Minneapolis (CNN) -- Jared Pettingill's parents wanted a safe place for their son to attend school where he wouldn't be harassed for being gay.





They found that place in the Minneapolis Public School district.





"It's just been really accepting in my experience," says Jared, a high school junior. He says he's "never really dealt with bullying issues" in middle school or high school.





"The amount of positive reaction to LGBT issues is really amazing."





Minneapolis Public School administrators admit that by no means has bullying been eradicated from their schools. However, they firmly believe that they are leading the way in creating a safe environment for all students.





In January, the school board unanimously passed a unique resolution instructing administrators to track bullying incidents related to the harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students. The measure also requires all staff to be trained on LGBT issues. It injects LGBT topics into the curriculum, which includes adding an LGBT component to sex ed. They will eventually add an elective high school course on LGBT history.





Just a few miles away, another Minneapolis-area school district has attracted national attention for its policy that deals with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students much differently.





Neutral or not?





The Anoka-Hennepin School District, just outside the Twin Cities, made headlines in recent years after seven students committed suicide between November 2009 and May 2011. Parents and friends say four of those students were either gay, perceived to be gay or questioning their sexuality. They say, at least two of them were bullied because of their sexuality.





The school district says there is no evidence that the suicides were linked to bullying. Nevertheless, it stirred public debate over the school's sexual orientation curriculum policy.





The district's curriculum policy, adopted in 2009, bars teachers from taking a position on homosexuality in the classroom and says such matters are best addressed outside of school. It's become known as the neutrality policy. Anoka-Hennepin, which encompasses the Twin Cities' northwestern suburbs and is the state's largest school district, is the only Minnesota school district known to have such a policy.





In July, gay rights advocates filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a group of students challenging the neutrality policy. The Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights told CNN that the lawsuit is currently in mediation.





While the school district refrained from commenting on specifics in the lawsuit, it issued a statement in July noting that "Anoka-Hennepin has been recognized as a pro-active leader in the state of Minneosta on bullying prevention."





The school district is also in the middle of a federal investigation into "allegations of harassment and discrimination in the Anoka-Hennepin School District based on sex, including peer-on-peer harassment based on not conforming to gender stereotypes," according to a district memo.





Superintendent Dennis Carlson says the neutrality policy -- which has attracted just as many local supporters as it has critics to heated school board meetings -- is a reasonable response to a divided community.





"It's a diverse community," Carlson told CNN earlier this year, "and what we're trying to do, what I'm trying to do as a superintendent, is walk down the middle of the road."





The school district has a separate, comprehensive bullying prohibition policy, and Carlson said there is no link between the suicides and bullying.





"We have no evidence that bullying or harassment took place in any of those cases," the superintendent said.





Carlson emphasized students need to report bullying, and he acknowledged "gay students in our district struggle with bullying and harassment on a daily basis."





Damon Fietek, 16, knows that all too well. He says he was a target for bullies because his father, a middle school teacher in the Anoka-Hennepin school district, is gay.





Damon's story





Jefferson Fietek had adopted Damon just before he started high school. The bullying began immediately.





"It upsets me a great deal," says
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question: What is happening with another district?, answer: curriculum policy, adopted in 2009, bars teachers from taking a position on homosexuality in the classroom and says such matters are best addressed outside of school. It's become known as the neutrality policy. | question: What did his parents want to make sure?, answer: a safe place for their son to attend school | question: What does the policy bar?, answer: teachers from taking a position on homosexuality in the classroom | question: What has the public school done?, answer: instructing administrators to track bullying incidents related to the harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students. | question: What did Jared Pettingill's parents want to make sure he wasn't bullied for?, answer: being gay. | question: What is Jareds parents concern?, answer: he wouldn't be harassed for being gay. | question: What had the public school taken steps for?, answer: creating a safe environment | question: What does the neutrality policy bar?, answer: teachers from taking a position on homosexuality in the classroom