Greater New Haven schools confident in complying with federal transgender bathroom policies

In a memo sent to Connecticut superintendents of schools this past week, state Commissioner of Education Dianna R. Wentzell said providing transgender students with a safe and healthful learning environment is urgent, even if it isn’t new.

“Protecting the rights of transgender students is not a new idea in Connecticut. Legislation passed in 2011 ... added gender identity and expression to the state’s antidiscrimination statute,” she wrote.

Wentzell’s memo comes almost a week after the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education released a “Dear Colleague” letter offering guidance to schools on how to stay within their legal obligations and to honor the civil rights of transgender students. The federal letter reminds educators that schools receiving federal funds agree under the conditions of Title IX not to discriminate on the basis of sex.

“The Departments treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for purposes of Title IX and its implementing regulations,” the letter says.

Several Connecticut school superintendents said that, although their districts lack any official policy on protections for transgender students, safety and privacy for all students is a priority.

New Haven Superintendent of Schools Garth Harries said a formal discussion on the civil rights of transgender students has not come up at the Board of Education level.

“It has come up at some of our schools, and our actions are in line with the guidance of the Department of Education,” Harries said. “It’s not something we’ve discussed as a board, but we will review the guidelines carefully and with consideration.”

Harries said that, since joining the district in 2009, privacy and protections for transgender students have been handled on an individual basis within transgender students’ schools.

Typhanie Jackson, director of student services and a district executive, said from the moment a student identifies as transgender the district must treat the student consistent with his or her gender identity under the recommendations.

“It’s really individual and student-specific, because we would want to follow the guidance of that student and make sure we’re protecting the rights of all students involved,” she said.

Jackson said she knows of instances where students are allowed access to a bathroom facility classified as gender neutral -- whether it be a bathroom for nurses, staff or the principal.

Jackson said she was personally unaware of any instances where students requested to have their name changed on official academic records, although she said there was a chance it has happened. Jackson said that, under FERPA, parents and eligible students may make a request to have their name changed, regardless of legal name changes.

“Our school wide information system usually has a flag if there were some sort of discrepancy, but I have not heard of such happening,” she said. Jackson said she was unaware how such a chance would affect a transgender student taking a standardized test such as the SAT.

East Haven Superintendent of Schools Portia Bonner said her district has long viewed protections for transgender students within the boundaries of Title IX.

“We probably will update our policies to be sure we do recognize (transgender students) as an identified group that could be discriminated against, but most of our policies are already inclusive of this body of students,” she said.

Bonner said the district’s schools have locker rooms and bathrooms constructed with student privacy in mind, and her district follows Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference policies with regard to sports teams.

Karissa Niehoff, executive director of the CIAC, told the Associated Press that transgender students have been allowed to play on teams matching their gender identity since 2013, and the policy has been applied to teams on several occasions since then.

West Haven Superintendent of Schools Neil Cavallaro said questions of accommodations for transgender students have arisen within his district, and he believes the district does not need to make any changes to “the way we’re doing business” to provide a safe environment for its students.

“We probably at some point should adopt a formal policy, but at this point we address the needs of our students,” he said. “We’re a diverse school district to start with, with many different languages and many different cultures, and in my opinion we do a really good job of trying to understand the needs of our students and families.”

Cavallaro said he would prefer to address cases individually to best accommodate students.

“Whatever the case may be, we want to make sure it’s handled appropriately,” he said.

In Middletown, Superintendent of Schools Patricia Charles said the schools allow students to use any sex-segregated space corresponding with their gender identity.

Charles said she does not anticipate the letter will change how Middletown schools deal with transgender students, because she said it is her belief the schools already address their concerns appropriately.

“As we get more information, we will comply with any regulations,” she said.

Charles said transgender students might request additional privacy than what a public bathroom provides, which school principals negotiate with students. She said Colleen Weiner, principal of Middletown High School, tells teachers and staff that they must keep an open dialogue with students and that any transgender students have their full support.

“Generally, what happens is the student has to tell administration about their gender identification, and they meet with the principal,” Charles said. “There are specific regulations for how and when you (change administrative records).”

Charles said that, when confronted with transgender students coming forward with a new name and pronouns, the district has taken the initiative to change student records to reflect the student’s gender identity.

“It’s not a situation kids have entered into lightly,” Charles said. “The situations we’ve dealt with this is a serious consideration and not something that happens quickly.”

Bob Rader, executive director for the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, said his organization has done policy work on transgender issues before, similar to the guidelines issued by the federal government.

“You cannot discriminate on the basis of a person’s gender identity, and we have not heard much in Connecticut about this being a problem in any school districts,” Rader said. “Frankly, we don’t get very many calls on this, and I think Connecticut is way ahead of many other states in how we deal with these issues.”

Rader said sex-segregated locker rooms “have been somewhat of a concern, but usually they can be worked out between the school district and child, and maybe the parents of the child.”

Rader is the father of a transgender son, Dusty Rader, who came out in the beginning of his senior year at Glastonbury High School. Dusty Rader now works as a teacher in Connecticut.

Dusty Rader said he was involved in his school’s Gay/Straight Alliance for several years and took advantage of a school panel on coming out to officially come out as transgender. He said he did not experience much resistance, although he believes the public nature of his announcement might have shielded him from any potential repercussions.

“They handled it well and let me call my own shots,” Dusty Rader said.

All the same, Dusty Rader said, as he learned to live publicly in his identity, he brought several concerns to the school administration.

“At my graduation, they had a rule then where boys wore blue robes and girls wear white, and I ordered my white robe before coming out and I emailed the principal that if I had to wear my white robe, I wouldn’t walk at graduation,” Dusty Rader said. “I don’t think they could’ve handled it much better.”

As far as the bathroom issue, Dusty Rader said his workaround was to avoid the bathroom altogether, opting for a solo handicapped-accessible bathroom when they were made available.

“I didn’t want to find out what would happen,” he said. “It’s a very private moment, and transgender people are no different: They don’t want anyone intruding on their space.”

Dusty Rader said schools catering to students who may feel uncomfortable sharing a bathroom with another transgender student are prioritizing one set of beliefs over a student’s identity.

“It’s not that these schools don’t want to help, but I don’t feel that they grasp the vastness of the difficulty of being transgender,” he said. “A lot of the time when kids feel unsafe, they can’t learn.”

According to Wentzell’s memo to district superintendents, the state Department of Education is looking for ways to define a formal policy for schools to apply to transgender students.

“We are in the process of reviewing the federal guidance and thinking about ways the state can continue to support school districts in creating and implementing policies that ensure protections for all students, including transgender students,” she wrote.