Waterloo club helps curb bullying, school official says
WATERLOO, Iowa — Concern over bullying was the catalyst for starting Waterloo West High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance six years ago.
Carolyn Braley, the group’s staff adviser, sees less of the behavior in the school’s hallways and classrooms than at one time, a change she credits in part to the alliance’s presence.
“It was started by a guidance counselor because (West staff) were aware of the harassment and bullying that the students experienced,” said Braley, a teacher at the school and the wife of U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley. “I still see harassment going on. What I’m seeing is not to the degree that it was in 2005.”
The harassment “is mostly name-calling,” she added. “I only know what students come and talk to me about. Not everything is reported.”
The club truly does serve as an alliance between homosexual and heterosexual students. It has “more straight students attending than gay or lesbian,” she said.
“Because the Gay-Straight Alliance is a part of West High, we put announcements over the whole school (public address system),” Braley noted. “So, I think it’s become more normalized.”
The alliance includes educational, social and fundraising components that are helping to change attitudes as well.
Members participate in the Day of Silence, a national event where students don’t speak as a protest against bullying and harassment of homosexuals. They attend an annual governor’s conference for lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender youth. They also hold bake sales at parent-teacher conferences.
Braley noted that a number of other factors have contributed to an improving atmosphere at the school, though. The board of education added sexual orientation to Waterloo Community Schools’ anti-harassment policies in 2006. Three years later, the Iowa Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision that legalized same-sex marriage in the state.
School staff have played an even more important role in improving the climate at West, she said.
In-service training that has focused on the problem has given teachers and other staff “more awareness of what to do” when situations arise. That includes support from the school’s administrators.
“When I have submitted a referral on someone because of their language and behavior, the principals have been very swift in dealing with it,” Braley said.