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Date: 12/7/2022
AGAWAM – In a recent letter to School Committee members, Agawam School Superintendent Sheila Hoffman said she was “disheartened” to hear some of the comments made by students and staff who spoke during the public comment portion at the committee’s Nov. 15 meeting.
Six speakers – including two Agawam High School (AHS) students and three staff from the high school and the junior high school – voiced concern about the treatment and safety of transgender students in the district’s schools.
They also expressed frustration that the committee voted against a resolution proposed by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) Resolution Committee about sanctuary laws for transgender students. It stated that some state governments are criminalizing supportive medical care of “trans individuals” and urged Massachusetts to join other states by passing “so-called ‘sanctuary’ laws.”
Hoffman wrote that several speakers acknowledged that the majority students are accepting of transgender and gay students, and that there has been an increase in support and understanding of these students by school staff.
But hearing that not all Agawam students feel safe in school, particularly because of their gender identity or sexual orientation, she wrote, “is not OK.” The next morning Hoffman met with high school administrators and the staff advisor and student leader of the school’s Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA).
Jordan Edwards – who has seen friends bullied, harassed, humiliated, even stabbed – has led the GSA for three years. While the majority of students may be supportive of transgender identities, Edwards said “a very vocal minority” makes the lives of these students “10 times harder.”
“We shouldn’t be targeted for our identity. We’re students just like anybody else,” Edwards said. “How are we supposed to learn and prepare for our future? Why can’t we even walk through the halls without being harassed?”
The committee voted not to support the proposed resolution at its Oct. 11 meeting because members felt it was too vague and related more to medical issues than to education policy.
Jessi Cyranowski, an AHS student who identifies as transgender and bisexual, has experienced “extreme bullying,” including being stabbed in the leg and being called slurs by another student.
“I haven’t really gotten a good impression in my one and a half to two years of being here,” Cyranowski said. “I’ve been called slurs in hallways. I’ve had food thrown at me at all hours of the day. I’ve been barred from doing certain things, like in gym classes or using certain bathrooms.”
It’s been difficult adjusting to the district, even after bringing issues to the attention of the school office multiple times, Cyranowski added: “But nothing has been done about it. I’ve been brushed off by the administration. I’ve been brushed off by teachers.”
Last year, Cyranowski met with some School Committee members to address these issues, and “the only response that I got was that the home cannot be policed.”
Cyranowski explained that transgender students are not asking the committee to police the home, but to enforce laws to keep students safe in schools.
“You cannot let a student get away with whatever they want in school just because that’s how they act at home,” Cyranowski said. “That isn’t fair to everyone else. And that doesn’t make a safe environment for anyone.”
Frances “Frankie” Walsh, a seventh-grade English teacher at Agawam Junior High School (AJHS), said data overwhelmingly show LGBTQ students are crying out for help.
“It’s our responsibility to be educated, current and comfortable enough to tackle these issues, or we will continue to be accomplices to the suffering of our marginalized students and staff in this district,” Walsh said.
AHS counselor and GSA advisor Susan Galereave said adults are adjusting to the “new youth landscape” where some students are engaged in what she called “developmentally appropriate” work of understanding who they are, questioning their gender, or choosing to change their names or pronouns
Galereave, who met with Hoffman the day after the committee meeting, said teachers respond when informed about incidents of bullying or harassment and for the most part discipline those responsible.
“Our queer students are a minority, and as such, need a strong voice, stating that they are welcome and supported in our schools,” Galereave said.
She told the committee that declining to support sanctuary laws sends a message to transgender students that they’re not supported, that “they’re on their own while in our schools.”
The other two speakers, including an adjustment counselor at AJHS, also stressed giving transgender students a safe environment in which to learn, urging the committee to show more compassion for them.
Hoffman wrote that both AJHS and AHS administrations “investigated all allegations reported to them seriously and as thoroughly as possible.” She explained that the district has offered several professional development opportunities for staff on LGBTQ+ issues, and is committed to continued professional development.
Additionally, she wrote that two gender-neutral bathrooms at the high school are unlocked by the custodian in the morning and left unlocked for the duration of the school day. There also are two gender-neutral bathrooms at the junior high school.
She concluded by writing: “While I’m encouraged that the majority of staff and students are accepting, supportive, and not engaging in inappropriate behaviors and hurtful messages, I know we can, and must, do more to make all students feel safe.”
At the end of the Nov. 15 meeting, School Committee member Wendy Rua, who was absent for the October vote on the resolution, said she felt “a little bit dismayed” after listening to the speakers. She said she had a physical response of feeling at times like she wanted to cry.
Rua said she heard the message from the speakers, adding that every student should feel safe, “and that’s our obligation. I’m always very proud of this district, but tonight, I’m feeling like we have a little work to do. And I look forward to working with my colleagues to move the bar so that all students feel safe.”
She added that she wants to work with students to make school what it should be: a safe environment to learn.
“Those MCAS scores mean nothing to me if you can’t sit in your seat, and even feel like you should be a part of our school community,” she said. “To me, I’d rather work on that any day of the week than tear apart data over how students are doing in math or science.”