The Prince George school district is set to become the 15th in B.C. with a specific policy addressing sexual orientation.
The proposed four-page document seeks to protect the members of the LGBTQ community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gendered and those questioning their sexual identity) from bullying and any form of impediment in the classroom or workplace.
Trustees voted unanimously this week to publicly disclose the draft version of the policy and open a 60-day window of dialogue. For the next two months, anyone with input on the wording or concepts set out in the document can provide that for consideration in the final policy.
"Most of all, I want to hear from within the LGBTQ community itself," said School District 57 trustee Trish Bella, the lead . "We might have overlooked something. Maybe there is a definition that could be improved, a term that could be included, maybe there is a topic we didn't address, but we won't know that unless someone who is living it comes to us with that feedback."
Bella said SD57 chose to develop this policy after a lot of public input convinced them to.
"Since this board came into play, right off the bat in 2011, we had the community - all walks of the community - coming to us telling us this would be helpful," said Bella. "There is imbedded language and intent expressed as part of larger policies, but this puts it all together in one place. This makes everything absolutely clear and easy to access."
The board initially voted against a stand-alone policy, that the collection of codes of conduct was enough, but "the community kept coming back to us saying no, it had to be done in a more concerted way," said Bella.
The school board reconsidered after reading the preexisting policies adopted by other B.C. school districts.
"We agreed - it did no one any harm to have a stand alone policy and it went a long way to make things easier for anyone who might face this sort of bullying," Bella said. "If we have a policy that is clear like this, something not imbedded, so you don't have to pull a bunch of references out of a lot of material if you ever need it, then that is going to help people at the core of what we do. This enshrines that better than ever before, and directly, and respectfully. Of course you are valued and you are welcome."
Residents can go to www.sd57.bc.ca and look over the document, and submit any feedback.
