District to Consider Policy to Protect Transgender Students

The School District confirmed earlier this week that it will soon discuss publicly ways to ensure transgender students’ rights are being protected.

On Monday, the State of North Carolina entered into a lawsuit against the U.S. Justice Department to maintain a law that requires transgender people to use the public restroom matching the sex on their birth certificate. Specifically, the U.S. Justice Department has determined North Carolina’s law violates the civil rights of transgender people against sex discrimination by their employer or at school.

If the District does not allow transgender students to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity, or provide a bathroom transgender students may use, they could be found in violation of Title 9.

Londonderry Superintendent Nate Greenberg said a discussion of transgender students’ rights “will probably be coming up very soon.

“We have an anti-discrimination policy,” he said. “Part of the discussion, I would imagine, would touch on the rights of transgender students. There are guidelines we will want to move forward with to ensure that none of our transgender students are discriminated against.”

When asked about a future discussion of bathrooms for transgender students, School Board Chairman Nancy Hendricks said she has not yet scheduled such a discussion as an agenda item for an upcoming meeting.

Noting the controversy surrounding the subject of transgender bathrooms that has been raised in other school districts in the Granite State and the events in North Carolina, board member Leitha Reilly said she would anticipate the Board would have its own discussion on the topic in the near future.

Most recently in New Hampshire, the Candia School Board approved a new policy allowing students to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity. Candia School Board Chairman Nicole LaFlamme said the policy they approved came down from the School Boards Association in April.

“This is a policy that’s about kids that clearly is abiding by the current law,” she said. “The courts are very clear and the Department of Justice is very clear on this. If a single-sex bathroom is offered and has multiple stalls, they must be available to everyone based on their gender identity.”

LaFlamme said a small group of residents protested the policy and groups from as far as North Carolina attended their meeting to speak out against allowing transgender students to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.

“Overwhelmingly, though, the community in Candia is very welcoming and supportive of this. We want to make sure all our kids are respected and every kid has what they need,” she said. “At the end of the day, we have phenomenal teachers and they would do the right thing regardless. But we need to make sure we have this on the books so if we need to use this policy, all the steps are executed properly and we’re on the right side of the law.”