School board mulls trans student policy
CASPER — A sweeping policy that would restrict which bathrooms transgender students use, remove liability protections for teachers who counsel students about gender dysphoria and require teachers to notify parents when a student raises the subject was set to go before a Natrona County school board committee late Monday afternoon.
The discussion comes less than two months after the state barred transgender girls from competing in women’s sports and during a broad push by Republicans to enact laws related to transgender people.
In an uncommon move, trustees on NCSD’s Board Policy Committee were expected to take public comment as they decided whether to forward the draft policy to the whole board.
The meeting was still going at the Star-Tribune’s deadline.
Any trustee can bring a draft policy or revisions to existing policies before the board’s policy committee for review, Tanya Southerland, a spokesperson for the district, said.
Trustee Mary Schmidt drafted the policy, which would determine NCSD’s position on issues around gender identity in schools, as well as two other revisions to the district’s controversial issues code and its learning resource guidelines.
Schmidt’s proposal would have wide ranging implications. At its core, it would require the district to treat transgender students and others with “alternative identities” according to the sex they were assigned at birth. The policy would also encompass “furries,” or students who dress up and identify with animals. School officials have said the latter has not been an issue in Casper schools.
According to the draft, the policy “is designed to create a clear and distinct direction as to the delicate and changing social norms regarding Identity crisis and Gender Dysphoria.”
Under the new direction, transgender students would be required to use the restroom or locker room that aligns with their birth sex. The district would restrict the participation of transgender athletes in sports regardless of their pursuit of gender-affirming care. Transgender students would be required to room according to their birth sex during trips.
“Due to the lack of FDA approval of medications, surgical treatments for minors and minimal scientific studies on the standard of care, we cannot allow students of the opposite biological sex to coexist in bathrooms, locker rooms, overnight stays and athletic events,” the draft reads.
But the policy would go further. Teachers and other school employees would be required to notify parents within 24 hours if a student discusses gender identity. They would also have to file an incident report with their school.
Teachers, school counselors or administrators would lose their liability protection from the district, opening them to the risk of lawsuits, if they “counsel, advise, or encourage the behavior of a student expressing gender dysphoria.”
“The district does not provide training in this area and cannot promote or protect any staff member that chooses to take it upon themselves to aid a student in this area,” the draft reads.
The proposed policy would also require that the “court titles” at school dances, such as homecoming queen and king, align with the students’ birth sex.
If the policy committee votes on and approves the draft, it will then go before the board of trustees, at which time there will be another opportunity for public comment.
A lawsuit in Sweetwater County
Gender identity has become a touchpoint for controversy in Wyoming school districts.
Two parents sued Sweetwater County School District No. 1 in U.S. District Court last week alleging that the district violated their rights by using their child’s preferred pronouns and concealing information about their child's gender identity. Ashley and Sean Willey filed the lawsuit against the district’s board of trustees, Superintendent Kelly McGovern and three other district and school administrators for affirming their child’s transgender identity at Black Butte High School in Rock Springs.
Their complaint accuses the district of using their 16-year-old child’s requested male pronouns and name in school while using the child’s given name and gender when communicating with the Willeys.
At the beginning of the 2021 – 2022 school year, the child requested that the district use a different name and pronouns without revealing the change to the Willeys.
The district followed the student’s wishes to use male pronouns even when, more than six months later, the Willeys found out and objected to their use, insisting that teachers refer to the child as a girl, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit suggests that the student, who was a victim of childhood sexual trauma and had PTSD and ADHD, felt pressured by peers and the district to identify as transgender. It argues that the school district’s decision to reinforce the child’s gender identity was “antithetical to her health and well-being.”
By using the child’s preferred pronouns, the Willeys argue that Sweetwater County School District No. 1 was engaging in ‘social transitioning’ and created a rift between the child and the child’s parents.
“In facilitating ‘social transitioning’ without informing parents, Defendants are directly interfering with the parent-child relationship by prohibiting parents from exercising their fundamental rights as the primary decision makers for their children,” attorney Henry Bailey Jr. and lawyers with the Georgia-based Child and Parental Rights Campaign wrote in the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, the school district’s decision to follow the child’s gender identity also violated the Willeys’ religious beliefs, which do not recognize transgender people.
The Willeys are asking the court to stop Sweetwater County School District No.1 from using the child’s preferred pronouns and from requiring that Ashley Willey, who is a special education teacher, use students’ preferred pronouns without parental approval.
They also seek undisclosed monetary damages for emotional distress and psychological harm to the child and the family.
This story was published on April 25, 2023.
