The Shawnee Mission School District said this week that it is awaiting clarification from the Kansas State Department of Education on the implications of the guidance issued by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice on ensuring the civil rights of transgender students are not violated.

District spokeswoman Leigh Anne Neal said the district has to date focused on working individually with transgender students and their families on plans to ensure their comfort and safety.

“The district has not adopted any specific policies regarding transgender students, but seeks to protect all students from discrimination or harassment, and ensure students feel safe and respected within our school community,” Neal said. “We will continue to follow the processes in place as we await further information and guidance from KSDE.”

The federal guidelines on transgender accommodations came in the wake of a controversial bill passed in North Carolina that prohibits people who identify with a gender different than their sex at birth from using the restroom aligned with their current gender identity.

SM East’s administrators had been proactive about addressing transgender rights prior to the emergence of the national controversy on the issue, organizing a training event for faculty and staff this past fall that featured two transgender SM East students. Both of those students indicated that bathroom use proved to be one of the more stressful parts of their experience at the school, as they preferred to use the gender neutral bathroom on the school’s fourth floor – which had the potential to make them late for class because it was out of the way.

What’s not clear is whether any transgender students in the district are currently using the school restrooms aligned with their gender identities — a practice that would be prohibited under the North Carolina law. A similar bill, The Student Physical Privacy Act, was floated in the Kansas House this March.

“Schools work on an individual basis with students and families, so there is not a record or report that tracks [whether transgender students use non-gender neutral restrooms] other than individual student records, which are protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA),” Neal said.