Morton Unit School District 709 will continue using case-by-case decision-making when it comes to transgender student’s using restrooms and locker rooms.
The board of education voted 4-3 against the so called Student Physical Privacy Policy, crafted by the Alliance for Defending Freedom. That policy would have required all students use the restrooms that align with the sex specified on their birth certificate.
“Our advice to the board from our attorneys was that policy was not going to be in alignment with the current legal landscape. And while the current legal landscape is currently unsettled, we do look to our experts in the legal field to advise us on how to proceed,” Morton Superintendent Lindsey Hall said.
Hall says there are trained education professionals in the schools to manage a transgender student’s accommodations and supports. “That relationship of care and empathy and concern is what is best for transgender students and really frankly for all students. So the administrative procedure covers those procedures that we’ll care out should the situation arise.”
Hall says the administrative procedure is approved by the Illinois Association of School Boards and also the recommendation of the district’s attorneys.
The Superintendent of Morton Schools says above all, the goal of the district is to preserve and honor the emotional and physical safety and privacy of all of the students.
This is a matter school districts across the country are finding themselves in a position to address. The Obama Administration has also issued guidance on the subject as it relates to federal funding.
Last week, the US Supreme Court said it will decide whether the Obama administration can require public school systems to let transgender students use bathrooms that align with their gender identity rather than their biology.