A few things I have forgotten to talk about is the sexual assault/harassment, homophobia and transphobia that happens in the school.

There are students who have been sexually assaulted by other students, but when it’s reported, little to nothing is done about it. Whether it’s in school or out of school, they don’t do anything like call parents, suspend and/or expel the students. They don’t even do an investigation on it. I get that the police have to do something about it, but why not advocate for those students when they report. 

There are many cases that have been unreported because they don’t take action. People have been more comfortable with me with their stories than the school. Than the adults who are supposed to take charge. Last year a student forcefully made another kid make out with him, while on FaceTime with a 20 something year old man, and they were comfortable enough to tell me. I told them to tell an adult and all they said was to “stay away from him”. They didn’t do anything to the student, just let it be.

People are regularly called many of the homophobic slurs all around the school. I get people say it’s a joke and everything but it is also used to severely bully people. I have an assigned seat at lunch with a few friends and there are these boys who constantly call us “faggot”, make fun of us, mock us. Again, we have reported it but they do nothing, again. If you aren’t getting caught smoking, or have them in your pocket, they don’t care about you. 

Now the transphobia goes less noticed because of how little the population in the school is. A student in a friend’s art class found out her deadname and would not stop using it. I told her teacher to make sure she knew and she did, but as far as I know, he’s still doing it and getting away with it. The trans students are regularly misgendered, deadnamed, and harassed. I personally go by a different name, but in IC, I have my birth name in it. Teachers have been well with not calling me by that name which I am thankful for, but not everyone is lucky. 

Most teachers will get it with a snap of a finger, but for a student in our school, some are refusing it use it. Like Mr. B from before. He calls me by my preferred name but with this student, he refused to call her by her preferred name. She would correct him but he would say that it’s not in IC. Now when he’s calling on her, he would just point and say “you”, going out of his way to call her by her name. I know that a lot of people don’t understand the trans community but we are still people and still have feelings. 

But I don’t know how much more I can say about this school other than repeating over and over again. The school, the admin, Bobbie Dardono, aren’t doing anything of us any favors. We are still getting screwed over by them. They are supposed to be supporting us and helping us to reach adulthood, but are instead watching us drown. They say they are proud of us for knowing what we want and yet will be angry at us for something like THIS! A right to a democracy, having our voices heard loud and clear, changing for the better. I know what I want for myself, the students know what they want. Why ignore us, push us around and watch us drown? Why put in all the effort than to just do what is best for us students now and upcoming? This is so much bigger than just Dardono but something is needed to be done. Do better Brockport.