Longview Education to help with equitability training. The first training session was focused on understanding the difference between individual, systemic and institutional biases and prejudices in terms of racism.

For this work session, the focus was on homophobia and how that shows up structurally. Longview Education representative Brigid Moriarty-Guerrero said it was important not to debate whether homosexuality was right or wrong because there is no answer to that question in which everyone will agree.

Moriarty-Guerrero said the goal is to understand what is happening with the school system and find a way to address problems without hurting another group. She used the curb cut as an example. Curb cuts and ramps were designed specifically for wheelchairs, but could also help others and do not harm anyone else.

“How do we create solutions that benefit everyone,” she said.

The board viewed a video from Ayo Magwood, a specialist on teaching a pro equity school model. The video discussed structural homophobia and its origins. Structural homophobia is based on cultural biases and social condemnation.

Magwood said homophobia is pervasive throughout every major institution in the U.S., but it is most concentrated in high schools.

High school-age youths are more likely to direct insults or physical violence against peers viewed to be homosexual. This has led to a high rate of suicide and suicide attempts among LGBTQ high school students.

A 2019 national school climate survey found 70% of LGBTQ students reported verbal harassment for their sexual orientation and 29% reported as physically harassed.

Magwood said the alarming part of the data is the harassment also comes from teachers and staff, or the harassment is being ignored by school staff. Survey information from LGBTQ students reporting harassment found 60% of the time staff did nothing or told a student to ignore harassment. Around 7% of the time, the LGBTQ student reporting harassment was disciplined instead of the harasser.

Magwood said a negative environment for LGBTQ students leads to absenteeism and lower academic performance.

The reason homophobia is reproduced in high school is that this is the age people begin developing identity.

Moriarty-Guerrero further explained that sexual orientation becomes the focus in high school because it is tied up with masculinity. The bullying of LGBTQ students is seen more often with boys because there is a need to show masculinity.

Younger males’ definition of what masculinity is tends to be narrower than adults. Young men also tend to police masculinity. This often targets LGBTQ students.

Moriarty-Guerrero said people had strong opinions on LGBTQ issues. The challenge for the school board is how to balance individual rights. People have the right to religion and personal beliefs but people have the right to safety as well.

“Where do we need to put in checks and balances to create a safe community,” Moriarty-Guerrero said. “It is important that your whole community knows that people’s opinions are respected.”

The board broke into small groups to discuss how this information connects back to the New Ulm district. The board believed it was important to create support systems for all students through trusting relationships.

The board will continue learning equitable education strategies at the next study session.

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The school board approved the performance of the public accuracy test of the optical scan voting system to be used in the district’s Nov. 2, 2021 special election. The test shall be conducted at 10 a.m. in the district boardroom Tuesday, Oct. 26.

The board also passed a motion to count ballots cast in the election at the combined polling place: New Ulm Community Center, 600 N. German Street.

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The next regular school board meeting is 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28 at the District Boardroom at 414 S. Payne Street.