Stephen T. Russell is an associate professor of family studies and human development in the John & Doris Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Arizona.

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Bullying, name-calling and harassment are serious problems in Arizona schools. Research shows that harassment makes students feel unsafe at school and school safety is strongly linked to the things we care about for our students: academic success, mental health and acceptable behavior.

Bullying has received a lot of attention over the past several years. Recent attention is now focused on the prejudice that underlies the bullying and harassment experienced by students. Specifically, homophobia and sexism are major factors in school safety for today's students.

Data from Arizona schools are upsetting. A recent report showed that four out of five Arizona seventh- through 12th-grade students reported hearing homophobic remarks at school, but only one in five said that their teachers intervened when homophobic remarks were made.

In addition, nearly a quarter of those students heard school staff make homophobic remarks, and one-third heard school staff make sexist remarks.

Given these statistics, it is not surprising that less than half of students reported feeling "very safe" at school.

For years, school safety was viewed as a problem for individual students, but there is growing interest in understanding the climate of schools that allows harassment based on race, gender, language or sexual orientation. What characterizes a safe school climate? What can policymakers, teachers and students actually do to make schools safer for all students?

Comprehensive, inclusive school safety and nondiscrimination policies make a difference. Such policies specifically include attention to sexual orientation and gender identity.

The same Arizona report showed that students who reported comprehensive anti-harassment policies at their schools were half as likely to report being verbally harassed at school based on sexual orientation, gender or gender expression.

Good policies are a first step. Teacher intervention is crucial — more training and support for teachers are needed about the role of homophobia and sexism in school safety climates.

School-based student organizations like high school gay-straight alliances also play a major role in promoting school safety, as do inclusive curricula.

Researchers and policy experts convene in Tucson this Friday and Saturday to discuss the latest research and policy on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth and schools.

The goal of the conference is to identify critical school safety issues for Arizona students, policies that will make a difference for all students and strategies for putting those policies in place. The ultimate goal is to make schools safe for all Arizona students.

What: LGBT Youth in School: Linking Research and Policy, research symposium and community education forum.

When/Where: Friday, 1-4 p.m., University of Arizona Library, special collections conference room; Saturday, 10-11:30 a.m. and 12:30-2:30 p.m., Wingspan Community Center, 425 E. Seventh St.

Cost: All events are free and open to the public.