Wednesday, July 25, 2001

On Friday evening, July 13, Enlight Atlanta presented an award to Dr. Charles Warr, the Fayette County principal who had the courage and commitment to his students to stop harassment based on sexual orientation. A recent survey by Enlight Atlanta exposed the prevalence of sexual orientation and gender identity harassment in Atlanta area schools.

Guidance counselors at 100 percent of Fayette County high schools (except Starr's Mill that declined to respond to the survey) reported that they were aware of such harassment in their schools. Dr. Warr, who was principal at Sandy Creek High School, has been transferred to Fayette County High School. His replacement, Mr. Roy Rabold, was also in attendance at the event.

The elegant dinner and ceremony were held at City Cafe in downtown Fayetteville. Restaurant owners Jorg and Doreen Schate and manager Sandy Suddeth were careful to attend to every detail to make this a very special event. Sandy Creek High School's drama and choral boosters club received a check for $25,000 to purchase a sound system and stage.

Josh, a student at Sandy Creek, was a freshman when he was regularly harassed because of his sexual orientation. His situation was the subject of an Atlanta Constitution editorial on June 22, entitled "Bullying gay teens won't be tolerated."

On March 21, the executive director of Enlight Atlanta and Josh's parents met with the principal, assistant principal, and school counselor of the school. Josh told them about the average of 40 cases of sexual orientation harassment that he had endured each day of the school year.

Dr. Warr and Mr. Bob Hokkanen, assistant principal, concluded the meeting by pledging to put an end to the harassment a promise that was immediately fulfilled. Several students were given a warning and one strike, in accordance with the state bully law, enacted In 1999.

The next day, Josh was not harassed at all. In fact, for six weeks there was no harassment. After the sixth week, one student (who had received a strike) assaulted him and was disciplined by the administration. The principal vowed to Josh's parents that the bully would never return to the school. After a two-week suspension, the bully was sent to an alternative school.

During the ceremony, the principal explained how he ended the harassment and Josh's mother spoke about the pain she endured in learning that her son was being harassed. At the end, Josh entertained the attendees by singing a song.

Enlight Atlanta is the only organization entirely devoted to ending bias and harassment based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity in Atlanta area K-12 schools.

Steve Epstein

Enlight Atlanta

http://enlight-atlanta.org

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