The Flin Flon School Division is examining how to handle transgender rights in the classroom, a sensitive topic that has ignited controversy in other jurisdictions.
The school board has directed Superintendent of Schools Blaine Veitch to review transgender-student guidelines elsewhere and develop a draft policy to be reviewed by trustees.
“We want to research those policies properly before we make any decision on how we proceed in our own division and how things work for us here,” Trustee Trish Sattelberger, board chairwoman, said at Monday’s board meeting.
Sattelberger said the policy review stems from diversity-promoting legislation enacted by the Manitoba government.
She touched on some of the questions schools face with regards to students who identify as members of the opposite gender.
“For example, you could have, let’s say, girls’ hurdling, and you have a guy that identifies as a female. Is he going to enter the sport the same?” said Sattelberger. “There’s going to be differences in how things are done, right? And especially even socially in how things are set up. Sometimes in your schools you may have to look at different setups for things like washrooms.”
Asked about a gender-neutral washroom at Hapnot Collegiate – a concept some students at the high school have discussed – Sattelberger confirmed it is part of the policy review process.
Sattelberger said she does not know if any Flin Flon students are transgender, adding that this would be a personal matter for those individuals.
But if the division does encounter this issue, she said, it wants to ensure fairness.
As far as the board knows, the division is in compliance with provincial laws around transgender students, Sattelberger said.
“We just don’t have a policy on it,” she added.
Other school divisions have faced a delicate balancing act in weighing student equality with parental concerns over what is appropriate.
In April, CBC profiled Isaac Cassels, 14, a female Winnipeg student who identifies as male.
As an overnight field trip approached, Isaac’s school first suggested the teen room with the girls or have his own room.
The Winnipeg School Division subsequently agreed to let Isaac room with the boys without informing other parents, CBC reported.
In 2014, a Kentucky high school sparked debate when it allowed a male student who identifies as female to use the girls’ washroom and locker room.
Also in 2014, a group of parents launched a lawsuit against the Vancouver School Board over a policy that lets students use any washroom regardless of physical gender, according to the National Post.
“Some students are uncomfortable with sharing very personal information or private spaces with members of the opposite sex and deeply care about their privacy when using the washroom or change room,” read a court petition filed by the parents, as quoted by the Post.
Less contentious than such policies are those that allow for gender-neutral washrooms, which are accessed only by transgender students.
In devising a draft policy for Flin Flon schools, Veitch, the superintendent, is to review transgender-student guidelines from Vancouver and Nova Scotia.
The Nova Scotia guidelines allow transgender students to choose a name and pronoun (“he” or “she”) by which they will be addressed, though their legal name must be used on report cards and diplomas, according to Halifax’s Chronicle Herald.
More controversially, the Nova Scotia policy states that students may use whichever washroom aligns with their sexual identity, the newspaper reported.
But the guidelines also call on schools to provide, where possible, “an easily accessible, gender-neutral, single-stall washroom,” according to the Chronicle Herald.
