Candidates voice support for trans student policy at Barrington School Committee Forum
"...we should keep it in place and support it and shame on those who attack children," said Lisa Nelson, school committee candidate.
On Monday evening, the League of Women Voters RI (LWV-RI) teamed up with Scott Pickering of East Bay Newspaper Group to hold three forums featuring candidates for office in Barrington. I covered the forum featuring incumbent Representative Jennifer Boylan (Democrat) and her Republican challenger, Janine Wolf, here. I covered the Barrington Town Council forum here.
The Barrington School Committee General Election Forum featured all five candidates for office, including Independent candidates Elizabeth Singh and Karen Rasnick, who appear to be running together; and Democratic Party candidates Megan Douglas, Lisa Nelson, and Timothy McNamara.
One of the more interesting exchanges, for my regular readers, is the responses to a question about the school district’s transgender, gender-diverse, and transitioning student policy.
Moderator Scott Pickering: Across the state, anti-trans activists are pushing school committees to abolish their transgender, gender diverse, and transitioning student policies,1 which have protected all students for seven years. What is your stance on this issue?
Megan Douglas: I fully support our policy. We've had a gender support protocol in place since 2018 which we wrote with the support of many people from the health and wellness committee, community members, and students. It's worked well for this district. This past year we updated it to make it a policy to support all students, [See here and here] and I will continue to support it. Our trans youth are some of [those at] the highest risk for mental health and suicide, and it's unacceptable that we would exclude any child from that safety.
Elizabeth Singh: I don't have a fully informed perspective on this issue. However, I will ask thoughtful questions and collaborate with experts to better understand the situation. I believe in listening to those with experience and knowledge to help guide my decisions and develop a well-informed position.
Karen Rasnick: I don't have an informed point of view on this policy, but I will say, from a teacher's point of view, I've had trans children in my classroom and they are children like everybody else. They deserve the respect that everyone else does. They need to be treated like students like everybody else. Inclusion is vital. Acceptance is vital. So if there are policies in school that protect trans students, these policies need to stay and make sure that everybody feels safe in schools.
Lisa Nelson: We just had a conversation about kids feeling like they don't belong and the mental health issues that go along with that. These two things go hand in hand. We can't simultaneously say that we want our students to feel that they belong but exclude one particular group of them. That's not how that works. Since our policy is in place, and Dr. Douglas seems to be proud of it - I've heard that it's quite successful and our State Department of Education has even recognized it - we should keep it in place and support it and shame on those who attack children.
If these attitudes hold, the important protections provided for all students under the existing party will continue to be upheld over the next few years.
Due to time constraints, I can’t transcribe the entire forum, but here’s the video. Below the video are the questions asked by the moderator, Scott Pickering, with direct links to the candidate’s answers.
Here’s the video:
Here are the questions, with links to the discussion in the video:
Question 1: One of the largest issues impacting schools in recent years was the decision to remove class levels at Barrington High School. It impacted the way teachers could teach it impacted honors classes and the opportunities merited scholarships and impacted students and opportunities for individualized instruction. Do you support the removal of class levels within the Barrington public schools?
Question 2: Everyone serving on the school committee in the next four years will be in a position to make critical decisions regarding the use of the $250 million school bond, including the final design space and infrastructure decisions impacting two-thirds of the schools in the district. What are your priorities, must-have items, wishlist items, and overall feelings about overseeing this generational investment in our public schools?
Question 3: This summer, the school committee voted to install a new multipurpose artificial turf field and running track at Barrington High School. If elected, will you support the plans to complete the track in turf field at BHS?
Question 4: Some towns and states have begun to adopt cell phone bans in their schools. What is your position on this idea?
Question 5: What are some of the most pressing issues our students face today, particularly our tweens and teens? What would you do at the school committee level to address them across the state?
Question 6: Anti-trans activists are pushing school committees to abolish their transgender, gender diverse, and transitioning policies, which have protected all students for seven years. What is your stance on this issue?
Question 7: Do you believe there are ways the school department could be more fiscally responsible?
Question 8: Barrington has been making some new investments in special education in the past couple of years, such as creating a transition program for students in the age 18 to 22 range, building out its life skills space at the high school, and creating breakout spaces for more individualized instruction in some buildings. Is it enough? What else should the district be doing to improve special education?
Barrington’s trans student policy is entitled “Gender Support and Inclusion Policy for Transgender, Gender-Diverse, and Transitioning Students” and is available at the link.