New policies affecting LGBTQ individuals, primarily transgender students, have been approved by the Decatur School Board.
Students will be required to use restrooms and locker rooms that align with their biological sex listed on their original birth certificate instead of their gender identity, teachers district-wide will be able to reject using a student’s preferred pronouns, and elementary teachers will not be allowed to discuss topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity, according to the two new policies.
The vote was 6-1 on both policies, with board president Dylan Barnes, Scott Koehler, Sandra Schneider, Jeremy Duncan, Melonie Christian and Jonathan Ross voting in favor of the policies and Stan Shults voting against them.
One policy change added a “gender identity and fluidity” entry to EMB local, which deals with “teaching about controversial issues.” The other policy change regarding the use of locker rooms and restrooms was a new local policy CLA dealing with “buildings, grounds and equipment management: security.”
The policies were approved at the end of last Monday’s meeting after the board discussed the policies in closed session, the part of the meeting that’s not open to the public.
Listed as “consider and take possible action regarding possible adoption of board policy CLA(local) and amendment of board policy EMB(local),” the agenda did not include any details of the proposed changes/additions. The proposed changes/additions to local policy were never discussed in open session prior to the board’s action last week. A copy of the policies were made available to the Messenger following last Monday’s meeting.
Barnes, when asked by the Messenger what prompted the board to take action on the policy, said it was done for “teacher support, not tying teachers’ hands.”
When asked if any incidents at Decatur ISD prompted the policy changes, Barnes said, “No, that’s what we’re trying to avoid.”
He said the board had been talking about the policies “for about a year-and-a-half.”
When Shults was contacted for a comment about his “no” vote, he said, “My vote speaks for itself.”
The new EMB local policy states the district, “shall not promote, require, or encourage the use of titles or pronoun identifiers for students, teachers, or any other persons in any manner that is inconsistent with the biological sex of such person as listed on: the person’s official birth certificate; or if the person’s official birth certificate is unobtainable, another government-issued record.”
The policy goes on to state that the birth certificate is “considered to have correctly stated the student’s biological sex only if the statement was entered at or near the time of the student’s birth; or modified to correct any type of scrivener or clerical error in the student’s biological sex.”
EMB local states that if a parent has requested the use of a specific title or pronoun for a student, district personnel “may comply with such request at their discretion.”
Teachers are instructed to “not teach, instruct, train, or otherwise require any other district personnel or agents to teach, instruct, train, or otherwise communicate to any individual or group topics regarding sexual orientation or gender identity unless and until those individual persons or the entire group has fully completed the fifth grade,” according to the new policy.
Employees are also instructed to “not teach, instruct, train, or otherwise promote gender fluidity,” which it defines as the view that biological sex is merely a social construct, that it is possible for someone to be any gender or none based solely on that person’s feelings or preferences, or the view that a person’s biological sex should be changed to match a self-believed gender that is different from the person’s biological sex.
DISD Superintendent Chad Jones said the new policy will not have an effect on curriculum or instruction, nor will it require the removal of books from libraries.
“We will continue to teach the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), so these policies do not change that at all,” he said. ” These policies do not require removal of any books or materials.”
According to a copy of the new policy provided to the Messenger, any instructional materials dealing with gender fluidity are instructed to be kept in the “District’s parental consent area, as defined by EFB(LOCAL).” The Messenger checked with the district, who confirmed Decatur ISD has no such policy regarding a parental consent area.
“I am not familiar with EFB(LOCAL), but know that we do not have that policy in Decatur ISD,” Jones said.
The new CLA local policy states that “each multiple-occupancy bathroom or changing facility owned or operated by the district shall be designated for and used only by persons based on the person’s biological sex.”
It adds that, “This policy does not prohibit the district from providing reasonable accommodations upon request.”
The policy applies to the following types of facilities: “a location designed or designated for use by more than one person at a time, where a person may be in a state of undress in the presence of another person, regardless of whether the facility provides curtains or partial walls for privacy. The term includes a restroom, locker room, changing room, or a shower room.”
The policies are similar to state legislation that was proposed, but not passed, during the 88th Regular Session earlier this year.
House Bill 1155 authored by Jared Patterson (R-Frisco) would have restricted teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity with students in kindergarten through eighth grade, or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate.
Similarly, House Bill 631 authored by Steve Toth (R-The Woodlands) would have prohibited the type of discussions through fifth grade.
Critics of the bills dubbed them the “Don’t Say Gay” law, a term coined by critics of a similar Florida law that prohibits schools from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity to elementary students.
Similar policies to Decatur’s have been adopted by other Texas schools — including Grapevine-Colleyville ISD (whose EMB local policy exactly mirrors the language of Decatur’s policy regarding gender identify and fluidity) and more recently Keller ISD — and have drawn rebukes from civil rights organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas for what they say is a violation of federal laws prohibiting sex-based discrimination.
On Aug. 10, the ACLU of Texas filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against Keller ISD for approving policies that would prohibit transgender and nonbinary students from using restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity and allow teachers to reject preferred pronouns.
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