Two local school districts say they already follow new federal guidelines concerning the inclusion of transgender students.
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In Bexley it has a written policy that spells out that students shall have access to locker rooms and bathrooms that corresponds to their gender identity.
A Title IX transgender guideline outlining the civil rights of students was announced by the Departments of Education and Justice Thursday. The subject of where transgender students may change has divided some of the student body at Fremd High School. But he said the directive is an example of overreach. North Carolina continues to fight push-back to a law that prohibits such bathroom use by transgender individuals.
The district, which operates the 3,000-student Barrington High School, has responded to special requests from a handful of students over the years, including from a student who wanted to use the locker room, Delack said.
“We are happy that our district has demonstrated that we are in compliance with the President’s directive”, Nancy Hacker, Springfield superintendent wrote in an e-mail.
The other two are the Chicago Public Schools and a school district near Rockford.
In an unintended testament to just being treated as normal, Matt Dawkins, 18, of Marlton hadn’t even heard about the federal guidance on transgender students by late Friday afternoon.
“I’ve been to the men’s bathroom at my school”.
Dawkins, who grew up as Maya, came out to his school as transgender in fall of his junior year.
Yost also brushed aside concerns that the law would be abused and students would falsely claim to be transgender to access bathrooms used by the opposite gender, a common refrain among critics of the laws. He said one positive from all this is people are talking about it.
The school district will hold education forums so all students are aware of the intent behind Title IX.
But Provo City School District spokesperson Caleb Price has since said the three bathrooms are “family style” and centrally located for parents to use at events or for students to use during the day.
“I think the privacy of the majority of the girls who go there is more important than the happiness of one individual”, said Dan San Filippo, another Fremd student.
Gallard said the district is working on transgender policy to provide more guidance.
The letter isn’t projected to cause any changes in Alpine School District, where spokesperson Kimberly Bird said the district doesn’t have a policy specifically labeled for transgender students, but does have policies on discrimination and harassment.
She said the bathrooms wouldn’t be referred to as gender-neutral stalls, but would be single-use bathrooms.
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“Basically, he was putting out there that if the federal government is supplying funds and they do supply our schools in large amounts that that funding could be put at risk if you are in fact if you are going to decide to discriminate against a particular group of students”, Monroe County School Boards Association Executive Director Sherry Johnson said. “We serve all kinds of kids in public schools and we should be doing as much as we can to make their experience positive”, he said. “We want to make sure everybody has a safe and accepting school environment”.
