The Pittsburgh Public Schools’ board policy committee is set to unveil a draft proposal this month that would formally establish a plan to protect the rights of transgender students district-wide.
The final stages of the plan come as the topic has taken center stage both locally and nationally. North Carolina lawmakers and that state’s governor are facing backlash for enacting a bill that prevents transgender people from using school and public agency restrooms aligned with their gender identity. That debate continued last week at a school board meeting in the Pine-Richland School District.
Shortly after watching a webinar on the subject, District 6 city school Director Moira Kaleida brought the idea of creating a districtwide plan to the policy committee chair, Thomas Sumpter, who she said was receptive to the idea.
“I’ve firmly stood behind the LGBTQ community for a long time, and I think that we deserve equity across the board,” she said. “Our policies are old, and we need to have ones that deal with current issues. This is one that’s certainly relevant now.”
The transgender policy at Brashear High School, which took effect in the 2014-15 school year, served in large part as the model for the district’s plan. Ms. Kaleida declined to share specific details of the draft policy, but Devin Browne, a teacher and adviser for the Gay Straight Alliance at Brashear, said the two are similar.
“This is the most hopeful I’ve been in doing five years of this work,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve been like, ‘OK, this could really go out districtwide.’ ”
At Brashear, transgender students may use the bathroom that aligns with the gender they identify with, select the name on their ID and choose the gender pronoun by which they wish to be referred. Locker rooms are treated the same as bathrooms. Last spring, Brashear’s prom dress code set out guidelines for suits and dresses, rather than male and female dress.
THRIVE Southwest Pennsylvania, an LGBTQ advocacy group, helped create the plan for Brashear. Mr. Browne said of the school’s 1,400 students, he is aware of eight who identity as transgender. About 25,000 students attend Pittsburgh Public Schools.
Mr. Browne said he hopes the district will follow Brashear’s lead in creating a “point team” of adults who receive extra training to support transgender students. At Brashear, that group includes teachers, security, nurses, social workers and counselors.
Rayden Sorock, a transgender man and activist, said the policy is the district’s opportunity to take a strong position on the subject. Mr. Sorock has been involved with the Initiative for Transgender Leadership that provides professional and leadership development of transgender youth in Pittsburgh.
“There’s a lot of people in the country right now trying to drum up fear tactics. Above and beyond, it’s trans people who are at risk,” he said.
“Are we going to be like North Carolina, or are we going to be forward-thinking and do what’s right by the students who know what’s best for them?”
A draft policy is expected to be published to the district website this month, and a public workshop to discuss the plan is scheduled for May 2.
Molly Born: mborn@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1944 or on Twitter @molly_born.
First Published: April 10, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
