Fort Worth transgender policy fact and fiction
The controversy over Fort Worth school district guidelines on transgender students and the bathrooms they use has come to a rapid boil, so it’s time to fact-check what’s being said.
School Superintendent Kent Scribner should focus on “the real issue,” meaning failing schools.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is right that Scribner should worry about academic achievement. But typical of someone who parachutes in to complain about a single issue, Patrick ignores what Scribner and the district are doing on other fronts.
Academic progress in the district’s 21 failing schools was the top priority as school board members searched for more than a year and hired Scribner last fall.
Scribner said in February that he was streamlining the district’s headquarters staff, shrinking the leadership team and moving 70 teaching specialists from central administration to school campuses where they are most needed.
That saved more than $1.3 million, which Scribner said would be spent on kindergarten readiness, early-grades reading, middle-grades math and high school graduation.
This week, he started examining around 800 educational programs used in the district, weeding out the ineffective ones and focusing energy on what he believes will be about 18 that really work to improve learning.
The guidelines on transgender students violate state law that requires parental involvement.
The Texas Education Code says a parent “is entitled to full information regarding the school activities of a parent’s child.” But there is an exception regarding “maltreatment of children.”
Michael Steinert, assistant superintendent of student support services, has said the guidelines were written to take into account studies showing risks of violence against transgender individuals, including from family members.
The guidelines do not exclude parental involvement. They tell school personnel to discuss parental relationships with the student and, Steinert said, to “work with the student on a plan to engage the parents.”
There should have been public discussion before the guidelines were adopted.
“Let the people testify,” Patrick said. About 20 people “testified” for an hour at Tuesday’s school board meeting.
That probably should have happened earlier in the process, if for no other reason than to avoid the appearance that it was being done in secret.
School board members can turn back the clock, even revoke the guidelines, at any time. They shouldn’t, but they can.
This story was originally published May 11, 2016 at 4:06 PM with the headline "Fort Worth transgender policy fact and fiction."