GLSEN Tucson Meeting Minutes - 2007

This document contains minutes from recent GLSEN Tucson Board meetings in 2007, starting with the most recent meeting.

March 1, 2007

Two GSAs were represented and talked about their efforts to get kids back "in focus". Both groups are younger and need lots of help. A big welcome to Jennifer from Catalina High School--she's a new sponsor of their GSA and was anxious to get to know us at GLSEN. Both Catalina and Rincon report that they hope their groups will be active in Day of Silence (April 18).

Alan reported on a training on February 28 which addressed bullying at the middle school level in general, although the "Get Real" video specifically addressed issues of homophobia along with every other name-calling event.

Brenda announced that Rincon is planning on doing a survey similar to GLSEN, but more comprehensive in terms of generalized hazing and name-calling. She will work with Dr. Russel from the U of AZ for statistical analysis.

Reminder that GLSEN, Arizona Psychological Assn GLBT committee, and the City of Tucson GLBT Commission are co-sponsoring a training specific to Transgender students on Thursday, March 29 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm at Rincon High Schoo, Room 123.

Announced that the GLSEN national Chapter Summit will be held July 26-29 at the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdate. We hope that GLSEN Tucson will be active in participating. Diane, Brenda, and Alan are definitely planning to attend at least some of it. Alan will not be able to attend Thursday or Friday, since school staffs are already back to work that week and in professional development activities. As part of the involvement, we added Brenda Kazen to the vacant "board seat" for GLSEN Tucson. Diane will coordinate with Maddie (GLSEN Phoenix) and Kiwi (GLSEN) on some "hosting activities", etc.

Next meeting is April 5 at 4:30 at Wingspan.

February 1, 2007

At the February 1 GLSEN meeting, we (yet again) had a pretty small attendance. Only one GSA was represented, but we accomplished a lot, getting 50 packets ready to mail to middle and high schools in the Tucson area. The packet contained a letter offering GLSEN’s help and support, to do trainings for their staff and students, as well as a copy of “From Teasing to Torment” with the Arizona school climate data.

The January 19/20 training that we sponsored, along with the University of Arizona and the Arizona Psychological Association’s GLBT Committee, went quite well, with three different sessions. There was good feedback from the attendees. On March 29, we have an upcoming training focusing on transgender students in our schools. It will be held at Rincon High School from 4 to 6 pm. It’s being done specifically for staff of the Tucson Unified School District, but it’s open to the public and other school district staff members. The GLSEN Tucson scholarship information was mailed out to all GSA sponsors and to the “Scholarship Counselor” at each of the high schools that has an active GSA. Applications are due by April 1.

Sechrist Middle School was actively involved in “No Name Calling Week”. Not sure what other schools did to participate. On April 18, we have “Day of Silence”. For more information, go directly to the Day of Silence website.

Diane and Alan reported on our meeting with Shawn Gaylord, which we both felt was productive and helped to resolve some of our concerns and issues.

Next meeting—March 1, 2007 at 4:30 pm at Wingspan.