CLEVELAND – A new School of One, led by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, is set to create a space for students who identify as LGBTQ +.
During the pandemic, classes are online, but once hybrid learning is available, leaders at the school hope to have some students at the LGBT community center in Detroit. CMSD says it is the first of its kind in the country.
“It’s hitting my head. I did not honestly think it would be that easy,” said DaJon Battle, a district program administrator. Battle, which identifies as Queer, said representation in schools is important.
This is not the first School of One for the district. The program has eight other sites. The School of One is online based and students work according to their own pace.
Battle said the only roadblock to starting school was the pandemic.
“There was no setback,” Battle said. “Not from the board. Not from Mr. Eric Gordon. Not from a principal. I literally walked up to my principal one day and said ‘I would like to open a School of One in the LGBT center’ And he was like, ‘okay.’ “
Funding for these School of One programs comes from the district’s general fund.
Battle leads the charge in the district to add more inclusive learning opportunities for students.
“They did not feel like their story was being heard,” Battle said of LGBTQ student experiences. “And that’s why I felt it was really important to open a school that just lets our students be normal.”
So far, Battle has said the response from students has been good.
“Like they really felt I could be seen,” she said. “My voice is heard and I do not feel that I am comfortable in who I am now.”
Roman Sardo-Longo is a new student at the School of One. He started at the end of 2020.
“When I was growing up, I always liked math a lot. I always excelled in math,” he said. Sardo-Longo now takes online classes through the School of One program. “And that’s why I liked it, because it made me feel smart. And I feel that if everyone else feels smart in math, they will like it too.”
The online structure of School of One differs from the traditional school structure translated into virtual schooling. Students in the School of One program through the LGBT Center can go to a morning or afternoon session of online learning.
Although he was only at the program for a few weeks, he said the transition was seamless.
“It’s really easy to just get caught up in all the mean things people say to you or the weird look they give you at school,” he said. ‘But here it’s like no one – as everyone knows what you’re going through. Everyone knows everyone was there. ‘
Battle said the School of One program accepts students through ongoing enrollment and students do not have to identify as LGBTQ + to apply, but ‘you just have to respect the culture and the environment.’
“You know, when you’re surrounded by people who are also LGBT, it feels just like normal,” Sardo-Longo said.
Despite the pandemic, Battle is already looking to the future. The partnership between CMSD and the LGBT community center means that students can go through the district in the center if they wish, and then go to the center programming if the classes are offered for the day.
Soon, Battle hopes to implement LGBTQ history in the course.
“I am very excited because I feel that many even LGBT youths do not know our history so well,” Sardo-Longo said. “I mean, I would not claim to know it well.”
And for Sardo-Longo, the opportunity for an inclusive school environment in Cleveland makes the School of One an even better choice.
“It’s very comforting that Cleveland can be a place where we can feel safe and really enjoy it.”