NOW - NEW YORK STATE SUPPORT MEMO
A3496 (O’Donnell)/S1571 (Duane)
- Dignity for All Students Act
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The National Organization for Women-New York State strongly
supports the Dignity for All Students Act, an education law
which will prohibit discrimination and harassment against
students, administrators, and staff in public schools on
the basis of actual or perceived race, national origin, ethnic
group, religion, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation,
gender, or sex in any activity occurring on school grounds
and in any actability conducted by the education institution
or its agents.
Harassment based upon bias is a significant obstacle to
learning, often robbing a student of her basic right to a
public education guaranteed by the New York State Constitution.
Discriminatory threats of verbal or physical harassment create
an environment not conducive to teaching, learning, growing,
and developing. The Dignity for All Students Act will establish
statutes that will create an atmosphere in which scholarship
is paramount and distractions from education are minimized.
Bias-motivated harassment directly results in high-risk
behaviors such as absenteeism, drug use, alcohol abuse, and
even suicide. Public schools should be safe environments
in which students are nurtured and experience personal growth,
and should not foster an environment so antagonistic that
it drives children or teens to participate in such extreme
and dangerous activities.
Currently, New York State has no comprehensive prohibition
of harassment based on bias-motivated discrimination in primary
or secondary public schools. Other states, including California
Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Connecticut, have statutes
or administrative codes that require these protections in
public schools.
The Dignity for All Students Act will ensure that schools
are a neutral ground where people of different beliefs and
backgrounds can reach their full academic and personal potentials.
This much needed legislation will make certain that no student
is so preoccupied by the fear of harassment and discrimination
that she/he is unable to receive a meaningful education.
This bill also gives guidance to teachers as to how to intervene
when they witness such harassment taking place.
NOW-NYS, Inc. urges New York State legislators to show their
support and concern for students’ welfare by immediately
passing this important piece of legislation.
Marcia A. Pappas, President, NOW-NYS, Inc.
Carrie Knepp, Chair, Lesbian Rights Task Force.
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