Following trend in smaller schools, Marionville adopts transgender policy. One mom not happy

Joining a growing number of Missouri schools, the Marionville School District adopted a policy Thursday regarding transgender students.

According to the policy, students can either use a gender-neutral bathroom or a bathroom designated for their biological sex. Students who participate in physical education classes that require using a locker room or shower are expected to use facilities designated for their biological gender, or they can take an alternative PE class that doesn't require changing clothes or showering.

The new policy also allows students to change their name once every school year, use whatever pronoun they prefer and dress in the same manner as the gender with which they identify as long as they are consistent with school dress code.

Several area schools adopted similar policies last month, including Fair Grove, Stockton, El Dorado Springs and Bernie in southeast Missouri.

Marionville superintendent Larry Brown said the school board made the decision based on recommendations from the school's insurance company and attorney, Tom Mickes.

Mickes is with the Missouri Consultants for Education, one of two organizations that create and recommend policies for Missouri schools.

According to Mickes, MCE created its policy model to counter recommendations from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights that include allowing transgender students who identify as being female to shower with biologically-born females.

"Female students have a well-developed legal right to be secure in their body integrity. They have the right not to be naked in front of a male," Mickes said. "We are going to provide alternatives, but showering with them is not one of the options."

Marionville mom Heidi Owens, who says two of her five children are transgender, called the new policy a violation of her kids' rights. She said it especially impacts her 10-year-old who was born male but identifies as a girl. That child has a disability, Owens said, and sometimes can't make it to the unisex bathroom.

"It broke my heart," Owens said. "All I want is rights for my children.

"I know I am going to get backlash but if someone doesn't fight, they are going to get away with all kinds of stuff."

Marionville's new policy reads in part: "This policy does not anticipate every situation that might occur with respect to transgender students, and the needs of each transgender student must be assessed on a a case-by-case basis."

Brown said that Owens' children will follow the policy as it is written, meaning her children will either use the unisex bathroom or the one designated for their biological gender.

The school is able to convert already existing bathrooms to unisex and will not need to build new ones, Brown said.

According to Owens, her children had been allowed to use the bathroom of their gender identity (a person's inner sense of being male or female, regardless of gender assigned at birth) since the start of the school year and there have been problems.

Sarah Rossi, director of advocacy and policy for the ACLU of Missouri, called Marionville's policy, and others like it "blatant discrimination."

"The policy as it stands is definitely in conflict with the Department of Education guidelines and polices for transgender students and it's a violation of Title 9 (of the Civil Rights Act). Title 9 includes gender discrimination. When a student is discriminated against based solely on being transgender, that is a form of gender discrimination," Rossi said. "We contacted Marionville and offered to provide them with a better policy and work with them on it, but they went ahead and passed this one."

Rossi said the ACLU is working with the Owens family to determine if further action will be taken.

"Transgender students need to be treated with dignity and respect just like any other students, and policies like this do just the opposite," Rossi added.

Steph Perkins is the interim director of PROMO, Missouri's statewide organization advocating for LGBT equality.

Perkins said he hopes Marionville and other schools that adopt policies will not feel forced to follow these recommended policies to the letter and instead take a case-by-case approach.

"While these policies are a huge step in the right direction, we hope that any steps that have been made to support students aren't reversed because of a policy," Perkins said.

Around the state

Some Missouri schools began adopting policies for transgender students after a group of students protested over a transgender Hillsboro High School student who was allowed to change in the girls' locker room. The protest made national headlines in August, casting a spotlight on the small town 30 miles south of St. Louis.

Superintendents at Fair Grove, Stockton, El Dorado Springs and Bernie said they adopted the policy based on recommendations from Missouri Consultants for Education and Missouri School Boards Association — not because transgender students were having problems.

Shannon Snow, superintendent at Stockton, said one parent wrote an angry letter that was published in the local paper.

"I think he just read the word 'transgender' and didn't read the policy. He was kind of anti-transgender," she said. "I don't think he read the policy from the tone of his letter."

Fair Grove superintendent Mike Bell said the board was trying to be proactive by having a policy in place, adding that he didn't know of any transgender students among the school's population.

Springfield, Nixa, Ozark, Branson and Republic schools do not have policies that address transgender students or staff.

"School staff work together with the transgender student and the student’s parents to accommodate that student’s individual needs," Teresa Bledsoe, Springfield Public Schools spokeswoman, said in an email.

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