South Burlington, Vermont’s school district has drafted a new, affirming policy for transgender and nonbinary students.
“I think if we are asking teachers to create inclusive variances in their daily lessons for students, in today’s political climate, it’s really important to have the protection of a policy to support our teachers in taking risks and feeling comfortable in doing the work best for our students,” Monica Desrochers, the district’s director of DEI, anti-racism and social emotional learning, told VTDigger.com.
Reports VTDigger.com:
The district’s director of diversity, equity, inclusion, anti-racism and social emotional learning, Monica Desrochers, alongside four students, unveiled the draft policy at last Wednesday’s board meeting.
The six-page policy was modeled mostly after 2017 Vermont Agency of Education guidelines that outline how to support students whose gender identity is different than their assigned sex at birth or who do not identify as male or female.
She said the policy was initially vetted by both the high school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance and the Queer Straight Alliance in the middle school before heading to counseling staff and administration for feedback.
“What I didn’t want to do is move a policy forward that is most impacting transgender students without their voice or even motivation for wanting it,” Desrochers said. “So that feedback from the (Gender and Sexuality Alliance) in the high school was strong in terms of, ‘Yes, we need this.’”
Although other districts have adopted similar policies, South Burlington’s draft policy closely follows the Champlain Valley School District’s newly approved policy that uses more affirmative language beyond what was suggested by the Agency of Education when it comes to a student’s use of facilities like locker rooms and restrooms.
The state says a transgender student “should not have to” use a locker room or bathroom that conflicts with their gender identity, but the draft policy states that a student “must be permitted to” use the aligned facility.
“We’re not just saying ‘should be allowed,’ which was the guidance from the Agency of Education,” Angela Arsenault, chair of the Champlain Valley School Board, said in September. “We’re saying, in policy, that students must be permitted to use a locker room, a restroom that aligns with their gender identity.”
Read the complete VTDigger.com story here.
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