Windows and Mirrors: The Inclusivity of our Middle School Programming

I have long applauded the Middle School’s commitment to creating spaces for all students to find their own sense of belonging. We have numerous clubs, organizations, and activities that allow our students to seek and affirm their identity in various manners.

For many years, we have recognized the importance of creating a space for our Middle School students who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community. Aside from the fact that we want all students to be able to affirm who they are proudly, LGBTQ+ students have been historically subjected to often disproportionate levels of physical and verbal harassment long before these types of abusive behaviors were being noticed and dealt with. It wasn’t until 1999 when the National School Climate Survey was launched by GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network) that school officials could gather and analyze information pertaining to the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ students.

In her 2021 article, “20 Years of Data Shows What Works for LGBTQ Students,” Paige Tutt notes that “the survey sketched the first tentative outlines of a formerly invisible population and tracked the well-being of LGBTQ students and the schools that educate them over the next two decades.” The results of the early National School Climate Surveys indicated both optimism and concern: “School-based supports do have a positive impact … and a sobering glimpse into the acute and enduring crisis that still exists for LGBTQ kids in school.” While we must be aware of the harassment that this sector of the student population has historically experienced, it is more important to put into place actual steps that can stem these types of negative experiences and allow these students to feel both welcomed and valued.

In Tutt’s article, she interviews Dr. Joseph Kosciw, the Director of GLSEN’s Research Institute, as to how the experiences of LGBTQ+ students have changed over the past 20 years as well as understanding the availability and benefits of school-based supports that can best currently serve this student population. When directly asked, “What challenges do you see in how schools meet the changing needs of LGBTQ students?” Kosciw highlighted the fact that students live in highly gendered school cultures; for example, we have boys’ bathrooms/locker rooms and girls’ bathrooms/locker rooms. Kosciw comments that while adults (e.g., teachers) are great when a student is a trans female or a trans male, “they don’t know what to do with nonbinary students because schools aren’t set up to have people who exist outside of that binary.” Clearly, having all-gendered spaces is an effort that schools can make to be as inclusive as possible. I am so glad that when we were in the process of constructing our new Middle School, we intentionally created all-gendered bathrooms to support all of our students One of the issues that Kosciw raises is the types of preventative measures that schools can implement to assist LGBTQ+ students who are struggling. In his research, Kosciw found that “youth in middle schools have a far worse time than in high schools” and that vital supports for middle school students are lacking:

To intentionally address these numeric disparities, schools need to do more than say they are “inclusive” or simply have all-gendered bathrooms; schools must have in place actual structures that serve to (1) educate all students as to what inclusivity looks like and (2) directly support a school’s LGBTQ+ community. Kosciw notes that there are four significant ways that schools can create safe and supportive environments: curricular inclusion, having several supportive teachers, having a Genders and Sexualities Alliance (GSA), and LGBTQ-affirming school policies that prevent negatively harassing behaviors.

I am heartened to know that Seven Hills has realized and implemented many of these ways to best create a safe environment for our LGBTQ+ community. From a Middle School perspective, we continue to examine how we are best supporting these students and have intentionally created structures in this regard. Our GSA – Just Be You club, which is open to all Middle School students, started in the fall of 2020 and is a branch of the Upper School’s GSA club. This club seeks to educate and raise awareness about issues within the LGBTQ+ student body at Seven Hills and the larger world. The club meets once a week and provides a safe space for education and community. From time to time, I have dropped into this club during its Thursday lunchtime meeting and have marveled at the large number of students who joyfully gather, with the support of several Middle School faculty, to meet and discuss important issues and concerns. In addition, we have also created curricular programming to educate our entire Middle School community about topics such as gender diversity at Seven Hills. Our Real Talk series of panel discussions has highlighted this issue, empowering students to share their own experiences in terms of their gender identity.

As an independent school, we have the ability to develop curricular programs that can serve as “windows and mirrors,” allowing our students to see themselves and the experiences of other people in an inclusive manner.