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The state law that protects adults in the workplace because of their sexual orientation also applies to students harassed in schools, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
The decision stems from a lawsuit brought in 1999 by Louis White, a South Jersey teen who said he suffered years of anti-gay abuse at the hands of schoolmates. The court ruled that schools can be held liable under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination unless they take "reasonable" steps to prevent such harassment. Districts throughout the state will likely review their harassment policies in the wake of the court decision, said Mike Yaple, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association. "They'll be looking at the totality of the harassment cases," he said. "Schools will want to differentiate between isolated incidents and ongoing patterns." The justices said isolated incidents, like name-calling among very young children, would not necessarily construe a hostile environment. Factors such as students' ages, the frequency of abuse, whether harassment is a schoolwide problem and how quickly a district responds should also be taken into account. The decision "makes clear that schools must address the entire school environment instead of merely viewing specific incidents of bullying as isolated events," said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which filed a briefing in support of White's case. White, a Toms River Regional Schools student, claimed in the suit that he was harassed by his classmates throughout elementary, middle and high school. Court filings detail years of anti-gay slurs, intimidation and physical attacks, as well as repeated attempts by school officials to curb the harassment. White eventually transferred to another high school at the district's expense. White, now 21, said he burst into tears, happy and overwhelmed, when he heard the news from his lawyer. "I set out on what I wanted to do, to set precedent in the state of New Jersey that no kid should have to go through that," he said. The state Attorney General's Office applauded the court for "issuing a decision that recognizes the promise of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination to eradicate the 'cancer of discrimination'. " The law, enacted in 1945, is the nation's oldest state anti-discrimination statute. It requires that people prove that an institution knew or should have known of the harassment but failed to take reasonable actions to stop it. It also offers stronger protections than federal laws, which hold districts liable only if they act with "deliberate indifference to known acts of harassment." All school districts in New Jersey are required to have policies prohibiting harassment and bullying on school grounds, which must include age-appropriate provisions and cover time spent on the school bus. "Our conclusion furthers the legislative intent of eradicating the scourge of discrimination not only from society, but also from our schools," Chief Justice James R. Zazzali wrote in the unanimous decision. The justices did not determine whether the district is liable in White's case. Instead, the ruling established guidelines under which the district could be liable, and remanded the case to the state Division of Civil Rights. The civil rights division previously ruled in White's favor, awarding $50,000 in damages to him and $10,000 to his mother. An appellate court upheld some of the awards after the district appealed. Another appeal led to Wednesday's ruling. Yaple, the School Boards Association spokesman, said districts will watch closely to see if Toms River is eventually held liable. "At that point, all of the school districts will be looking to see exactly what the school district did wrong and what it did right," he said. Toms River Regional Schools attorney Thomas Monahan praised the Supreme Court for distinguishing that schools differ from workplaces -- schools must educate and can't just penalize students. He stressed that district officials tried to act quickly by calling in parents of students involved in the harassment, counseling those students, and imposing a "progressive discipline" strategy that resulted in suspensions, among other steps. "You can fire adults, but you can't fire students," Monahan said. Source: northjersey.com |
