By Jean Jacques Bohl
The Blaine County School District Board of Trustees adopted a new district policy to accommodate transgender and gender-nonconforming students by a vote of 2 to 1 on Tuesday, Aug. 16. Shawn Bennion cast the dissenting vote. One board seat is vacant and trustee Elizabeth Corker was absent. But late Sunday, a federal judge in Texas issued a temporary order blocking the Obama administration guidelines.
BCSD Assistant Superintendent John Blackman said on Monday that, “the board voted on the policy. Only a board can change that. We’re moving forward with a new policy.”
The school district’s new policy states that, “Students shall have access to the restroom/facilities that corresponds to the gender identity or gender expression consistently asserted at school. Any student with a need or desire for increased privacy, or for safety reasons, may be provided access to a single-stall restroom. No student shall be required to use such separate facilities.”
“Students met with faculty and administration and voiced their concerns,” said Teresa Gregory, advisor to the Wood River Straight Gay Alliance student group. “The new policy meets their expectations. The student group advocates inclusion for all and the recognition of differences.”
However, some community members remain opposed to the new policy and voiced their concerns at the school board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 16.
“We are opposed to it,” said Vicky Verst, of Hailey. “Parents are shocked.”
Her husband, David, agreed. “This not a political issue,” he said. “What is in the students’ best interest from a security point of view? There will be physical and psychological unintended consequences.”
The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network website, however, states it’s the gender-nonconforming students who are most at risk when no policy exists to address safety and comfort.
“Transgender and gender-nonconforming students often face discrimination over dress codes, access to restrooms and locker rooms, and their chosen names and pronouns,” says the www.GLSEN.org website.
According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest Network (RAINN), “21 percent of transgender, genderqueer, nonconforming college students have been sexually assaulted, compared to 18 percent of non-TGQN females and 4 percent of non-TGQN males.”
Bellevue resident Dave Hattula felt the board was rushed on the vote.
“The board should have waited until it was fully staffed,” he said. “We need to be fair to all parties. This policy is pushing adult issues onto minors who have to attend school.”
Hattula’s wife, Toni, added, “We need to revamp the entire system. I want to be involved. Board policies can be rescinded.”
On the other hand, Hailey resident LeAnn Gelskey, mother of two recent Wood River High School graduates, said, “It’s important to start somewhere. The school district acted with due diligence. I support the policy and the school district. The policy is about civil rights for all.”
Opposition to the new policy also came from the pastor of the Hailey-based Calvary Bible Church, Ron Brown. In a letter he to wrote to the school board, Brown said this isn’t an “appropriate time to establish new policy on an issue that is not at all settled in our state or country. In spite of the new federal guidelines handed down by the Obama administration, the issue is in no way settled in Idaho. Our own governor, Butch Otter, called this federal mandate a ‘vast overreach by the Obama administration,’ ‘an offensive attempt at social engineering’ and ‘one that will only bring harm to our children.’”
A WRHS junior, who wished to remain anonymous, summarized how some students feel about the issue. “I understand that some transgenders want to feel more comfortable, but some girls do not want a boy in the stall next to them.”
Individual bathrooms are already available at all the secondary schools for anyone uncomfortable with group restrooms.
There are two types of these bathrooms at WRHS. One kind is an individual bathroom. The other has a waiting area and a separate stall. Signage on these restrooms will be changed, according to Blackman.
The policy aims to guarantee that any “student, regardless of gender identity, will have access to a safe learning environment,” said Julie Carney, WRHS social worker. “Federal policies mandate that all schools receiving federal money have gender-neutral bathrooms. Eleven states, Idaho being one of them, have challenged that policy in court.”
In fact, Idaho is not a plaintiff in the lawsuit. The document Idaho filed was an “amicus” – or “friend of the court” – brief, voicing support for the injunction.
Carney estimates the transgender population at the high school to be about 5 out of a student body of 950.
“We cannot change everything by the twenty-ninth,” when school starts, said Superintendent GwenCarol Holmes. “Students identifying themselves as transgender will have to demonstrate a consistency of behavior. The biggest changes will be in the locker rooms.”
Hailey resident Ellen Mandeville, who operates the www.BlaineParents.org, said she was worried about locker rooms at Wood River Middle School.
“Every student should be safe,” she said. “New accommodations will be costly. What will the policy be for visitors?”
When asked to define the visitor policy, Carney said this issue is part of the ongoing debate.
On Friday afternoon, Blackman visited the secondary schools with some administrators.
He said that locker rooms will have privacy curtains. He added that the Carey and Silver Creek schools already have individual bathrooms.
“We are in the process of developing a policy,” Robert Ditch, principal at Wood River Middle School, said. “There are individual restrooms in the office.”
The Valley’s private schools, Community School and The Sage School, also have protocols in place.
Harry Weekes, head of school at The Sage School, said, “The Sage School has individual restrooms only. Problem solved.”
Community School Head of School Ben Pettit said, “We work with parents. Students can use the bathrooms for the gender they identify with.”
The complete policy is available on the district’s website, under 502.12. The Twin Falls School District adopted a similar policy in October 2015.
In Nevada, which passed a gender identity law in 2011, when asked if violence had fueled a rise in sex crimes, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Jesse Roybal told Media Matters, a media watchdog organization, “the answer would be no.”
After the department’s lieutenant for sexual assault ran a check of crimes since 2011, Roybal told Media Matters that the department had not “had any incidents involving transgender suspects.”
For more information about statistics regarding nonconforming gender education issues, visit www.GLSEN.org.
Editor’s Note: Do you have a response to this story? The Weekly Sun welcomes and encourages submissions of letters to the editor. Letters are not selected based on opinion; the goal is to provide an open forum for the exchange of ideas in Blaine County. Email letters to editor@theweeklysun.com.