Presentation Transcript

1. Nabozny versus Podlesny

   Gemma Miller Ball State University December 2, 2013
2. Overview Nabozny v. Podlesny Court Case District Court Ruling Effect on the community How it affects school psychology? Future implications
3. Chief Complaints Plaintiff: Jamie Nabozny Defendant: Mary Podlesny: Principal of Ashland Middle School William Davis: Principal of Ashland High School Thomas Blauert: Assistant Principal; of Ashland High School Steven Kelly: Administrator of the Ashland Public School District Problem: Nabozny reported that he was bullied verbally and physically for being a homosexual (Broz, 1998) (Nabozny v. Podlesny, 1996)
4. Jamie was urinated on, pretend raped, kicked him to the point where he needed stomach surgery for internal bleeding (Nabozny v. Podlesny, 1996) School officials new of the ongoing abuse ‘boys will be boys’ and told Jamie that if he was ‘going to be so openly gay,’ he should ‘expect’ such behavior from his fellow students Jamie attempted suicide, dropped out of school, and ran away After leaving school in 11th grade, Nabozny filed a civil rights suit (Broz, 1998) (Nabozny v. Podlesny, 1996; “Nabozny vs. Podlesny”, 1996; “Nabozny v. Podlesny: Facts of the case”, 2012)
5. Title IX: Education Amendment of 1972 Right to be free of gender-based violence and to equal protection Section 1681 Prohibition against discrimination “No person in the US shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance” (“Title IX, education amendments of 1972”, 2012)
6. Case History October 1995- a school cannot be held liable for the actions of students December 1995- Opening brief with 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. July 1996-Constitutional obligation of public schools to protect gay students from antigay abuse. November 1996-Jury finds school officials liable for failing to stop antigay violence against Nabozny under Title IX. (“Nabozny vs. Podesny” 1996)
7. Legal Impact First legal challenge to antigay violence in public schools Meant that school officials were not immune for a failure to protect equal protection. Public school could be liable financially if they failed to protect students Led to future advocacy for LGBTQ youth (Reese, 1997; “Nabozny vs. Podesny” 1996; “Nabozny v. Podesny: Facts of the case”, 2012)
8. LGBTQ Community LGBTQ individuals are an minority subjected to discrimination in todays society (Stader & Graca, 2007) 84.6% of LGBTQ students report being verbally harassed while 40.1% report being physically harassed. 18.8% of those students report being harassed in school (Kosciw, Greytak, Diaz, & Bartikiewicz, 2010) These victims of antigay harassment has resulted in 75% experiencing a decline in grades, 39% having attendance problems, and 28% eventually dropping out of school (Wiener, 2005)
9. School Psychologist Role Teachers, psychologists, and counselors play an important role in shaping the lives of youth. They can help by intervening in situations of harassment, increasing acceptance and appreciation of diversity, and helping to ensure a safe learning environment in schools is available to all students (McCabe & Rubinson, 2008). Specialized training in the issues and difficulties faced by LBGT youth Change attitude and beliefs which leads to more proactive behaviors
10. (Ajzen & Madden, 1986; McCabe & Rubinson, 2008)
11. Reflection A public school could be held accountable for not stopping antigay abuse Even though this court case was monumental, there is still a lot of abuse happening for children based on their sexual identity Affecting children academically and emotionally School psychologists, teachers, counselors, etc. need to be trained on the problems LGBT youth often face
12. References Ajzen, I., & Madden, T. J. (1986). Prediction of goal directed behavior: Attitudes, intentions, and perceived behavioral control. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 22, 453-474. Broz, A. N. (1998). Nabozny v. Podlesny: A teenager’s struggle to end anti-gay violence in public schools. Northwestern University Law Review, 92, 750–778 Decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals. (1996). Lambda Legal. Retrieved from http://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal-docs/nabozny_wi_19960731_decisioin-us-court-of-appeals Kosciw, J. G., Greytak, E. A., Diaz, E. M., & Bartikiewicz, M. J. (2010). The 2009 national school climate survey: The experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in our nation’s schools. New York: GLSEN. McCabe, P. C., & Rubinson, F. (2008). Committing to social justice: The behavioral intention of school psychology and education trainees to advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered youth. School Psychology Review, 37(4), 469-486.
13. Nabozny v. Podlesny. 92 F.3d 446, 457. (1996). Nabozny v. Podlesny. (1996). Lambda Legal. Retrieved from http://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/cases/nabozny-v-podlesny Nabozny v. Poldesny: Facts of the case. (2012). Education Law. Retrieved from http://educational-law.org/466-nabozny-v-podlesny-facts-of-the-case.html Reese, S. (1997). The law and gay-bashing in schools. Education Digest, 62(9), 46–49.  Stader, D. L., & Graca, T. J. (2007). Student-on-Student Sexual Orientation Harassment: Legal Protections for Sexual Minority Youth. Clearing House, 80(3), 117-122. Title IX, education amendments of 1972. (1972). United States Department of Labor. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/oasam/regs/statutes/titleix.htm Weiner, C. (2005). Sex education: Recognizing anti-gay harassment as sex discrimination under Title VII and Title IX. Columbia Human Right Review, 189.