(La Porte County, IN) - Local school districts are grappling with the issue of accommodating transgender students in school bathrooms. It’s a delicate and controversial matter that school leaders are handling carefully.
At New Prairie, for example, the district’s anti-discrimination policy already accounted for transgender students, but administrators have recently made an effort to make the policy more transparent to the community at large.
New Prairie Superintendent Dr. Paul White says his staff worked over the summer to design a process for allowing transgender students to access a bathroom of their choice.
“What we’re talking about is a legitimate instance in which a student is truly transgender, and is identifying with the opposite gender,” he said. “They have to go through our formal process with our guidance counselors and social workers. The Gender Support Plan is actually a document that becomes a part of their educational record and becomes a part of New Prairie’s documentation that we have given the okay under this particular process.”
According to White, the Gender Support Plan is a far-reaching document. It informs other aspects of student life such as preferred pronoun usage and accommodations for field trips and extracurriculars.
So how does a student achieve transgender status? White said the state has no standard for transgender identity, and federal courts have disregarded birth gender as the main qualifier. Mostly the determination is up to school counseling personnel. White said parents are encouraged to be part of that process, but their involvement is not required.
Contrary to some criticisms, the school policies have more to do with federal regulations than with progressive local school leaders. And lawsuits elsewhere have been the biggest factor. “One of the core values of our school system,” he said, “is that we be careful financial stewards of the district’s resources. And we are aware that other school systems, not only in our state, but in the Midwest, have ignored this legal precedent, and they have had to pay settlements for legal action that has been taken, and we just weren’t comfortable doing that.”
The law firm representing New Prairie has prepared a list of legal precedents for transgender bathroom usage. It includes recent federal mandates as well as several federal lawsuits. Courts have found on more than one occasion that transgender students must have access to whatever bathroom they feel comfortable in. White said this applies to students down to five years of age. According to him, about ½ of one percent of New Prairie students have transgender bathroom accommodations, including some elementary school children. He said most students are satisfied using a private faculty bathroom or something similar, but they can choose to use a public student facility.
White said the well-being of those students is also a priority. According to him, school leaders have taken to heart a statistic that transgender students are four times more likely to consider suicide. “Whether we agree or disagree personally, or don’t understand, we do need to try to be empathetic, because ultimately we do have a responsibility in a public school context to make sure every kid feels as safe as possible so they can focus on their learning.”
White acknowledged that other students may feel uncomfortable with transgender students using common bathrooms. In an effort to maximize privacy and safety, the district is in the process of installing additional partitions in all of their bathrooms. He said administrators are watching the situation closely and issuing strict disciplinary consequences for students who try to abuse the bathroom policy.
School officials at La Porte, Michigan City, and South Central school districts have confirmed to HomeTownNewsNow that they are following similar procedures. South Central Superintendent Ben Anderson said the following in a statement: “South Central has simply worked with the student and their parents when situations like this have come up. This has worked for us, and we hope working collaboratively with families in this manner will continue to be effective.” According to La Porte Superintendent Mark Francesconi, his school corporation also develops a gender identity support plan for transgender students. “To date,” he said, “the process has worked well and we have been able to make accommodations that were amicable for all parties.” A spokesperson for Michigan City schools said: “Currently, MCAS makes a plan with the parent and school staff (principal and counselor) to allow the student to use a single-occupancy restroom if desired.”
A regular New Prairie school board meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 26. Dr. White said the transgender issue is not on the agenda and will not be discussed at the meeting. However, concerned parents are encouraged to contact the district office at any time for further explanation of the school’s policy.
