The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system has announced new policies to support the transgender community and ensure that “schools are safe, welcoming environments for everyone”.
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Chicago public schools (CPS) released sweeping guidelines on Tuesday requiring all 660 of the district’s schools to accommodate transgender students according to their gender identities in bathrooms, locker rooms and on overnight trips.
CPS’ policies exclude “inadvertent slips or honest mistakes in the use of preferred names or pronouns”, but say that “intentional or persistent refusal by students or school staff to respect a student’s gender identity” are violations of district policies and student discipline codes.
Janice Jackson, the Chief Education Officer, said the CPS guidelines are crucial in order for them to reflect their commitment to promote safe and inclusive schools. “HB 4474 is contrary to that vision, while the new CPS policies affirm that goal”, Ziri said of the pending legislation. The L.A. school district policy also calls for any student who requests more privacy to be allowed reasonable access to an alternative restroom, such as a single-stall restroom or the health office restroom.
The issue of the use of bathrooms based on gender identification has been a national issue among schools across the country. It also clarifies, for the first time, that adult employees and volunteers won’t be denied the opportunity to participate in overnight trips due to their transgender status. While there already were helpful provisions in the original guidelines, further attention on bathroom, accommodations and locker room policies were seen as another step forward in CPS’ awareness of the needs of the transgender community.
Last year, a suburban Chicago school district reached an agreement with federal officials to allow a transgender female student to use a girls’ locker room. The district backed down. The judges found that a Virginia school district which barred a trans boy from using the boys’ bathroom was violating his civil rights.
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California state law has required schools to give full facility access to transgender students since early 2014. Those guidelines, released in 2014, followed on the heels of reports that a 2010 state law banning gender discrimination was failing to stop widespread bullying and bias against transgender students.
