Douglas County School Board postpones decision on transgender policy until June
Submitted by Jaedyn Young on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 10:00am
At the last Douglas County School Board meeting, trustees decided to postponed a recent policy that would restrict access to sports, bathrooms and locker rooms for transgender students. According to discussions, the board plans to make the language of the proposal more clear to avoid legal action.
According to the Nevada Independent, School Board President Susan Jansen originally proposed the policy last month that requires students to access these commodities based on their sex assigned at birth, not their preferred gender identity.
About 0.3 percent of the approximate 5,000 Douglas County students identify as transgender, according to Jansen in the article.
According to The Record Courier, there are currently "no students participating outside of their gendered sport or using bathrooms or locker rooms different from their birth genders.”
Carson Now attempted to reach Jansen several times to discuss the policy but she did not respond to any requests for comment.
Kimi Cole, a Douglas County transgender community figure, said Trustees began discussing about the policy around 6:15 p.m. and didn’t get through it until after 10 p.m.
A line was seen around the facility, many people waiting to give testimonies for hours and some didn’t even get to speak, according to Cole. She said the discussion was not a “lopsided argument,” but rather a mix of people speaking for and against the policy — but the meeting remained civil and professional even amidst the passionate testimonies from both sides.
“After all that time, after all that meeting and after all that testimony, they came to no conclusion,” Cole said. “They had no vote, they made no action.”
She said legal council informed Trustees the language was unclear. The policy could open up lawsuits and negatively affect the school district’s availability of funds. Cole and others she spoke with indicated they felt it the proposed policy and discussion was “disorganized.”
“They attempted to modify the language right while we were in the process of the discussion,” Cole said. “It was disjointed and in that regard, somewhat unprofessional in my mind.”
The meeting ended with the conclusion that the policy needed specific, narrowly defined language. The school board must bring the policy back in June for it to be heard and voted on again.
According to Cole, Superintendent Erin Kane said the board takes things case by case, but that their priority is to educate their kids and always ensure their safety at school.
When Cole said she talked to people in the county, many told her they didn’t have any issues in the relation of transgender students and they had not heard of any incident had happened to trigger this policy.
“I think (the policy) is for political theater … definitely doesn’t have to do with the good of the children,” Cole said. “It’s a tough world out there … I think the focus really ought to be on educating the younger generation, so they have the skills to navigate life (and) to deal with the challenges that come along.”
She added that non-binary students and students that have stated their intentions to transition have been accommodated on the “rare” case by case basis, which has not stirred up big issues for the schools.
The next Douglas County School Board meeting will be held Tuesday, June 13. The location has not been announced yet.
