Public Comment: Adults Who Have Bullied Students Have No Place in Our Schools

The following public comment will be read at the meeting of the Amherst Regional School Committee on July 22, 2025.

My name is Emily. I had a child in Amherst schools. 

I’m going to quote some statistics. The source for all of them is the 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQIA+ Young People, as reported by The Trevor Project.

And just a content warning: I’m going to mention the topic of suicide a number of times.

If anyone needs it, the Trevor Project’s website offers a confidential crisis hotline by both text and phone.

We are in a very frightening time for LGBTQIA+ people.

Teenagers who identify as LGBTQIA+ and who experienced bullying of any kind reported three times the rate of attempting suicide than those who were not bullied.

Willfully misgendering is bullying.

LGBTQIA+ young people who were subjected to conversion therapy – or just threatened with conversion therapy – were three times as likely to attempt suicide than those who were not threatened with or subjected to it.

An adult and authority figure who makes it known that gayness is something that students should be “cured” of by g-d is causing real harm. 

How tragic for this bullying and harm to come from a counselor – from someone who should be a bastion of support and caring during a delicate time in any student’s life, whether or not they’re a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Now, on the other hand…

Transgender and nonbinary students who found their school to be gender-affirming reported lower rates of attempting suicide.

In addition, LGBTQIA+ young people who reported living in very accepting communities attempted suidice at less than half the rate of those who reported living in very unaccepting communities.

Half.

That’s the power that the adults have who create the spaces that children are forced to occupy.

And – we don’t have to guess what these kids need from us.

I mean, each person is different and in a perfect world we’d make sure we’re working with them to understand how best to support them – especially if we’re their counselor. 

But statistically speaking, based on this study of 50,000 kids, the top 5 actions people can take to best show their support – and the acceptance that literally halves the risk of self-harm are:

1. Trusting that I know who I am
2. Standing up for me
3. Not supporting politicians that advocate for anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation
4. Looking up things about LGBTQIA+ identities on their own to better understand
5. Respecting my pronouns

It doesn’t mean getting it right the first try, or making no mistakes.

It doesn’t say perfect. It says respect

Willfully misgendering students is bullying.

Failing to respect their pronouns causes direct harm.

As parents, educators, counselors, leaders in the community… 

We do all we can to keep kids safe, right?

We believe people when they tell us who they are.

We respect student’s pronouns.

We recognize when we have so much power to prevent harm, and we do all we can to use it well.

I am calling on the Amherst schools to prevent any adult from accessing students if that adult has been known to bully students. 

Please do not let Ms. Dykes access students ever again.


Emily Pfeiffer is a resident of Amherst