California Educator

October 2013

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LEG PROFILE Advocacy Legislation students are often excluded from physHigh School in San Francisco. The stuical education classes, sports teams and dent, who looks relaxed and cheerful, is restroom facilities. a female who has adopted the The California Interscholasclothing and haircut of a male. tic Federation, which oversees "I have two identified school sports, amended its transgender students," says bylaws to allow athletes to Baker, United Educators of San participate in sports based on Francisco (UESF). "Both are gender identity, leaving it up to females that identify as males." school districts to determine At the beginning of the school a student's eligibility to play year, Baker asks whether they sports in a gender that may difprefer the pronoun "he" or "she," Susan Kitchell fer from birth records. along with which bathroom they AB 1266 will change business as usual at prefer. One transgender student prefers the many schools, but Los Angeles Unified and men's room; the other hasn't reached that San Francisco Unified school districts have comfort level yet. SFUSD students have been had policies in place for years to accommo- allowed to use facilities based on gender idendate transgender students. CTA members tification since the 1990s. in those districts say their policies provide "I ask without judgment and without students a safe place to learn — and have curiosity," says Baker, who has a master's not presented problems. It's important, in social work. "I let them know that they say, to engage the student and family I will share their information with school in conversation to devise a plan that will staff, so they won't get stopped from work best for individual transgender stuusing a certain bathroom." dents at each school site. Schools need to remove barriers to education, she says. "If not being able to use a certain bathroom is a barrier to coming Removing the barriers to school, let's remove that barrier so our A student stops to chat with Wellness students can be as successful as possible." Coordinator Kate Baker at Downtown Schools need to remove barriers to education, says Kate Baker. "If not being able to use a certain bathroom is a barrier to coming to school, let's remove that barrier so our students can be as successful as possible." 42 Educator 10 Oct 2013 v2.1 int.indd 42 She adds that recent self-report data shows LGBT students are still more likely to be bullied and harassed and stay home from school. "I let students know that if they want to talk, I'm there for them." Susan Kitchell, a school nurse at Galileo High School in San Francisco and UESF member, says privacy is not an issue, "because bathrooms have locking stall doors, allowing for privacy in the chosen restroom. And we do not have students showering after PE, so that has not been an issue here." The school nurse is sometimes the first person a student confides with about being transgender. Her response is always the same: "Thank you for trusting me." Transgender students may be confused and traumatized at identifying with a gender they weren't born with, so she provides health care information about "different ways of being" along with referrals to community support organizations for LGBT youth. Los Angeles Unified has had policies in place similar to the new state law since 2005, and it's been working just fine, says Judy Chiasson, the district's diversity and equity coordinator. Often there are transgender students on a campus and nobody knows it. While the district allows students to use restrooms based on gender identity, if there is nudity (showering) or shyness, a separate facility or time of facility use is provided. Stephen Schaffter, a physics and chemistry teacher at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, is proud of the way his campus accommodates transgender students. "It works well," says the United Teachers Los Angeles member. "We have a gender-neutral bathroom that some students prefer. In time, they may transition to using another gender bathroom, and that's fine. It's based on a student's comfort level, and that may happen incrementally." Concerns about the law Some educators support diverse students but still have concerns about the law and O C T O B E R 2013 10/7/13 9:39 PM

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