The U.S. Dept. of Education and Dept. of Justice Jan. 8 released groundbreaking federal guidance to assist schools in making their disciplinary practices—which research shows disproportionately impacts youth of color and LGBT youth—less discriminatory while encouraging positive interventions over student push-out or removal, according to a press release.
The guidelines, however, do not specifically reference LGBT youth. Last year GLSEN met with the departments to urge them to include LGBT-specific language to address the particular challenges LGBT youth face.
The development and release of the federal guidance is the result a collaborative project—the Supportive School Discipline Initiative—between the Department of Education and Department of Justice and the School Discipline Consensus Project managed by the Council of State Governments.
See the guidelines at www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/index.html.