Mercer County school district sets bathroom guidelines
Pine-Richland’s transgender policy studied
Starting next school year, students at Lakeview School District in Mercer County will be allowed to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.
Students who are uncomfortable sharing facilities with a transgender student will be able to use a private restroom near the high school guidance offices.
The Lakeview School District — and its roughly 1,200 students — joins a growing number across the country that are adopting policies that prohibit discrimination against transgender students.
“Nationally, we are seeing [more] local school districts, big and small, urban, suburban, rural, adopting policies to ensure equal opportunity for transgender students,” said Harper Jean Tobin, director of policy for the National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington, D.C. “All school districts have transgender students, and they’re recognizing this really is necessary to make sure the students can participate in school. If you can’t go to the bathroom, you can’t really go to school and learn and participate.”
Besides the anti-discrimination protections of the federal Title IX law, more and more states have written laws to prevent discrimination against transgender people, Ms. Tobin said, and the courts have weighed in on the issue, as well. School districts across the country have responded by writing their own policies.
Lakeview superintendent Hendley Hoge said that while considering the change, his district studied
the policies and reactions in the Pine-Richland and Boyertown Area school districts, both of which ended up in court.
Pine-Richland last year settled a lawsuit brought by three transgender students after enacting a policy requiring them to either use a unisex bathroom or the bathroom that corresponded to their biological gender.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld Boyertown Area’s policy to allow all students to use the restroom or locker room corresponding with their gender identity. Four students had sued to overturn the policy, arguing it violated their privacy to share facilities with transgender students.
Lakeview is “squarely in line with how the law is developing,” Ms. Tobin said. The district’s policy — letting all students use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity and providing a private alternative for students who may be uncomfortable with that — is similar to the sample policy the National Center for Transgender Equality has posted onits website, she added.
Mr. Hoge said in an email that the Lakeview school board did not adopt a new policy, but rather changed the bathroom rules to be in compliance with the school district’s existing non-discrimination policy.
He would not say how many transgender students the district has, but said he has gotten “many negative concerns” from the community since he sent home a letter explaining the change in April. He said he’s also gotten positive feedback.
“As superintendent, I believe in being transparent and keeping our Lakeview community informed,” Mr. Hoge said. “As I have shared with numerous residents over the past month, this may not be the most popular thing that I am doing, but it is the right thing.”
The Lakeview school board will hold a public meeting July 17 to address concerns and “highlight the rights of transgender students, as well as the rights of students that feel uncomfortable with a transgender [student] sharing a restroom.”
“The Lakeview School District believes that all of its student are valued members of the school community and should have a positive education experience,” Mr. Hoge wrote in the letter. “A key component of a positive educational experience for all students is the need to understand and appreciate the differences between themselves and others.”