Kate Jerman, co-director of Outright Vermont, is happy that the state Department of Education is addressing the harassment and bullying that plague public school students, especially those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. Jerman said a meeting with state Education Department officials in October to address these issues went "very, very well."
     "They're working with us again - I'm excited about that," Jerman said, referring to the state's apparent abandonment of the Safe Harbors Project until recently. "I'm glad queer issues are being included," she added.
     Following a meeting with the group in late October, Education Commissioner Richard Cate named Kate Cassi-O'Neill, DOE coordinator for HIV prevention programs, to work with Safe Harbors. Before the withdrawal of state interest, Safe Harbors was working on a "toolkit" on how to deal with harassment and bullying issues in the schools. But that work had come to a stop last year, Jerman said. Now, there are plans to have the project finished within months. Jerman was pleased with the commissioner's choice of Cassi-O'Neill. "I think she will be a great asset for Safe Harbors," Jerman said.
     It remains unclear, however, exactly what role Cassi-O'Neill will play. Jerman was of the opinion that Cassi-O'Neill was appointed as a member of Safe Harbors, but Cassi-O'Neill said she will be the liaison between Safe Schools and Safe Harbors.
     The Department of Education's Safe Schools Team was set up to oversee projects concerning harassment and bullying and other safety issues such as presence of weapons on school property. It also includes the "BEST" or Building Effective Strategies for Teaching Students with Behavioral Challenges Project, HIV prevention education projects, and sexual abuse prevention. Safe Harbors works specifically on issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, Jerman said.
      At any rate, Cassi-O'Neill said she plans to work hard to "build a bridge" between the two groups and to establish a strong link to the GLBTQ community. She previously worked as a school health coordinator with the American Cancer Society.
      Cate, who has been education commissioner for just a year, and following several commissioners who served about as long, said Safe Harbors' completed document will be distributed to all of Vermont's school districts once completed. Regarding the issue of having the HIV coordinator also working on harassment issues when there isn't necessarily a connection between the two, Cate said, "In this outfit, everybody's got about six different jobs," adding "I think that's just fine" that Cassi-O'Neill will play both roles.
      Gay rights advocates have been concerned that the anti-harassment and anti-bullying laws, both passed earlier this year, don't have the "teeth" needed to stop students from abusing other students. And they're concerned that there is no mandate to require training of staff or strong enough consequences for school districts that fail to implement the laws.
      "We try to stay away from mandates," Cate said. "They don't work." He said it's "dangerous" to say there's one way to handle these problems, and that school districts need to be able to draw up their own plans. "Burlington is going to do this much differently than they are in [the Northeast Kingdom town of] Norton," he said.

Lynn McNicol is a freelance writer who lives in Burlington.