Schools Step Up Inclusion for Transgender Students
Above, Ezra Lavala (right), a student at Frederick Community College and friends rally in support of transgender students outside FCPS'Central Office on Mar. 8
“It may come as a surprise to some folks but trans people have been peeing for a long time,” says the Rev. Miller Hoffman, an activist with the Maryland LGBTQ community and speaking at a rally in front the Frederick Public Schools Central Office on Mar. 8.
The Board of Education held a public forum to listen to community input before writing a policy to step up inclusion for transgender students. On Feb. 22, President Donald Trump rescinded the Obama guidelines with his own executive order. At the BOE meeting, 24 people signed up for public comment. The meeting was standing room only.
Reaching this point has been a rocky road for transgender students. In May 2016, President Barack Obama signed an executive order directing public schools to let transgender students use bathrooms to match their chosen identity on the grounds that not to do so would be a violation of their civil rights under Title IX, a federal law that bars sex discrimination in education. Transgender supporters hailed this step, though others questioned whether Title IX protections extend to gender identity.
The issue has been further intensified by the case of Gavin Grimm, a transgender student who attends Gloucester High School in Virginia. Beginning in 2014, school administrators gave him permission to use the boys’ bathroom. When complaints followed from some parents and residents, Gloucester County Schools reversed course and Grimm, represented by the ACLU, filed a legal brief. The case has wound its way through a district court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. On Mar. 6 the Supreme Court sent the case back to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals for clarification in light of President Trump’s revocation of the Obama guidelines.
While the law may offer protections, listening to transgender students and their parents, teachers, and supporters in front of the BOE last Wednesday night paints a much more nuanced and disturbing picture of the many challenges trans students face.
These students are vulnerable, they said. Not only are they struggling with the identity issues faced by all teenagers on their way to maturity, but trans students often encounter a thoughtlessness from people who lack a basic understanding of the anguished choices these students must make on a daily basis.
At the BOE public forum, several trans students spoke of the harassment and bullying they encounter, not to mention the intimate and probing questions about their anatomy, questions that are never asked of other students. More than one parent recounted how their children had suffered from severe dehydration so as to avoid using the school bathrooms at all, in light of the confusion and possible violations of others’ human rights. “As a gender non-conforming individual, I am caught between safety and speaking out,” one trans student said.
Trans students requested a policy that would offer them safety and protection. Other requests from trans students include teacher training around trans issues. Substitute teachers, they said, seem unaware of the make-up of their classes and failed to recognize a trans student’s preferred gender.
“Gender is not a choice,” reported one parent when recounting how her biological son had shown a preference for girls’ toys and clothing from the age of two or three years old and is now a trans high school student.
Other input included Wendy and Alan Frazier, parents of a trans student who pointed to a lack of coherence and consistency in communications and follow-through between schools. “Your message from the top matters,” Alan Frazier said.
Other parents of high school kids specifically requested a policy to protect all students, both straight and trans. One father said his daughter must compete athletically against a trans student on the girls’ team with a biological male body. Another parent with a daughter in high school spoke at length, criticizing the process in writing the policy, and citing a rush to execution and lack of public input for the Obama guidelines.
Nissa Quill, Eighth Grade Team Leader at Walkersville Middle School said that in her experience trans students just want to fit in. As a teacher and parent of a trans student, Quill said: “I am comfortable with my child sharing bathrooms. Let us do what is right for the kids even when it makes adults feel uncomfortable.”
In describing best practices, she believes teachers should honor the requests of trans students with regard to use of pronouns. When mistakes are made, apologizing to the student in private goes a long way towards creating an inclusive environment, as does a rainbow display or safe space sticker in the classroom. “Our schools have made a lot of strides in understanding how to develop inclusivity,” she said.
Quill suggested some adults have commented that trans kids are seeking attention for themselves. She countered that trans students who may go the route of political action really want to be accepted as “kids who blend in.” She recognizes that for some adults, change is hard, and coming to terms with gender issues can be outside of personal experience. On the other hand, students who have known a trans classmate for a long time will often offer a helping hand. “Similar to changes in technology, adults frequently must take their cue from the kids,” Quill said.
Captain Amilynn Adams, Director of Commissioned Personnel for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), spoke as a concerned citizen and local resident based on her experience with transgender inclusion. “My service commissioned the first openly transgender officer in 2009,” she said, referring to the NOAA Corps. “In my service, we strive to create an inclusive command climate where everyone can contribute to our mission. We have highly trained scientists and engineers often living in remote and inhospitable places such as Antartica, aboard ships at sea and deployed for months at a time. Transgender inclusion, just like any aspect of human diversity is best handled when the command is fully on board. This is a matter of education and a leader’s ability to lead.”
“Principals are doing the best they can but we absolutely need better professional development and cultural proficiency,” said BOE Vice President Elizabeth Barrett. Until now, the school district’s 11 high schools and 13middle schools have worked independently to address the needs of trans students, she said. “We have a site-based leadership model so principals make decisions for their own buildings,” she says. She acknowledges that the district needs to address variations in approach and work for consistency.
Barrett is heading the Policy Writing Committee empowered to make changes. Next steps will be to convene a work study session on March 15th (weather permitting) to review resources from the Department of Education and State of Maryland among others before submitting a first reading. The sessions will also be attended by Jamie Cannon, the District’s attorney, to advise on the legality of proposed changes.
Such policy documents typically go through an average of four readings over a two-month period. Development of this policy may take longer. “We hope to be as transparent as possible throughout the process,” Barrett said. “We hear from the trans students who feel supported. We need to be aware of those who for whatever reason cannot speak out.”
