A renewed focus on tolerance in local schools

“Tragic,” “horrifying” and “disconcerting” are among the words used to describe a recent spate of crimes against gay people — including the one that resulted in the suicide of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi — in the metropolitan area. But local school officials believe their anti-bullying and character education programs serve their purpose.

“It’s an issue that we’ve really been dealing with for the past few years,” said West Hempstead schools Superintendent John Hogan. “Certainly it’s district policy not to tolerate harassment or bullying of any sort. The students are reminded of that both in classes, as well as at assemblies. ... We speak to them constantly about mutual respect and respecting others, respecting the differences that others may have.”

Last month, the 18-year-old Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate and another student allegedly secretly filmed his sexual encounter with a man and posted it on the Internet. Last week, two Staten Island men allegedly beat a gay man in the bathroom of the Stonewall Inn, the iconic Manhattan bar where the U.S. gay rights movement was born 40 years ago. This past weekend, eight members of a Bronx gang were arrested and charged with an Oct. 3 anti-gay torture spree in which a gay man, his older brother and two teenagers were sodomized, burned, bound and terrorized.

“Throughout the district, we have not had a group reaction to it,” said Malverne schools Superintendent Dr. James Hunderfund. “What we’ve done is, we’ve tried to let teachers handle it on an individual basis with sensitivity to the subject, but more or less generated by the subject matter or any questions that might come up ... in classrooms.”