gender identity, reports Laura Meckler in the Washington Post. “Seven states now require that curriculums include LGBTQ topics,” she writes. “The National Sex Education Standards, developed by experts and advocacy groups, name gender identity as one of seven essential topics, alongside puberty, consent, sexual orientation and other subjects.” That can mean anything from telling kids there are no “boy colors” or “girl colors” to telling them that boys don’t necessarily have “b

The number of teens “hospitalized for thinking about or attempting suicide doubled in less than a decade,” according to a recent study. Anxiety and depression diagnoses are way up for teenagers. Suicide rates are rising for all age groups, reports the Centers for Disease Control. The deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have put suicide in the spotlight. What’s going on? For unhappy teens thinking about death as a solution, Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why could be glamorizing s

School safety fears are pushing parents to consider homeschooling, writes Valerie Richardson in the Washington Times. After a gunman opened fire on students in Parkland, Florida, the phones started ringing at the Texas Home School Coalition, and they haven’t stopped yet. . . . “When the Parkland shooting happened, our phone calls and emails exploded,” said coalition president Tim Lambert. “In the last couple of months, our numbers have doubled. We’re dealing with probably bet

Bullied students will be offered a voucher to cover transportation to a new public school or a $6,700 voucher toward tuition at a private school, under Florida’s new education law, reports Ed Week. To  qualify for a “Hope Scholarship,” a student would have to report harassment or physical assault to the school. The Florida Department of Education would also be required to review bullying prevention programs and school climate at any school that has had 10 or more students opt

Jacobe Taras went on a family vacation shortly before he killed himself. Photo: Richard Taras Schools should be required to tell parents if their child is being bullied, say the parents of a 12-year-old boy who committed suicide in 2015. Richard and Christine Taras, who live near Albany, New York, are suing their son’s middle school and pushing for passage of “Jacobe’s Law,” reports Mary Esch for AP. The parents say they didn’t realize how badly their son was treated at schoo

A California girl was suspended from the basketball team for retweeting Snoop Dogg holding what appears to be a marijuana joint, reports the Fresno Bee. Sierra High senior Racquel Alec is suing, charging harassment and violation of her free-speech rights. The Sierra Unified district said that the student’s tweets had violated a policy that forbids students from “engaging in inappropriate sexual and drug propaganda,” reports the Bee. “But her attorney contends that the posts

Twenty-seven percent of 12- to 17-year-olds in California identify as “nongender conforming,” according to a new UCLA survey. Take a breath. That doesn’t mean they’re transgender or gay. Most are heterosexual kids who don’t conform to gender stereotypes. Here’s the question: A person’s appearance, style, dress, or the way they walk or talk may affect how people describe them. How do you think other people at school would describe you?Very feminineMostly feminineEqually femini

Criminal charges have been dropped against a mother who sent her child to school with a recording device to document bullying, reports Cydney Henderson in USA Today. Sarah Sims, 47, of Norfolk, Va., said she’d called and e-mailed school administrators to report her nine-year-old daughter was being bullied. They didn’t respond. All charges against Sarah Sims have been dropped. So she “placed a digital audio recorder in her daughter’s backpack in September in hopes of capturing

Bullying prevention programs may backfire, warns a University of Texas Arlington study. School anti-bullying programs often teach kids “about the ins and outs of bullying,” reports Rebecca Klein in the Huffington Post. “This study raises an alarm,” Seokjin Jeong, the study’s lead author, told CBS Dallas. He recommends moving prevention efforts “beyond individual risk factors” to “focus on systemic change within the schools.” About 21 percent of students report being bullied a

At a Bronx school where a bullied student killed a classmate, a bullied sixth grader tried to hang himself with his sweater, reports Elizabeth A. Harris in the New York Times. Classmates yanked his long hair and tried to drag him around by his ponytail. They tripped him in the halls and stole from his backpack. They called him names and told a new girl he was gay, which he denies, so she would not befriend him. The 12-year-old boy and his grandmother, who is raising him, comp

In 13 Reasons Why, a Netflix series based on Jay Asher’s popular book,a 17-year-old girl sends tapes to all the people she blames for her pain, then kills herself. There are plenty of reasons to discourage teens from watching this “suicide revenge fantasy,” writes Brooke Fox, a psychotherapist and mother of teenage girls. It “glamorizes suicide.” Hannah received everything in death that she was hoping for: sympathy, deep regret, guilt, and ultimately — love.  However, what th