(The Center Square) – Following a just-ended teachers’ strike that delayed the start of the school year and saw students return to class this week, the La Center School District in Clark County and the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction continue to clash over the district’s policies regarding gender identity and student pronouns.
Earlier this year, OSPI found the La Center School District to be in violation of Washington nondiscrimination laws and ordered the district to rescind its pronoun directive, which required proactive parental notification without student consent. The district is appealing the ruling.
OSPI says the La Center School District is engaging in “discrimination against students based on gender identity by expressly prohibiting District staff from asking any student their gender pronouns,” OSPI Chief Communications Officer Katy Payne emailed The Center Square.
The district’s policy concerning gender expression “does not comply with RCW 28A.642.080 and OSPI’s rules and guidelines to eliminate discrimination in Washington public schools on the basis of gender identity and expression.”
La Center School District Superintendent Pete Rosenkranz tells The Center Square that the conflict with OSPI over gender identity and expression dates back to 2019, when the Washington School Directors Association released a new model policy for districts.
“The model Gender-Inclusive Schools procedure incorporates school districts’ legal responsibilities to eliminate discrimination based on gender identity and expression; addresses the unique challenges and needs faced by transgender students; and clarifies that existing prohibitions on harassment, intimidation, and bullying (HIB) apply for transgender students,” noted the OSPI findings against La Center.
The policy change also said that before contacting a student’s parents, the school will consult with the student about the student’s preferences regarding family involvement and consider whether safety concerns are a factor.
“An appropriate school employee will privately ask known transgender or gender-expansive students how they would like to be addressed in class, in correspondence to the home, and at conferences with the student’s parent/guardian… For families who are supportive, using the student’s name and pronoun could be affirming for the student. For parents who are not supportive, or who are not aware of the student’s transition at school, referring to their name and pronoun could be very dangerous,” according to the policy.
Rosenkranz responded by telling staff that they should not be asking students about pronouns or keeping anything from parents.
“What I am really struggling with is the idea that we are keeping information from parents,” he said in an email to staff. “The assumption is that notifying parents will have a negative impact on the child and puts you and the district in an unenviable position to know more about the child than their parents, or worse, assume the parents will react negatively to the information. I firmly believe these conversations belong to the family.”
A teacher complained, alleging that the “Pronoun Directive limits teachers’ abilities to provide access to the learning environment for gender-expansive students by removing a tool teachers can use to avoid misgendering a student.”
OSPI then launched its investigation and found La Center to be in violation of gender-inclusive policies.
Silent Majority Foundation attorney Karen Osborne is part of the legal team representing the La Center School District.
“Since March, they have been battling it out in front of the administrative law judge,” said Osborne, who noted an early October hearing in the case will determine scheduling.
“The parents are saying, ‘I’m giving you this child to educate for a certain amount of time, but you are my representative.’ That is really what teachers are, and that is what teachers need to come back to understand,” Osborne said. “They are not the authority over the children beyond what the parents grant. These teachers [who] have this attitude need to step back and rethink what their role really is.”
Osborne said her team is confident the law is on their side.
“OSPI has the right to create these position statements. We argue that the law does grant the districts [the power] to change them in ways that are in line with their own district and their own district policies. Whether or not that will win at the administrative law level is yet to be seen,” she explained.
OSPI has threatened to withhold state funding from districts like La Center that refuse to comply with gender policy directives.
“Let’s be clear, if state funding is withheld from these districts, these districts collapse, which gives OSPI the right then to consolidate districts. The only thing that does is take power away from the parents because that dissolves their elected board,” Osborne said. “This needs to be fought from top to bottom, because if parents want to continue to have their rights honored as regards their children, they need to make sure that these districts that are fighting back on their behalf do not get dissolved.”
According to Rosenkranz, the vast majority of parents and staff members in his district support his opposition to OSPI’s gender policies.
“One of the key things that seems to be forgotten is never ever underestimate the unconditional love a parent has for their child,” Rosenkranz said, noting that while the La Center School District is small, it has seen growing enrollment as neighboring districts have seen declines.
“Our enrollment is up,” he said. “We have a first-grade [teacher] position [with] over 100 applicants. I have some applicants … leaving higher-paying jobs to come here because they want to work here, and I truly believe it’s part of our values and what we’re trying to do.”
As reported by The Center Square, the U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice are currently investigating OSPI for alleged violations of Title IX concerning the protection of girls in sports.
Osborne is encouraging parents not to wait for any federal ruling or further directives from OSPI if their child is enrolled in a Washington public school.
“At the beginning of every school year, they should request their students’ records. And in that letter of request. They should say that this is a standing request for the whole school year, so that every time my students’ records are changed, I want that update,” she said. “The district is required to give you the records. The districts have no right to withhold this information from parents. No right at all.”
In her email to The Center Square, Payne said, “School staff should not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status to others, including parents/guardians and other school staff, unless legally required to do so or unless the student has authorized such disclosure.”
Rosenkranz says he just wants the focus to return to education and will never embrace policies that keep parents out of the loop.
“I tell parents they’re your children, not mine,” he said. “And I don’t know if you’ve seen our test scores lately as a state, but we really need to focus on reading and math.”
