The principal of a catholic school in Ottawa, Canada, has stepped in to halt a school project from two 11-year-old pupils on the topic of gay rights

Grade 6 students Quinn Maloney-Tavares and Polly Hamilton, who attend St. George’s Catholic School in Ottawa, were asked to complete a project on social justice and allowed to choose their own specific theme.

They chose gay rights, because, as Quinn told the Ottawa Citizen, ‘A lot of people, they don’t know they’re being rude, but they make being gay a bad thing.

‘They need to know that it’s not a bad thing.’

However, principal Ann Beauchamp had other ideas and immediately vetoed the idea when she heard about it, leaving the girls ‘upset and disappointed’, according to Quinn’s mom, Ann Maloney.

In fact, the girls were so disappointed by their principal’s decision that they decided to paint small rainbow flags on their hands in silent protest; the gesture was picked up and repeated by several of their classmates.

Maloney and Polly’s mother, Kate, had a meeting with Beauchamp last week to see if they could persuade her to change her mind, but Maloney said afterwards that the principal had ‘felt strongly about her decision,’ saying that she didn’t think gay rights was an appropriate topic for children of that age, and that she also had concerns about receiving criticism from more conservative parents at the school.

Beauchamp has since refused to comment, but the school board’s communications department issued a statement from chairman Ted Hurley. It said that the school’s curriculum, ‘covers all topics around personhood, relationships and sexuality and is developed and taught in an age-appropriate manner.

‘The principal’s decision was made in this context and with the understanding that the project was going to be presented to younger students … Our board’s focus on equity and family life programs ensures students are taught within the context of our faith, with a focus on the dignity of personhood.’

AMAZING: Eighth-Grader Convinces Entire School To Skip SeaWorld

If you've never seen "Blackfish," the documentary exposing the alarming history and practices SeaWorld employs, you really should! This middle-schooler did, and she put her knowledge to use. Melissa Cronin of The Dodo graciously allowed us to republish her article about it in its entirety. What you're about to read is super-inspiring!

The annual “winterim” trip to San Diego taken by the seventh and eighth graders at Alexander Dawson School in Lafayette, Colo., will be missing one element this year. The students will no longer be visiting SeaWorld, thanks to the efforts of one intrepid eighth grader named Phoebe Goldstein.

Goldstein, a longtime opponent of whale and dolphin captivity, had heard of other schools nearby that took field trips to the marine park. When she heard that her own school was planning a trip, she was shocked — and driven to action.

“As soon as I heard about this, I immediately contacted my mom and told her how upset I was,” Goldstein told The Dodo. “I just knew I could not let my school go to SeaWorld.”

Goldstein immediately contacted the head of her school and the trip’s organizer.

“We discussed how our school wouldn't benefit by going to SeaWorld and supporting this atrocious issue,” she said. “We also discussed how there might be other amazing activities to do on this trip instead of going to SeaWorld.”

Soon enough, it was a victory for Goldstein. After a few meetings with administrators during which she illuminated the issues associated with cetacean (whale and dolphin) captivity, the trip’s organizers agreed to forego SeaWorld and replace it with a different activity. “I was so happy and I felt like I have actually make an impact on Dawson School,” said Goldstein.

Dawson School's Middle School Director, Heather Mock, told The Dodo in an email:

"As part of Dawson's vision to help our students meet real-world challenges, we strive to support students who want to advocate for personal passions, whether that is protecting marine mammals or delivering malaria nets. Phoebe is another great example of that Dawson tradition, and we are proud of her efforts."

Goldstein isn’t the only student to pressure their school to skip the field trips to SeaWorld. One San Diego student launched a petition against holding prom at SeaWorld that gained over 2,000 signatures. And one school in Malibu, Calif. cancelled their overnight trip to the park last December after a 10-year-old student begged fellow students and administration to do so. The girl had seen “Blackfish” and didn’t want her school to support orca whale captivity. She was quoted as saying at the time, “I never want to go to SeaWorld again."

A California High School student was punished for omitting “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance.

A California High School student was punished for omitting “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. Derek Giardina, 17, a student at Merrill F. West High School in Tracy, California, said the Pledge of Allegiance properly as instructed as part of the morning announcements. While he omitted only two words, which were added during the anti-Communist panic of the 1950’s.

Unfortunately, the school lacks the necessary knowledge of American history to appreciate the traditional manner of reciting the Pledge, arguing that if a student is going to lead the school, the pledge must promote one specific deity — or, the “traditional way,” as the school says.

Giardina says he was required to lead the school in the pledge as part of a debate class assignment, but that he would normally abstain because he is disillusioned with our country, and is not at all religious. Everyone in the class is required to lead the pledge 12 times a year. The first two times he led the school, he recited the bastardized 1954 version of the pledge, but the third time he recited it properly.

“Personally I wouldn’t say the pledge at all, because I’m not necessarily very patriotic, and I’m not religious,” he said.

Giardina later learned that his grade had been marked down because he chose to correctly honor our country. “I think I have a low C now, from doing other speeches, but it is a very large point value,” he said. He received a warning that if he omitted the unnecessary phrase again, he would be punished. Previously, the reduced grades were causing him to fail.

Student Who Stood Up To Don Young Says He Was Shocked By Homophobic Remark

An Alaska high school student said he and his classmates were stunned by Rep. Don Young's (R-Alaska) insensitive comments during a school assembly Tuesday and thinks the congressman’s apology was insincere.

Zachary Grier, 17, a senior at Wasilla High School, asked Young during the assembly why he still opposed same-sex marriage, even after a court struck down Alaska's ban on same-sex unions. Young responded by asking Grier, “What do you get when you have two bulls having sex?” When Grier answered that he didn’t know, Young told him: “A whole lot of bull.”

Grier said his principal cut the assembly short after his question. Many teachers later thanked him for pressing Young.

“I was pretty upset,” Grier told The Huffington Post. “I can understand having your own opinion, and that’s fine. But having your own opinion and coming into a room filled with high schoolers and telling them that same-sex marriage is the same as two bulls having sex -- in my opinion, that’s wrong.”

Even more shocking, Grier said, was the way Young talked about suicide less than a week after a high school classmate took his own life. Young told the assembly of about 130 students that suicide was caused by a lack of community support, which angered a close friend of the deceased student. When the student interrupted Young to say that wasn’t true, the congressman called him a “smartass,” Grier said.

“To hear that it was because you weren’t a good friend, I mean that makes someone hurt more than just having that happen,” Grier said. “To hear that it’s your fault after the fact is definitely a heavier blow.”

The leader of the nation's largest suicide prevention organization expressed dismay at Young's comments.

Boys Wear Skirts to Class in Protest After School Fines Trans Girl for Wearing Skirt

Students in Brazil — boys and girls — came to school wearing
skirts in support of a fellow trans student who was reprimanded by
school officials for wearing a skirt. Photo courtesy of Twitter,
where the hashtag #VouDeSaia has been used to show
support of the kids from around the world.

Nine days after transgender student Maria Muniz was fined by school officials for wearing a skirt, a group of her Colégio Pedro II classmates decided to stage a protest: both male and female students would all wear skirts on the same day.

Soon after their demonstration an ecstatic Muniz learned that the school's decision was overturned, reports the UK's Orange News. Pedro II's principal told Brazil's Globo that the school will consider relaxing their dress code.

After the protest, school officials posted a picture of their male and female students wearing wearing skirts to social media, where it became widely shared. Supporters have been writing their support to Muniz using the hashtag #VouDeSaia.

"For me, wearing a skirt was about expressing my freedom over who I am inside and not how society sees me," Muniz told Orange News.

"I am really happy about the way my classmates supported me and hope it serves as an example to others to feel encouraged to do the right thing," she added. "I was always taught at school to accept who you are. I am only trying to live that."

Catholic Students Wear Rainbow Socks to Support Gay Rights

This weekend at Vanier Catholic Secondary School in Canada, half of the graduating class wore rainbow socks to their commencement ceremony to celebrate their school’s newly-formed GSA. Half of them. At a Catholic school. You are doing it right.

Catholic School Apologizes For Removing Yearbook Picture of Female Student in Tuxedo

The Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep school in San Francisco has apologized following outcry over the school’s decision to remove the yearbook photo of senior student Jessica Urbina because she was wearing a tuxedo rather than the mandatory dress for female students.

The Advocate reports:

The removal of the photo was widely criticized as the news spread. Urbina’s fellow students united to support her by creating a social media campaign and participating in a demonstration Friday, which saw hundreds of students wearing ties to school protesting the school’s decision. “I’ve cried multiple times, overwhelmed with all this support,” Urbina told the Chronicle.

The backlash prompted the school to issue an official apology Monday from president John Scudder Jr. and principal Gary Cannon, who applauded the students for their support of Urbina. “Given the nature of this specific case,” the administrators said, “we believe that decision, while conforming with our policy, was wrong.”

School officials say the dress code will soon be updated to no longer require female students to wear dresses in an effort to be more sensitive every student’s gender identity, but they realize they “still have much growth to achieve.”

The administrators added, “As a school, we must better learn how to support our students who are navigating issues of gender identity.”

NEBRASKA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TELLS BULLIED STUDENTS TO SUCK IT UP AND NOT SNITCH

A disturbing piece of news out of Lincoln, Nebraska where administrators at the Zeman Elementary School apparently thought it would be useful to send the above flyer home with students to help them deal with bullying.

Among the flyer’s gems of wisdom:

Treat the person who is being mean as if they are trying to help you. No matter how insulting or mean they may sound, be grateful and think they really care about you.

Do not verbally defend yourself. When one person attacks and the other person is the defender, the attacker is in the stronger position, so the defender is automatically the loser.

Do not tell on bullies. The number one reason bullies hate their victims is because the victims tell on them. Telling makes the bully want to retaliate. Tell an adult only when real injury or crime (theft of something valuable) has occurred.

School will allow boy to bring My Little Pony backpack

Grayson Bruce's My Little Pony backpack will return, and with it may come new initiatives to prevent bullying in local schools.

Buncombe County Schools administrators met Thursday with the mother of Grayson Bruce, the 9-year-old boy who was propelled into the national spotlight this week after saying he was prevented from carrying his "My Little Pony" backpack to school because administrators told him it "triggered bullying."

Noreen Bruce also said Thursday that she would work with the school system to send Grayson back to Candler Elementary, after pulling him out last week following the incident.

"We are considering all options for getting Grayson back in school," Bruce said after the meeting. "We are pleased the school system is working closely with us. All of the options include Grayson taking his My Little Pony bag to school."

The story has gone viral over the past several days, attracting the attention of national news outlets and more than 65,000 Facebook supporters rallying behind the #SupportforGrayson hashtag.

Bruce met with superintendent Tony Baldwin and director of student services David Thompson, after which she said she felt "much better."

"We had a real heart-to-heart talk," Bruce said. "I strongly feel we can work together to make things better for Grayson and all the students in our school system."

Bruce said she will work with Thompson to help organize a parent advisory council on bullying.

"It's been a whirlwind," Bruce said. "We appreciate all the support from the bottom of our hearts. That outpouring of love from everyone has been unbelievable and has given us the opportunity to shine a light on the different kinds of hurts kids experience at school."

Bruce has made several national media appearances in the last 48 hours, including the Glenn Beck show in Dallas and an interview with "Good Morning America."

A “Buddy Bench” Makes Recess More Inclusive

For many elementary students, recess can be a highlight of the school day. A chance to run and play after hours of sitting still behind a desk.

But it can also be an isolating experience for students who feel left out.

At Roundtown Elementary School in York, PA one 2nd grader is doing his part to make sure all students are included in the fun.

With his family considering a temporary move to Germany, Christian began researching German schools. That’s when he noticed that one German school had a “buddy bench” for students who felt lonely or excluded during recess.

With this idea in mind he took action to support the students at his school who he noticed were being left out recess. He went to his principal and got a “buddy bench” at his school.

Now when students feel alone or excluded they can go to the bench where they’ll be invited by other students to talk or play.

This “buddy bench” allows more students to share in the joys of recess.

But just as importantly, it helps create a school culture of caring and inclusion. It challenges students to support their fellow classmates and empowers them to be a part of the solution.

As Christian puts it, “we show we care about others when we ask others to play.”

Christian and the “buddy bench” teach us a lot about what it takes to make schools more safe and welcoming for all students.

Christian exemplifies the power of upstanders willing to take action when they see students being excluded or teased.

In order to become upstanders, students need to know there are many ways to constructively support a classmate who is being bullied or teased. Options include talking to an adult when they see a student being teased, speaking up in the moment, supporting a student who has been bullied and causing a distraction in the moment that takes the attention away from a student who is being targeted.

The Most Successful Football Play of All Time

We've heard a lot of negative news about teenage football players recently. And while some have engaged in awful behavior, the truth is that there are a lot of amazing people in the world.

These guys blew me away. They're full of kindness, empathy, compassion, and love — and they're only in junior high. As a parent, I hope to raise my kids to care about others like these boys do. The future is a brighter place with them in it.

 

Three Students Banned From School Because They Might Be HIV Positive

Apparently, Arkansas thinks it’s 1985.

In 1985, 13-year old Ryan White, who became HIV-positive from a blood transfusion, was banned from attending school. Over 100 parents and 50 teachers in Kokomo, Indiana, signed a petition demanding White not be allowed to attend classes, for fear of infection.

After almost 30 years and the passage of the Ryan White Care Act (August, 1990,) Arkansas is doing the same thing.

Three students, all siblings, have been banned from attending classes by the Pea Ridge Public School District, until and unless they can prove they do not have HIV. It is illegal to ban children from attending public schools based on HIV status — perceived or otherwise. It also may be illegal to force them to take an HIV test.

The Pea Ridge Public School District is in Benton County, Arkansas. Its website claims, “Pea Ridge School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin or disability in any of its policies, practices or procedures.”

“In a letter sent to parents, the district cites district and Arkansas School Boards Association policy 4.34, in part, as the reasons for their decision. They also say they consulted the school district attorney and a private law firm,” local KNWA TV News reports:

According to the DRC, over the summer, the school district completed a thorough review of records and found an evaluation on one of the boys that stated that the mother and one sibling were both HIV positive.

The school called a meeting on Monday, September 9, 2013, and informed the service provider that the students could not return until documentation could be provided to the school ensuring that the students were HIV negative, according to the group.

“The actions taken by the Superintendent of Pea Ridge School District are appalling and is reminiscent of times past and the case of Ryan White,” says Tom Masseau, Executive Director of DRC. “The fact that the foster families have to provide documentation that the children are HIV negative before entering the school is unlawful and immoral. Further, the fact the school’s attorney authorized this unlawful act is at best appalling. It stigmatizes individuals with disabilities or their “perceived” disabilities as there is no indication these individuals have HIV. There is only an unlawful fear that they do.

Watch:

 

Fox News guest: ‘That’s a teaching moment’ when hungry kids can’t eat school lunch, not punishment

Raw Story reports:

During a segment on Fox & Friends, therapist and school counselor Thomas Kersting told host Gretchen Carlson that he approved of a New Jersey school district’s plan to reportedly “throw the meal away” if kids didn’t have enough money to pay for lunch.

“I agree with the superintendent,” he said. “I think it’s a little harsh. You know, I don’t think they’re going to throw the food out right in front of the kid and embarrass the kid.”

Gretchen Carlson asked Kersting if he “had a problem with the fact that the kids ultimately end up being punished in this situation when it really is the parents’ fault.”

Kersting explained, “Again, I think it is misleading that the kids are going to be punished. We have more food than any other nation. You know, no kid is going to starve. You know, if one day a kid doesn’t have lunch, right, maybe that’s a teaching moment when that kid doesn’t have lunch. That may sound harsh saying that, but we’ve got to get people to start being responsible for themselves.”

Watch courtesy of Raw Story: