Rochester School Board reviewing procedure on transgender students Tuesday night

By KAALTV

(ABC 6 News) – Rochester School Board members will review and discuss a draft of a new procedure on supporting transgender and/or gender-expansive students, according to a press release from Rochester Public Schools (RPS).

Recently, Christina Barton, a former district counselor, was removed from the teachers’ union and non-renewed from RPS for allegedly speaking out against a policy about who should be informed of students’ pronouns.

Superintendent Kent Pekel has released a statement about the meeting.

“If the School Board approves the procedure at its regular meeting on July 16, 2024, it will
replace guidelines that I issued to school administrators on the same subject on September 8,
2023,” says Pekel. “I developed and issued those guidelines because educators in Rochester Public Schools asked for clarity on what the law requires and how our school district wanted them to respond to
issues that were arising in our schools regarding supporting students who are transgender or
gender-expansive.”

Pekel says the draft procedure that the RPS school board will discuss tonight has been reviewed by the district’s legal counsel, who confirmed that it complies with the new federal regulations and all applicable laws.

The superintendent also issued the following statement in the release:

“The proposed procedure, numbered 413A, begins by describing the purpose of the procedure
and then defines key terms that are included in the text. The procedure then outlines the ways
that Rochester Public Schools will approach the following issues:
● Privacy
● Parent access to information
● Names, pronouns, gender markers, and district records
● Gender-segregated facilities
● Gender-segregated activities, classes, rules, policies, and practices
● Dress codes
● School trips
● Intramural sports, extra-curricular activities, and interscholastic sports teams/activities
● Compliance
● Discrimination, harassment, and bullying”

Pekel goes on to say that the issue of parental access to information on students’ gender identity in school has been a subject of public discussion recently and makes clear how that relates to the procedure being discussed Tuesday evening.

“First, the procedure makes clear that if a parent or guardian asks for information about their child’s experience of gender identity and a member of the RPS staff is in possession of that information when the request is received, that member of the RPS staff must provide that parent or guardian with that information,” says Pekel. “Second, nothing in the procedure prohibits an educator in Rochester Public Schools from contacting a parent about an issue or concern involving gender identity. It is true that the procedure does not require staff to report to parents or guardians on students’ gender identity, but that is consistent with RPS policies and procedures in a wide array of areas.”

The meeting is set to begin at 5:30 p.m.

To see the meeting’s agenda, click here.