Transgender student speaks out against West High School

A transgender student at Oshkosh West High School is raising awareness about a lack of policies in the Oshkosh Area School District after he said he received a detention for using the bathroom of the sex he identifies with.

Cody Zitek is a senior at the school who was assigned female at birth. He came out as transgender in 2011 and has since begun transitioning. The staff at West has always been very accommodating in using his preferred pronouns and name, he said, and he hadn't had any issues at school previously.

The 17-year-old likes punk music, fiction writing and politics. He's an officer of the school's Gay Straight Alliance and is also working to launch a community-wide activism group, Fox Valley Alliance.

His parents, Stan and Lisa Zitek, said their son has always been a student in good standing.

Cody Zitek and three other transgender students who identify as male were eating lunch in a unisex bathroom at West on Sept. 24 because his friends were uncomfortable eating in the lunchroom. A teacher with a special education student needed to use the restroom, so the students left the unisex bathroom and went into the boys bathroom instead. They were not confronted by anyone, he said.

Cody Zitek and the other transgender students were called into a meeting with West Assistant Principal Rebecca Montour on Sept. 25. The students were told there had been complaints of female students using the men's restroom, but that administrators had not previously known who the students were.

He said Montour told the students that it was illegal for them to enter the men's bathroom, and that they could receive fines of $200 or be arrested for it.

"In that first meeting it was made pretty clear to me that it was about being in the men's room, and I think that's important to state because their story changes later," Zitek said. "She told me to stop and if a formal complaint would be filed by a student that I could face legal fines."

Montour contacted the parents of all the students involved. Zitek said two of the students asked that she not inform their parents that they were receiving detentions for being in the men's bathroom, because it would cause trouble for them at home.

Zitek said Montour also asked him if he has had sexual reassignment surgery.

"I think it's just inappropriate in general for people to ask that about transgender people," Zitek said. "It's just even worse and weird and unprofessional coming from an administrator of a school."

When Stan Zitek received the call from Montour about the detention, he immediately left work to meet with administrators. He said Principal Erin Kohl told him the detention was not for Cody Zitek being in the men's bathroom, but for loitering in the unisex bathroom instead.

Stan Zitek said he wants to know why his son was asked about sexual reassignment surgery if the detention was for loitering.

"No matter how you slice it, I don't see where it becomes acceptable to ask any juvenile about genital surgery," Stan Zitek said. "When is that ok?"

That same week, West High School Police Liasion Dave Maas was approached by an administrator who asked about the legal ramifications for students who enter a restroom that is not their biological sex. Maas did not name the administrator.

Maas was unaware of any issues regarding transgender students at the time, he said, and he was not given any context for the question.

"What I thought the person was asking was somebody who was intentionally going into the bathroom to harass someone or make a disturbance," he said, adding such an incident would be taken seriously and could result in legal action.

Maas does not believe the question had been intentionally taken out of context, but said he definitely thinks a miscommunication occurred in the exchange. He said no student would receive a fine or be arrested for using the restroom of the sex they identify with.

"No, absolutely not," he said. "We certainly have to welcome the transgender community and support them in everything that they're experiencing, and try to make accommodations for them to feel safe and supported in the school environment. We have no interest in having a law enforcement issue in that at all."

In a phone conversation with Oshkosh Northwestern Media on Oct. 9, West Principal Erin Kohl was specifically asked if a transgender student had received a detention for using the men's restroom. She said the incident was about students who were loitering.

However, she would not discuss the incident in an in-person interview with Oshkosh Northwestern Media on Oct. 15, citing student privacy policies.

"I really can't speak on a specific incident, confirm or comment on what happened there," she said.

Kohl said she was not aware of any member of the staff asking a student about their genitals, but could not comment on such an incident regardless.

When asked what her response would be if, hypothetically, a staff member asked a student about their genitals, Kohl said she would have to consult with the district office on how to handle such a situation.

"I haven't been made aware of that that's happened," she said. "It's new territory for all of us, so anytime something comes up we're really trying to do our homework before we make any rash decisions... and make sure what we're doing is appropriate and acceptable."

Kohl said she is looking forward to a policy that the Oshkosh Area School District is working on that will address students who are transgender.

Currently there are no policies related to students who are transgender, and the school district is working with a consulting group on drafting new policies for the district entirely, said Superintendent Stan Mack.

There are at least seven students who have come out as transgender to West administration, Kohl said. Currently administrators follow civil rights laws, and consult advocacy groups' recommendations and the Wisconsin Association of School Board Members to accommodate transgender students.

Students at West are able to provide staff with their preferred pronouns and name, and the staff is expected to use them. Transgender students are allowed to use four unisex bathrooms at the school and change in a separate bathroom from the locker room if they so choose.

They are not allowed to use the restroom of the sex they identify with.

"Right now at our school we would expect that our students who are biologically female to use the female restroom and the students who are biologically male to use the male restroom," Kohl said. "If we had a student that was using a different restroom we'd probably just have a conversation with them and make sure they're aware of the unisex bathrooms."

Cody Zitek said that's a problem for more people than himself. He has been using the unisex bathrooms since the incident, which he said are an important option for transgender students, but he personally feels that using it singles him out.

He refused to serve his detention, which he said was not the typical detention students receive. Generally detentions are not scheduled for a specific time, however, he continued to receive notes to serve his at certain times and was warned that if he did not serve the detention it would double.

The school dropped his detention Oct. 12, but Cody Zitek's classmates had already served theirs, he said. In a meeting that day with Montour, Cody Zitek said she told him he was confused.

Stan Zitek believes the administrators realized they made a mistake in handling the situation with his son but do not want to admit it. He wants to know when policies will be implemented, and has been in contact with the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh LGBTQ Resource Center.

"They say they're developing policy, but when? What does it say? What's the timeline? When's it going to come out for public commentary?" he said. "Developing policy can mean anything."

Cody Zitek would like an apology from the West administration, but ultimately wants policies regarding students who are transgender implemented across the district.

"The detention isn't what's most important here I feel," he said. "I think its more of an issue about awareness for this type of thing. This isn't something that just happens in big cities with lots of different kinds of students. It happens everywhere."

Reach Noell Dickmann at 920-426-6658 or ndickmann@thenorthwestern.com; or follow her on Twitter @ONW_Noell