The recent violent incident at Pennbrook Middle School in the North Penn School District continues to generate shock, controversy, and much anger among students, parents, and even district employees themselves.
Firstly, the North Penn School District’s evident mishandling of the case of the aggressive student has intensified the anger of parents and former classmates who had already been victims of his outbursts and bullying.
Secondly, once he carried out his threats by brutally attacking another student, in their first communication sent to parents, the school administration presented the incident as an altercation between students, when it was later clearly revealed that it was an assault by a male teenager, possibly with gender dysphoria (as he identifies as a woman and has a long and violent history) against a seventh-grade student.
The attack left the victim, seemingly chosen at random, with significant injuries. Seventh-graders returned home in shock, deeply worried about returning to school. Several students haven’t returned yet.
While the perpetrator’s biological or perceived gender is irrelevant, their antisocial and aggressive behavior is not. It’s possible that their identity played a role in the heinous attack.
In the pursuit of promoting the freedoms and rights of the LGBTQ+ community, there’s a tendency to avoid a crucial issue: the empowerment of transgender youth can sometimes go awry. In many instances, schools fear imposing the same disciplinary standards on transgender students as on others when they break the rules.
It’s true that bullying can occur within the LGBTQ+ community, but that doesn’t mean they should be exempt from discipline or fair treatment in an attempt to compensate for the mistreatment they may have experienced from other students. These other students also need to be held accountable for their actions.
It’s important to remember that this minority is not the only one facing discrimination or a lack of sensitivity in schools. Students from racialized communities, those with learning or developmental disabilities, those with emotional disorders, and even documented and undocumented immigrants are also part of minority groups susceptible to bullying.
However, this doesn’t exempt students from following the established rules. These rules exist for a crucial reason: to create a safe and supportive learning environment that fosters academic achievement and emotional intelligence development. Promoting healthy social interaction is a fundamental objective of education during the school years.
This has led to some transgender adolescents, like the one in this case, who suffer from severe personality problems and aggressive behavior, not being treated with the same standards. Disciplinary measures are not applied when necessary for fear of backlash from parents, the press, and social media or a legal accusation of discriminatory behavior.
While it is crucial to safeguard the progress made in upholding the rights of LGBTQ+ minorities and related groups – and establishing certain special protections against discriminatory behavior is warranted – we must not, in our fear of being politically incorrect, grant them undue power, lest we paradoxically fall into a culture of discrimination and punishment towards the «binary» majority. This scenario appears to have unfolded at Pennbrook Middle School, where multiple testimonies indicate that warnings about the student’s threats had been issued.
Numerous accounts from students, not only from Pennbrook, have reached parents, highlighting instances where certain members of the LGBTQ+ community enjoy privileges in classrooms and common areas. They observe how teachers often turn a blind eye to their severe misbehavior.
Fearing retaliation, one student from the school, who wishes to remain anonymous, shared that «the teachers themselves are afraid of them; they allow themselves to be verbally abused and don’t react, so they do whatever they want.» Other classmates during this conversation confirmed this, expressing their insecurity and frustration over this «injustice.»
The school district has announced an external investigation to delve into this apparent case of systemic negligence. However, we must question the nature of this investigation in a culture increasingly fearful of challenging common sense, where individuals are gravitating towards extremes, and amidst a climate of ideological and political polarization.
In light of this distressing incident, it is imperative to deeply reflect on the direction we want to give the education of our children. We must question how to provide genuine guidance and support to all children, regardless of whether or not they have mental health issues or whether they belong to minorities or majorities.
It is essential to transform schools into safe and reliable environments where all minors, who in one way or another have been affected by the prolonged period of the pandemic and the current rise in violence, can learn and develop fully.
As educators, we can’t forget that setting boundaries shows we care. It’s how kids build healthy and confident personalities.
As journalists, we should not succumb to self-censorship and have a duty to name facts accurately without fear of being accused of transphobia simply for pointing out that the attacker is transgender. This does not imply blaming the entire transgender community, as many of its members have publicly condemned the actions of this teenager.
Labeling an entire community because of one person’s actions is unfair. But in this case, hiding who the attacker is seems like they’re trying to avoid the truth. All signs point to the attacker’s identity playing a big part in why the school didn’t stop the attack sooner. This has left the students, especially those who saw it happen and weren’t listened to, feeling really hurt.
If the North Penn School District in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, was trying to avoid a discrimination lawsuit against the student who is now in custody, they will now likely have to defend themselves against multiple lawsuits for failing to prevent what was communicated as a credible threat.
