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12 | APRIL 15, 2015 NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM School Board Committee Begins
Discussions on Gender Identity Policy
Committee will delve into possible additions to the district’s discrimination policies
By MOLLY PRIDDY of the Beacon
 A subcommittee of the Kalispell
school board met on April 8 to begin discussions about potential changes to the district’s discrimination policies with the question of whether the district should add language specifically pro- tecting LGBT students.
The committee is a combination of the board’s policy and personnel com- mittees, which includes members of the school board, the central office, and representatives from both high schools, the middle school and the Lin- derman Education Center. It met for the first time last Thursday in what is expected to be a series of meetings re- garding School District 5’s policy on gender discrimination.
The district’s current policy states that no student will be discriminated against based on sex, and all students will have equal access to programs, ac- tivities, and services.
The proposed additions to this lan- guage include “gender identity, sexual orientation, or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or
femininity.”
School Board Trustee Jack Fal-
lon said the board discussed the po- tential changes during its January meeting, but didn’t take action be- causeitwantedtogetmoreinforma- tion. Instead, it formed the subcom- mittee to research the issue.
Much of the focus during the first meeting was about other school dis- tricts in California and how they were sued over issues stemming from per- ceived discrimination of transgender students.
A transgender person is someone who has a gender identity – meaning their own internal sense of gender – different from the one they were assigned at birth.
The question is not whether Ka- lispell schools have transgender stu- dents – they do – but whether the school district should add specific language protecting those students to its policies.
SD5 Superintendent Mark Flatau told the subcommittee that regardless of new language, all students at Ka- lispell schools would be protected from discrimination.
“Regardless of what words end up on
“REGARDLESS OF WHAT WORDS END UP ON A PIECE OF PAPER, WE ARE GOING TO ENSURE THAT ALL – ALL – STU- DENTS WILL HAVE AN EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY.” Mark Flatau, Kalispell Public Schools superintendent
a piece of paper, we are going to ensure that all – all – students will have an equal educational opportunity,” Flatau said.
Fallon said the committee would look at adding the phrases to the policy, but in his mind, transgender issues are part of the “sex” designation in the ex- isting policy.
The school board received informa- tion from the Montana School Board Association about the potential policy changes in December, and the Montana High School Association intended to discuss the issue at its annual meeting in January but took it off the agenda.
The April 8 meeting was largely about getting organized and under- standing some of the legal issues other
schools have faced. The next meeting, scheduled to take place on April 28 at the Kalispell Middle School Library, will delve into the school district’s de- mographics, and how teachers and ad- ministrators have already handled situ- ations regarding gender identity.
There will also be a catalog of the schools’ facilities, like bathrooms and locker rooms, to help the subcommit- tee determine if there are any potential problem areas that should be discussed.
The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. The subcommittee intends to meet at least three times before making a decision about recommending specific action or inaction to the entire school board.
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