UPDATE: Illinois- E. Aurora school board to rescind transgender policy

[SandraJane]

WLS-TV Chicago, IL


E. Aurora school board to rescind transgender policy

Theresa Gutierrez |Thursday, October 18, 2012


http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8852291

https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,128457.0.html   Related article


October 18, 2012 (EAST AURORA, Ill.) (WLS) -- A backlash from parents has a suburban school district rescinding a newly-approved policy for transgender students.

The president of the East Aurora School Board told ABC7 that the board will vote Friday night to get rid of the new policy that was intended to address the needs of transgender students.

The East Aurora School Board President said that they have more than 15,000 students in the school's District 131 and that there are maybe a couple of transgender students.

She said to date they have never had a complaint from anyone including a parent about the treatment or status of a transgender student.

On Monday, the East Aurora School Board overwhelmingly voted to adopt a policy that addresses the needs of transgender students.

As a result of e-mails and phone calls from outraged parents and organizations, the board has now decided to rescind its policy.

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East Aurora schools may reverse transgender student policy following criticism

by Katherine Iorio on October 18, 2012

http://chicagophoenix.com/2012/10/18/east-aurora-schools-may-reverse-transgender-student-policy-following-criticism/


Photo: Courtesy East Aurora School Board.


The East Aurora school board quickly and unanimously voted to approve a policy concerning protective measures for transgender and gender nonconforming students Monday, but that policy may be rescinded by the board after a deluge of criticism from around the state flooded into the district.

The new policy, approved without discussion by the board, presents several guidelines for school administrators to use when tackling the needs and rights of transgender and gender nonconforming students.

Specifically, the policy provides that transgender and gender nonconforming students have the right to use restrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their gender-related identity that is consistently presented at school. The student also has the right to be addressed by the name they want to be called, too, without a court-order name or gender change, according to Aurora Beacon News.
Katherine Iorio

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THINK PROGRESS LGBT


Illinois School Board May Cave To Hate Group And Rescind Trans-Inclusive Policy

By Zack Ford on Oct 18, 2012 at 9:00 am

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/10/18/1038641/illinois-school-board-may-cave-to-hate-group-and-rescind-trans-inclusive-policy/


Annette Johnson, East Aurora School Board President


The East Aurora, Illinois School Board did an admirable thing this week when it unanimously passed a policy affirming transgender students by recognizing their identities. The Illinois Family Institute provided its unsurprising and unwelcome rebuke, calling trans students "disordered" and "perverse," and it seems the hate group's response may have stuck. Yesterday, the Board announced it will hold a "special meeting" on Friday to "review," and possibly rescind, the policy. According to Board President Annette Johnson, the Board assumed the policy was a recommendation from the the Illinois State Board of Education, as opposed to a progressive policy brought forth from a Board member:

    JOHNSON: The board never at any time came up with this (policy) on their own... It's something we (board members) would not have questioned in light of the attorney and the administrators bringing it forward. [...] This was just a policy the board felt they needed to keep up-to-date with.

    We usually follow (the Illinois Sate Board of Education) and their recommendations. All of us thought, "Oh jeez, this is another bullying policy we should comply with." [...] Administrators are constantly bringing policy forward. [...] We will wait on the ISBE to come up with any policy (regarding transgender students).

[Sagebrush]

[Padma]

Heavens protect them from "progressive policy" (a phrase they seem to be using as an insult) . I'm very curious to see how this vote goes.

[Penny Gurl]

Wow.. just when I thought that some sense had made it's way into the burbs.. they cave.   I hope the board decides to stand up for the rights of ALL of their students.

[Brooke777]

Wow.. just when I thought that some sense had made it's way into the burbs.. they cave.   I hope the board decides to stand up for the rights of ALL of their students.

They won't. They will fold to the will of the bullies.

[suzifrommd]

They won't. They will fold to the will of the bullies.

It's the year of the bully. Romney is ahead in the polls. Of course we don't know for a fact that kid he beat up was Trans. Might just have been gay.

[Shana A]

East Aurora repeals transgender policy

BY ERIKA WURST ewurst@stmedianetwork.com October 19, 2012 8:52PM

http://couriernews.suntimes.com/news/15826109-418/east-aurora-repeals-transgender-policy.html

On National Spirit day, a day when millions of Americans are encouraged to wear purple to speak out against bullying and show their support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teens, the East Aurora School board voted to repeal a recently passed policy aiming to protect the rights of LGBT youth.

At a board meeting Monday, board members unanimously approved a policy addressing the rights of transgender students. On Friday, in a special meeting, that policy was rescinded. Only four of the board's seven members were on hand for the vote. Mary Anne Turza and Stella Gonzalez were out of the country, and board member Ray Hull left the meeting early to attend his child's Senior night activities.

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East Aurora School Board flip-flops on transgender policy

by Tony Merevick on October 19, 2012 ·

http://chicagophoenix.com/2012/10/19/east-aurora-school-board-flip-flops-on-transgender-policy/

AURORA, Ill. — In a special meeting Friday evening, members of the East Aurora School Board voted to repeal a policy they unanimously voted to pass just five days ago, which would have created protections for transgender and gender nonconforming students.

The decision to rescind the controversial policy was also unanimous, with a vote of 4-0, though three board members were absent and came on the night of National Spirit Day, when tens of millions of people across the country wear purple to speaking out against the bullying of LGBT youth.

"We are sorry. We are very, very sorry. Unfortunately, this is one that slipped by us. Public education is public education and it has to make everybody happy," said East Aurora School District 131 Board President Annette Johnson. "This is very tough for me tonight ... There is no winner in this."

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Fri Oct 19, 2012 at 04:00 PM PDT
Updated: Will IL school board kowtow to hate group? You bet!

by rserven

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/19/1147132/-Will-IL-school-board-kowtow-to-hate-group-You-bet

East Aurora, IL school board unanimously adopted a policy recently affecting transgender students.

    The new policy specifically states that transgendered and gender nonconforming students have the right use the restroom that corresponds to their gender-related identity that is consistently asserted at school. The student has the right to be addressed by the name they want to be called, too.

[...]

Good on them, right?

Not so fast.

The Illinois Family Institute, which has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-LGBT hate group, was outraged.

[Penny Gurl]

How sad that a school board that is supposed to be in place to protect students and encourage growth would be so spineless to not only repeal something that they passed overwhelmingly five days earlier but then put the adminitrator who proposed it on an "administrative leave". Now who has become the bullies?  I honestly can't believe I live in this city, it trully makes me not only sad.. but sick that a school district wouldn't protect ALL of their students. 

[Shana A]

East Aurora School District announces new committee in the wake of transgender controversy
October 30, 2012
By: Lewis Wallace

http://www.wbez.org/news/east-aurora-school-district-announces-new-committee-wake-transgender-controversy-103499

The East Aurora School District has announced that a committee will hold its first meeting Nov. 8 to discuss potential new anti-bullying and discrimination policies.

The formation of the committee comes in the wake of a controversy in which the school board passed and then rescinded a policy on transgender students in just five days' time, and one key administrator was placed on leave for her part in developing the initial policy.

The policy would have allowed transgender students to use their preferred names and pronouns at school, and to have access to bathrooms and locker rooms aligned with the gender they identify with. It also stipulated that transgender students had a right to privacy, and said they could be out at school without having their parents notified.

[Shana A]

East Aurora School Board spares district official responsible for transgender policy

by Tony Merevick on November 5, 2012

http://chicagophoenix.com/2012/11/05/east-aurora-school-board-spares-district-official-responsible-for-transgender-policy/

AURORA, Ill. — The board of East Aurora School District 131 unanimously voted Monday to take no action against a district official, who originally recommended the district adopt a groundbreaking transgender student protections policy the board unanimously voted to approve Oct. 14 — and then repealed it five days later in a dust-up of controversy.

The special meeting was held to discuss possibly terminating the official, despite community outrage over such a action, according to the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance, an organization that advocates for the safety and equal treatment of LGBT students.

[...]

However, despite the district's efforts to punish Aird, the community has been largely outspoken in its support for both her and the protective policies, which would have allowed transgender and gender-variant students to use the bathrooms that match their identified gender and ask teachers to use their chosen names.

[Shana A]

East Aurora schools committee: Our transgender policy could change the country

by Tony Merevick on November 9, 2012

http://chicagophoenix.com/2012/11/09/east-aurora-schools-transgender-committee-our-work-could-change-the-country/

AURORA, Ill. — An Ad Hoc committee of the East Aurora School District 131 convened for the first time Thursday to discuss its plans to create a new policy for protecting transgender students after a previous district policy was rescinded late last month.

This time, the committee emphasized that it would get the policy right.

Anita Lewis, chair of the committee, said it would take its time to make sure it would produce the very best policy devisable, one that would protect not just transgender and gender nonconforming students, but all students in the district from bullying and harassment.

"We want to take enough time to make sure we get in the right policy to protect this group of students as well as all students," Lewis said, explaining that the committee should establish a policy, and a mechanism for training district staff like teachers, administrators as well as establishing means of support of transgender students.

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Committee contemplates East Aurora transgender policy

By Erika Wurst ewurst@stmedianetwork.com November 8, 2012 11:10AM

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/16245446-418/east-meets-tonight-on-transgender-bullying-policies.html

Teachers, community members, school board members, religious leaders and youth advocates created their own round table Thursday night in East Aurora, ready to make strides to better serve the students of the East Aurora School District.

Following controversy in the wake of a recently rescinded policy regarding transgender and gender non-conforming students, the school board created an Ad Hoc committee to study the issue and make a decision that will best address policy and procedure of the district.

Experts on transgender and gender non-conforming students included Sara Schreiber, policy director for the Illinois Safe School Alliance, as well as Crystal Gray, who was the state of Colorado's transgender advocate. They brought their expertise to the table on Thursday, sharing statistics and personal stories of the effects of bullying and discrimination of transgender youth.

"Being transgender is not easy," said Gray, who has transitioned from male to female herself. She said the attendance, grade point average and self esteem of trans students tends to plummet, while suicide risks rise.