Gay-bashing
ruling holds N.J. schools to rules of
workplace
Saturday, July 31,
2004 • BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG • Star-Ledger
Staff
In a ruling that gives
students attending New Jersey schools greater protection
against bias than their peers nationwide, the state Division
on Civil Rights has awarded $50,000 to a boy who was
slapped, punched and repeatedly taunted by classmates who
perceived him as homosexual.
The Toms River Regional
School District, which must pay the award, also was fined
$10,000 and ordered to pay $10,000 to the student's mother
and to toughen its policies against gay-bashing.
State Civil Rights
Director J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo, overruling an
administrative law judge's decision, concluded the
district's efforts to stop the bullying were "extremely
limited" and allowed a "hostile school environment" to
develop.
It was the first New
Jersey case to determine how much school administrators must
do to protect students from discrimination by other
students. Vespa-Papaleo's ruling holds school officials to
the same tough standards that employers must enforce in the
workplace.
"While there is merit to
the observation that the immaturity of children may increase
the likelihood that school students will be exposed to
hurtful behavior, it is also important to recognize that
schools are responsible for teaching children what types of
behavior are and are not acceptable," Vespa-Papaleo
wrote.
Thomas Monahan, the lawyer
for the district, said it "absolutely" will bring the case
to the Appellate Division of Superior Court.
Monahan said the district
does not tolerate anti-gay bias and suspended several of the
offending students. "We strongly believe the school district
acted appropriately, effectively and promptly for this young
man," he said.
The ruling, which
identified the student by his initials, said he had been
taunted with homosexual slurs at least nine times in the
seventh grade and on one occasion was subjected to a
"simulated sex act." It quoted his mother as saying she did
not know whether her son was gay but she would love him in
any case and would not allow him to "suffer constant sexual
harassment" at school.
Monahan said the bullying
stopped because of intervention by school officials and the
student went through the eighth grade without being
harassed. But according to the ruling, when he got to Toms
River High School South in September 2000, he was beaten up
twice and quickly left for another school.
Both attackers were
immediately suspended even though the assaults took place
off school grounds, Monahan said. He added that after the
student transferred, the district paid the student's tuition
at a performing arts school in another county.
Monahan argued school
administrators cannot be expected to enforce the same kind
of decorum on a middle-school playground that a manager can
in a commercial office.
"You can't fire a
student," Monahan said.
In 1999, the U.S. Supreme
Court adopted that same logic in ruling that, under federal
law, school administrators can be sued only if they turn a
blind eye to student- on-student harassment.
Applying that standard,
Administrative Law Judge John Schuster III found the
district was blameless.
Vespa-Papaleo overturned
that ruling, saying it understated the seriousness of the
harassment and applied the wrong law.
Using the standards New
Jersey courts have developed to eradicate bias in the
workplace, Vespa-Papaleo said, a school is liable for
student-on-student bullying if its employees "knew or should
have known of the harassment and failed to take effective
measures to stop it." He added that since students must
attend school, they need more protection against harassment
than do workers, who can find another job.
Vespa-Papaleo ordered the
district to reprint its student handbooks, which already ban
sex harassment, to explicitly ban bullying on the basis of
sexual orientation. It also must train all staffers and
middle- and high-school students in those policies annually
for at least the next six years.
Laura Pople, president of
the N.J. Gay and Lesbian Coalition, called it "a good
ruling" that reinforces New Jersey's position as a leader in
fighting bias in schools. Last month, the Gay, Lesbian and
Straight Education Network ranked New Jersey first in the
nation for its legal protections for students outside the
sexual mainstream. It gave 42 states failing
grades.
In June, Vespa-Papaleo
ruled it is unlawful discrimination for restaurants and bars
to offer reduced- priced drinks to women in "Ladies' Night"
promotions. That ruling provoked criticism and the Assembly
passed a bill that would overturn it. The state Senate has
not acted on the measure.
Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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