Jabari Lyles Consulting

Schools

 LGBTQ Inclusion Strategies for K-12 Schools

training & professional development • gender inclusion policies • inclusive curriculum • gender-sexuality alliances

Training & Professional Development

Example training modules for school faculty, staff and administrators. Trainings are tailored to meet the specific needs of your school community, including length of time, scope, objectives and audience.

LGBTQ 101
An introduction to concepts, theories and terminology related to gender, sexuality and identity.

Best Practices for Safer Schools
An exploration of personal, instructional and institutional strategies to achieve safer, more affirming schools and classrooms for LGBTQ youth.

Supporting Trans & Gender Expansive Youth in School
A closer look at addressing the specific experiences of transgender, nonbinary and gender-expansive students, including guidance on supporting transitioning students, navigating name and pronoun usage, caregiver concerns and gender-segregated facilities.

Black LGBTQ Youth in School
Examining the unique experiences of Black LGBTQ youth in school, including how racism and classism intersect with homophobia and transphobia.

Responding to Bias
An interactive session for educators to practice responding to anti-LGBTQ bias-based language and actions from students, peers and families.

LGBTQ Inclusion in Early Childhood Education
For preschool, pre-kindergarten and early elementary educators interested in learning how to champion gender inclusion in their classrooms.

Key Moments in LGBTQ History and Culture
An overview of the LGBTQ rights and liberation movement, including key advancements in law, media and society.

GENDER-SEXUALITY ALLIANCES &
INCLUSIVE CURRICULUM

Jabari has supported nearly 100 schools across Maryland with developing new GSAs, growing existing clubs, and building the capacity for inclusive teaching in multiple content areas. From helping to brainstorm new outreach and membership engagement ideas, to being a guest speaker on a particular topic, Jabari has inspired student leaders and faculty advisors to take action within their school communities.

Gender Inclusion Policies

In 2016, the Obama administration released a “dear colleague letter”, which provided guidance to schools regarding transgender students and Title IX compliance.

The letter, which was not law, endeavored to clear up discrepancies in how the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Justice and local education agencies dealt with issues pertaining to sex-based discrimination and transgender students. Much of the guidance included in the letter mirrored sample model policies published by leading LGBTQ advocacy organizations. (See: GLSEN/NCTE’s Model Local Education Agency Policy on Transgender and Nonbinary Students).

In 2017, less than one year later, the next administration rescinded this guidance, and deferred to state and local districts to determine their own approach to Title IX with regard to trans students.

The ambiguity surrounding the definition of “sex” in federal law is the crux of this issue, and has caused districts, schools and sometimes individual classrooms to determine for themselves how Title IX applies to transgender students.

Some states, districts and schools have published their own guidance and/or developed their own policies, however, without clear guidance from the federal government, many of these guidelines are subject to misalignment with best practice for healthy outcomes for transgender and gender expansive youth.

Over the past several years, Jabari has been instrumental on the state, local and grassroots level with the development and implementation of gender inclusion policies, including: