Members of the Honorable Board:
As I am uncertain that I will be able to attend tonight’s meeting (March 14, 2022), I am writing to express my opinion on the pending changes to the policy on transgender and gender non-conforming students.
After reading the predictable lawsuit that’s been filed against the district as a result of this policy, it’s clear that the proposed revisions won’t address the substance of the complaint. While the changes strike the specific language targeting parents as people not to be told of their children’s identifying behaviors in school, the general prohibition remains and, as written, still includes parents and still prevents school staff from informing parents of their child’s behaviors if the child demands secrecy. Also, the proposed language that protects the district’s “obligation” to “take action when student safety is concerned” is an escape hatch that will allow staff to withhold information from parents if children express that there may be any kind of disapproval of their behavior in school. The child’s safety will be considered “at risk” and the parents, therefore, will not be told.
This issue aside, the rest of the policy doesn’t “protect” rights of such students so much as it imposes their demands on everybody else. What happened in Loudoun County, VA is horrifically instructive on this matter and, sadly, just the latest example of what goes wrong when such mandates are in place. Giving “identifying” students carte blanche to use whatever locker or bathroom facilities they want puts girls at risk.
In addition, as has been seen across the country, allowing biological boys to compete on girls sports teams creates unfair competition for girls, robbing them of the outcomes they’ve worked so hard to earn. I know how hard my daughter worked to compete in 9 sports seasons at West High and how awful it would be for her to compete unfairly to a boy who identified as a girl. Girl athletes in Manchester have felt the sting of this unfair competition in New England regional competitions against Connecticut “girls” who quite literally ran away with the top spots, leaving their biological girl competition in the proverbial and literal dust.
The proper way to handle these issues is for athletes to compete within their biological sex and to attend gender specific health classes that reflect their biological sex. As to restroom use, the building principal should again be able to make arrangements for those those who want something other than the facilities that go with their biology. This should include a requirement that parents be informed and provide written approval of any such accommodation requested by a student. The district has no right to keep parents in the dark. None!
In short, these proposed changes are little more than deceptive tinkering that do nothing to restore the legal and God given rights of parents to raise their children and address these fundamental issues of identity with their children. They should be rejected and the policy repealed in its entirety and replaced with something that recognizes a parent’s inherent authority and fundamental rights with respect to their children and their upbringing, if anything. The current policy will lead to other lawsuits against which the district will be similarly defenseless for its decision to impose policies that devoid of common sense, however “woke” they may be. Politics aside, there was no reason for this policy to be adopted and there are very real reasons for its repeal.
Very truly yours,
Richard H. Girard
