The Francis Howell School District board voted Thursday to table a vote on a policy that would require transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match the sex listed on their birth certificate. It's the second time the board has delayed voting on the proposal since it was introduced last October.
In other action, the board voted in favor of a policy prohibiting teachers from discussing gender identity in the classroom. Several other controversial measures passed, including a policy that requires board approval for every book purchased or donated in the district.
Another measure allows district residents to challenge books and other learning materials, which would lead the board to a lengthy review process.
Original story from Aug. 15 continues below.
The Francis Howell School District board is expected to vote Thursday on a policy that would require transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match the sex listed on their birth certificate and prohibit teachers from discussing gender identity in the classroom.
Under the proposed bathroom policy, parents and guardians could request an accommodation that allows students to change clothing before or after a physical education class. "The District does not consider the use of a locker room or restroom designated for the sex opposite the student to be a reasonable accommodation," the policy states.
The board plans to take a final vote, despite continued objections from students, parents and teachers.
The school board tabled the bathroom policy change in October after Becky Hormuth, a teacher and parent of a transgender student, threatened to sue the district.
“If this policy passes, you will be depriving my son and many others of the basic need that is central to their identity,” Hormuth said then. “Inclusivity is not only a moral imperative, it is also a legal one.”
School board Treasurer Jane Puszkar first proposed the new bathroom and locker room policy in October. School board members who support the proposed policy changes could not be reached for comment.
Steven Blair, one of two board members who is not a member of the conservative majority, opposes the policies.
“This policy is viewed in other areas, in other school districts, as illegal,” Blair said. “Legal challenges to this kind of bathroom policy… have been won by the people suing the school district.”
The board is expected to hold final votes on other contentious proposals, including a policy that would allow anyone who lives in the district to call for bans on particular books and classroom materials.
Board members will also vote on a measure to ban books that contain “explicit descriptions of sexual conduct,” normalized alcohol and drug use, repeated profanity and “purposeful conduct that injures the body or property of another in a manner that would be a crime.”
The measures follow the board's monthslong effort to modify the district's Black history and literature courses, which ended when the board in March approved revised curricula that removed social justice standards developed by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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