CCSD Holds Series of Public Meetings On Gender Diversity Policy

By VERNON ROBISON

Moapa Valley Progress

Emotions ran high at times during a series of five public meetings held over the past two weeks by Clark County School District (CCSD). The aim of the meetings was to gather public input on whether the district should develop a set of special written policies or guidelines regarding gender diverse students.
Held in large auditoriums of five different Las Vegas valley high schools, the meetings were all well attended with hundreds of concerned community members from all walks of life attending.

Due to the large volume of people wishing to weigh in, time for public comment had to be limited. Not everyone signing up to speak was able to do so. But an online survey was made available for members of the public to participate who could not be heard at the meetings, or who were unable to attend.

The debate of transgender policy has been simmering throughout the past year. An anti-bullying law, passed in the 2017 state legislative session requires the state to provide guidance “concerning the needs of persons with diverse gender identities or expression.”

In the spring, CCSD Trustee Carolyn Edwards asked district staff to consider a written policy on the matter. She asserted that the district is handling a growing number of gender diverse students on a case-by-case basis. This can be time-consuming for administrators and might not ensure that the needs of every student are met, she said.

In response, a working group was formed by CCSD. This group has been meeting for several months to draft a set of recommendations on a set of policies that might be adopted.

Each of the five meetings opened with workgroup members reviewing their recommendations. These recommendations included some broad policies meant to protect the rights of gender diverse students.
One section recommended a policy allowing students to use their preferred name and gender on an “unofficial” school record to be incorporated into the CCSD Student Information System. Students would also have the right to be addressed by the pronoun corresponding to their preferred gender identity.

One policy in the workgroup report would require that students have access to the restrooms or locker rooms of the gender with which they identify. Another proposed rule would result in the ability of transgender students to participate in school athletic teams of their preferred gender regardless of their biological gender.

After the recommendations were set forth, each meeting set equal time for comments from the public on both sides of the issue.
Many spoke in favor of the new recommendations and sought to have guidelines and policies put in place.

Parents of transgender youth stated that their students should not be made to feel ashamed of their gender choice at school. “School should offer a safe, nurturing environment for every child,” one parent said in the Tuesday night meeting at Eldorado High School. “Gender is so much more than the physical parts of the body. Transgender students should not be ashamed of their name or who they are.”

Transgender CCSD students, as well as recent graduates, stated that they had been victims of ongoing bullying because of their gender choice. This often was connected to being forced to use restrooms or locker rooms which were not in accordance with their gender choice.
“Having to use the wrong restroom for me has opened me up to a high risk of bullying,” one student said. “But transgender students using the restroom or locker room of their choice doesn’t really pose any real risk to other students.”

Another student expressed disappointment at being denied involvement in sports and other activities connected with his preferred gender.
Students and parents alike claimed that the shame and suffering of being denied these rights, and the bullying that goes along with that, are the cause of high rates of depression and suicide in transgender youth.
“This is a matter of safety of all children,” one student at Tuesday night’s meeting told the CCSD Workgroup. “Should you not agree with these protections, all those children who are experiencing violence at their schools, that blood is on your hands.”

But many at the meetings also rose and spoke forcefully in opposition to the proposed policies. Parents on this side expressed fear that the proposals were vaguely worded and allowed a lot of latitude in the details of interpretation.

Many students and parents from the hispanic community talked about how the recommendations did not match with their values, both religious and moral. Parents said they would be hesitant in sending their children to school under such policies.
“This is against my beliefs and flies in the face of simple biology,” said one hispanic parent on Tuesday night. “How dare you try to force something like this on me that is so against my Christian beliefs! If you had a shred of integrity or honesty you would see that this is insane!”

Other parents pointed out that the state already has strict anti-bullying laws in place that are adequate in protecting all the people, not just one group. “That legislation is sufficient,” said one Las Vegas parent. “These policies won’t make them any more effective. But they do just focus on only one group, giving (that group) rights and protections at the expense of all others.”

Parents also talked about the discomfort that their children, especially their teen girls, would feel in being faced with the possibility of sharing restrooms and locker rooms with someone not of their biological gender. This would make it very difficult for them even to go to school, they said.
“This would deny the privacy rights of the majority of kids to change their clothes in what they perceive as a safe environment,” said one parent. “Whatever you say, it is not going to make that a comfortable experience for my daughter, or most other girls. It just won’t; and it is not fair to them.”

In a comment made at the Tuesday night meeting, Logandale resident Erika Whitmore went a step further on that idea. She talked about her experience as a social worker for sexually abused girls.
“Now there is a population without a voice in this!” Whitmore said speaking of those she works with. “I can tell you that this idea puts those girls in desperate fear of having to share a locker room with someone they perceive to be a male person. That idea scares them to death. They perceive it as a real danger.”

Logandale resident Lindsey Dalley, also commenting in Tuesday night’s meeting, stated that no district-wide policy should be applied to every situation and community throughout the district.
“A transgender policy would need to be as diverse as all of the compassionate caring cultures that exist within an individual school,” Dalley said. “Gender issues need individual attention, not a generic approach that doesn’t recognize individual cultures. We need a kinder, gentler approach that helps individual schools and students to solve these problems in a way that the schools’ individual cultures can understand.”

Dalley said that any district guideline should be broad enough to allow individual School Organizational Teams (SOT) to define solutions that fit the unique cultural norms of their community.
Many other Moapa Valley residents also travelled in to Las Vegas during a busy time of year to attend the evening meetings and voice their views on the subject.

Moapa resident Lisa Wolfley, who attended the Thursday night meeting at Cimarron High School, had similar views with Dalley that a single top-down policy would not justifiably address problems in every school.
“I’ll agree that there might need to be a general guideline put into place and I could go with that,” Wolfley said. “But mandating one solution through a blanket statement that operates the same for everyone, it won’t work. These things are best handled with the individual student on a case by case basis. That might require some training for local school staff.”

But Wolfley stopped short of the idea that school administrators and teachers should have a role in helping children through a transition to a preferred gender.
“I don’t think that children in high school, middle school, or grade school, are ready to make that decision,” Wolfley said. “I’m not sure they should be making a transition like that at all as a minor. Like other major life decisions, there will be time for that as they mature and become adults. But they should receive help and counseling as needed.”

Moapa resident Tiffany Frederick, who also attended Thursday’s meeting, said that one of her concerns is the potential for transgender cross-over in athletics. With a daughter involved in school athletic programs, Frederick said it would not be fair for her to have to go up against biological males in a female sport.
“I’m not concerned about on the local team level with her own team because I don’t think it will come up there,” Frederick said. “But when she is competing with other urban schools there might be a problem. When you allow the crossover, there is not really a level playing field. That is the reason why there has always been a separation in boys and girls sports. And it doesn’t level the playing field just because a biological male identifies as a girl. In terms of the sport, and in terms of overall athleticism, that person is still a boy and has certain advantages.”

The round of meetings ended last week with a promise of continuing discussion as the process moves forward. The recommendations of the working group, along with the results of the meetings and the online survey, are expected to be presented before the CCSD Board of Trustees in January. Then a decision will be made on whether or not to develop a policy or guideline.

The online survey can still be taken by the public to provide input. The survey can be found at www.ccsd.net/genderdiverse.