Make It Real:
AB 537 Student Organizing Manual
Take It Back:
A Manual for Fighting Slurs on Campus
Beyond the Binary:
A Took Kit for Gender Identity Activism in Schools
A Safe Place to Learn:
A Study of Anti-Gay Harassment in Schools
Q&A for Administrators
about AB 537
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What is AB 537?
AB 537, the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000, changed California's Education Code by adding actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity to the existing nondiscrimination policy. The state defines "gender" as "a person's actual sex or perceived sex and includes a person's perceived identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance, or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with a person's sex at birth." The nondiscrimination policy also prohibits harassment and discrimination on the basis of sex, ethnic group identification, race, ancestry, national origin, religion, color, or mental or physical disability.
What does AB 537 cover?
AB 537 protects students and school employees against discrimination and harassment at all California public schools and any school receiving state funding except religious schools. Harassment is defined as "conduct based on protected status that is severe or pervasive, which unreasonably disrupts an individual's educational or work environment or that creates a hostile educational or work environment." The protections cover any program or activity in a school, including extracurricular activities and student clubs. This gives GSAs and other LGBTQ-related student clubs state protection in addition to federal protection through the Equal Access Act.
How do you file a complaint?
If you are in physical danger, you need to make sure you are safe. If you experience violence or threats of violence, contact the police immediately. You can still file a complaint with your school even if you involve the police.
- File a complaint with your school. The process for filing a complaint within your school can vary. This information should be outlined in your student handbook or an administrator should be able to make it available to you. It is often the same process as filing a sexual harassment complaint. If your school's harassment report form is not inclusive of sexual orientation and the expanded definition of "gender," consider working to change this as a goal of your activism.
Document everything. Write down the key details of the harassment such as who, what, when, where, and witnesses. Include details from meetings you have with administrators. Keep a copy of all reports you file and confirmation that they were received.
Report back. If harassment continues from the same individual, let your principal know that the disciplinary action failed and something stronger will be required.
You should to go to your principal first, but you have the option of skipping this step and going directly to your district. Keep in mind that your principal may be the person with the power to solve the problem faster.
- Take it to the next level.
- Recognize that your school has failed to respond.
How do you know if your school's response is inadequate? Ask yourself a few simple questions about the outcome of your meeting:
- Has the problem been solved? Did your school take positive steps to stop the harassment or discrimination?
- If the harassment or discrimination is constant or widespread, did your school take steps to change the school environment and prevent harassment from happening, rather than merely responding to each incident?
- Did your school treat your complaint with the same seriousness and speed that it has treated other complaints of threats, harassment, or discrimination?
If the answer to any of these questions is "no," you should consider taking your complaint to the next level - your school district.
- File a complaint with your school district.
Make sure you file your complaint within six months of the original incident. Your district is required to have a person who handles complaints. To find out who this person is in your district:
- Call the District Superintendent's Office. Get the phone number from your school handbook or your principal's office.
- Ask who the designated complaint officer for the district is. Explain that each district is required by law under the Uniform Complaint Procedures to have a person designated to receive complaints from students regarding harassment and discrimination. Be persistent. If the office cannot tell you who the complaint officer is or if you have any questions, contact GSA Network for help.
- Ask to talk to the designated complaint officer. Get confirmation from them that they are the right person to receive complaints and their mailing address for submitting written complaints.
Once you submit a written, formal complaint to this person, they have 60 days to conduct a decision and make a decision.
What is your school district obligated to do?
If your school does not adequately address your complaint, you can take your complaint to your district superintendent's office (ask for the designated complaint officer or compliance coordinator). Your school district must follow the state's "Uniform Complaint Procedures," which say that your school district must to do the following:
- Have a staff member who is responsible for receiving and investigating complaints who is knowledgeable about the law.
- Every year, notify parents, employees, students, and anyone interested of the district complaint procedures, including the right to appeal the school district's decision to the California Department of Education.
- Protect you from retaliation after you make a complaint.
- Keep your complaint confidential as appropriate.
- Accept complaints from any youth, adult, public agency, or organization.
- Investigate your complaint, come up with a solution, and send you a written report no more than 60 days after they receive your complaint.
- Decide whether or not you want to appeal.
If you are unsatisfied with a decision made by your district, you have only 15 days to appeal to the CA Department of Education.
Send (by registered mail): A copy of all of your documentation, statements from witnesses, a description of your meeting with your principal, your district complaint, the district's response, and your explanation of why this response is not enough to:
Office of Equal Opportunity, California Department of Education, 721 Capitol Mall, Room 651, Sacramento, CA 95814, Attention: Director; (916) 657-4562.
The Department of Education will give your school district 10 days to solve the problem. The Department will reach a decision within 60 days.
Other options for holding your school accountable:
- Litigation. You can sue your school district. With the help of an attorney, students can ask a judge to order the school to stop discrimination before it happens or continues. This is called injunctive relief. It's cool because a judge issues an "injunction" (order) to your school district - and your school district has to do it immediately! You can do this while going through the complaint process.
- Community Organizing. Organize other students, teachers, staff, parents, and community allies to form a community response to the problem of homophobia in your school. Think of AB 537 as a tool and use it as leverage to work to change the school climate.
To learn more about how you can implement and enforce AB 537, check out our online student organizing manual at www.ab537.org or call our office.
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For
more information or for hard copies of our resource sheets,
contact GSA Network:
Statewide Office: 1550 Bryant St, Suite 800, San Francisco, CA 94103,
ph: 415.552.4229, fax: 415.552.4729
Central Valley Regional Office: 928 N. Van Ness Ave.,
Fresno, CA 93728, ph: 559.268.2780, f: 559.268.2786
Southern California Regional Office: 605 W. Olympic
Blvd, Suite 610, Los Angeles, CA 90015, ph: 213.534.7162,
f: 213.553.1833 |
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