School board launches anonymous chat room

Halton District School Board is launching a chat site for students and staff to talk anonymously about issues such as sexual orientation and gender identity. Today (Wednesday) the board's Spectrum committee will unveil a new support program for students and staff who wish to learn more about diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Spectrum is comprised of a group of board staff and students. Its first initiatives are Spectrum Talk and Student Spectrum Talk. The anonymous online conferences are meant to provide staff and students with a safe environment to discuss issues of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. The board website has a Spectrum page. It notes there is one Internet chat room for students and another for staff. It can be used to talk anonymously to other people within the school board. Spectrum also provides workshops, booklists and materials, as well as community resources. For more information, or to access the chat rooms, go to http://diversity.hdsb.ca.