Dignity for All: Safeguarding LGBT Students

All students deserve a safe, respectful school environment

Students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered are susceptible to harassment from their peers and are at high risk of dropping out of school. This book provides professional development ideas and real-life vignettes that will help educational leaders foster a more caring school culture not only for LGBT students, but for all students. Peter DeWitt presents specific strategies for school leaders that include:

• Implementing a student code of conduct and school board policies to safeguard students
• Helping staff members recognize and respond to overt and covert LGBT issues
• Professional development guidelines to equip staff to intervene
• Ways to include appropriate LGBT topics in the curriculum
• Supporting Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA) in middle and high school settings

This practical and compassionate guide contains numerous cases and examples, strategies and templates for codes of conduct (including the NY Code), book study questions, and links to pertinent articles, websites, and blogs for further information. Dignity for All helps inform educators of the issues and methods for building acceptance in a diverse world.

Peter DeWitt, Ed.D., is the founder and CEO of the Instructional Leadership Collective. A former K–5 teacher for 11 years and principal for eight years, Peter has spent more than 12 years supporting educators and leadership teams across the United States and internationally. He provides keynotes, workshops, and long-term hybrid professional learning that combines in-person facilitation, virtual coaching, and sustained collaborative inquiry. His work focuses on instructional leadership, collective leader efficacy, and helping leadership teams turn professional learning into meaningful action.

Peter’s work has been adopted by state and provincial agencies, universities, school districts, school boards, regional networks, and ministries of education across North America, Australia, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the United Kingdom. He is the author, co-author, or contributor to numerous bestselling books, many of which have been translated into multiple languages. Peter co-authors Education Week’s Finding Common Ground column with Michael Nelson, co-hosts Corwin’s Leaders Coaching Leaders podcast, and co-created Education Week’s A Seat at the Table.