The Fort Worth school superintendent will not resign over his controversial bathroom guidelines allowing students to use the restroom consistent with their gender identity and not the sex listed on their birth certificate.
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“I can’t wrap my mind around the hypocrisy of a lieutenant governor who, even prior to becoming lieutenant governor as a state senator, has spoken in support of the concept of education reform, the concept of local control, the concept of stability for large urban school systems in the leadership”, Solis says. If a student is uncomfortable using the bathroom with a transgender peer, the school must let the student use a single-stall restroom, a gender-neutral bathroom or a restroom where no one else is present.
“Campus safety should be of paramount concern for anyone in his position”, Patrick wrote. But supporters of district chief Kent Scribner, and the policy, called Patrick a bully exploiting “fake outrage” to score political points.
Tuesday night, a line of people gathered to attend the Fort Worth ISD board meeting. Check back with abc13 for continued coverage. Alternatively, they’ll be allowed to use restrooms when other students aren’t around.
“The demands by the Lt. Governor and the Attorney General that we should ignore federal law are not only unsafe and economically risky, but also demonize transgender students, many of whom are forced to drop out of school because of the constant bullying and aggression they face”.
He said: “This policy is nothing new”. Patrick criticized Scribner for acting outside of the school board and said the superintendent had put his “political agenda” before students’ needs.
“The job of the superintendent is not to be asocial engineer.” he said.
“We will work on legislation to ban men – and that would include boys – from going into ladies’ rooms”, said Patrick. They were never given a say, their parents were never able to speak up for them, and even the school board itself could not vote in their favor.
But the superintendent was not rattled by the comments, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The guidelines specify that schools must ensure students feel safe in their restrooms.
Last summer, district staffers in Student Support Services drafted specific guidelines for school administrators to implement the policy. “The superintendent is so irresponsible to do this that he needs to step down”.
“I am interested only in protecting, educating, and serving our students”, he said.
“I’m proud of these guidelines, ” Scribner told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial board Tuesday. “So we want a 15-year old boy full of…vigor that every 15-year-old boy has walking into the girls’ bathroom? I want school kids to know their school board, admin and teachers will stand by them”.
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Despite Scribner verbally positioning the guidelines as suggestions for creating “supervised, safe, and respectful place to protect everyone’s privacy and dignity”, the verbiage in the Transgender Student Guidelines states more concretely: “Failure to comply with these “Guidelines” may result in adverse employment actions”. The GOP lieutenant governor’s missive condemning the Fort Worth ISD superintendent came on the same day that the nation’s attorney general sued North Carolina for its own institutionalized practice barring transgender individuals from using public bathrooms according to the gender with which they personally identify.
