Westerly School Committee moving forward with plan to edit district's transgender student policy

"With all due respect to the previous speaker... That's pathetic."

The Westerly School Committee is finally making good on its promise [threat?] to rewrite the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE)’s Transgender, Gender Diverse, and Transitioning Student policy, weakening many of its key protections for trans students. In March, the Committee voted unanimously to develop a local policy on transgender students, but since then, according to Committee member Diane Chiaradio Bowdy at the September 4th meeting I cover below, “What we've done to date … is nothing.”

The meeting began with some promise, as Superintendent Mark Garceau presented on a Food Insecurity Program and the findings in the book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. I include that information here because occasionally these presentations cameup during public testimony.

No school committee in the state can seemingly avoid having anti-trans activist Robert Chiaradio at the podium, and since Westerly is where Chiaradio lives, his hateful presence is felt more keenly. His time at the podium was spent with his usual fearmongering, but he did spend some time talking about his other favorite subject: banning books he doesn’t approve of from schools and libraries. More interesting was the testimony of Westerly resident Diane Goldsmith, who spoke between Chiarqadio’s two times at the podium.

Robert Chiaradio: There was some very good information in [Superintendent Garceau’s] presentations. I would add that the same issue exists with non-age-appropriate books in our libraries. Kids are exposed to a lot. I've talked about this many times. I would like us to examine the nature of the selections in our libraries. We're talking about the same thing here, not apples to oranges, apples to apples. I would urge this committee to take a further look at what we curate in our libraries.

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After this small detour, Chiaradio got back to his favorite subject, denying the very existence of trans people - this time going so far as to say, “I don't use the term trans. That's not a term I use.” Chiaradio prefers the term, “those who are confused with their sexual identity.”

Robert Chiaradio: I'm here to talk about an agenda item, the transgender protocol, which is on the [agenda]. Since May, I have been traveling around Rhode Island speaking at school committee meetings about rides harmful and untruthful transgender guidance, as well as the Biden administration's attempted hijacking of Title IX. I've completed 25 meetings so far. I have 11 to go, and I'm very optimistic that at least half of the school committees with whom I've spoken will make significant changes to their policies. This committee got it all started back in March when it voted unanimously, I believe, to write its policy or at least scrap the one that they have, write its own, or not have a policy.

Other school committees are very interested in what you are doing. I've been just about everywhere, so that is a good thing. But just for the people here and watching at home, I would like to update you all [and] let you all know what is in the RIDE protocol that is currently policy here in Westerly.

This policy allows boys to utilize the same bathrooms and locker rooms as girls. It allows biological boys to room with girls on overnight field trips. It mandates that teachers and staff utilize pronouns as deemed by the student. It allows biological boys to compete with and against girls athletically, and it allows the keeping of secrets - [which] may be the most egregious thing - the keeping of secrets from parents regarding the social transitioning of their kids while in school. Most would feel, as most on this committee, do I think, that much of this is nonsense.

These pillars here are no good - they're discriminatory, and I'll get into that in a minute. We've lost our common sense here - I think we could agree on that. All of this is predicated on the false premise, of course, that sex is fluid, which it is not. It is not. No matter how much a boy wants to be a girl, think he's a girl, or dress like a girl, he will never be a girl. Never, never. Same with girls who identify as boys. Wanting to be something or simply declaring you are something does not make it so.

Current RIDE guidance, as well as this current administration's attempted Title IX hijacking, places our girls in uncomfortable, unsafe, and unfair situations. As you all know, Title IX was enacted to prevent sex-based discrimination against women, not men who pretend to be women. That is not the same thing.

Usually, I have a plethora of speakers following me around. They're not here tonight. They will tell you about the suicide rates of this population, but what they won't tell you is that these rates increase post-treatment and that well over 50% of them show up on the autism spectrum. This is a very vulnerable population that we're talking about. Kids are duped by gender-driven ideologues into taking non-reversible puberty blockers and mangling their bodies with surgery. They will never reproduce. Never. Their lives will be [ones of] constant infections and non-functioning sexual organs. Big med and big pharma love it. This is a whole new pool of people for them. They love it. This is the trans cult I talk about. Not the kids. The kids are the victims.

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Diane Goldsmith [Westerly resident]: First of all, I'd like to say that I was very impressed by both presentations and it seems to me that one of the things that prevents bullying and overuse of phones is when students are involved in activities like spending their time labeling cartons so that they can feed hungry people. The more of those kinds of activities, I think, the better off we are.

One thing I want to say, I feel like you know what Bob and I are going to say. It's silly for us to say any of it, but I will make the point that I am fascinated by the fact in all of these conversations about boys pretending to be girls, never once have we talked about girls that transition into boys and what it means to tell those kids that they need to use the girls' bathroom.

I mean, I don't know what you're talking about, but I have friends who are 18-year-olds that have mustaches and hair and whatever. I'm not sure that's who you want in the girls' bathroom.

The last point I want to make is that I'm always a little suspicious of men who are doing things to ‘protect’ women. That's what we had when women couldn't run marathons - because men decided that women weren't strong enough; that pregnant women couldn't work on airliners because they weren't able to; or that women couldn't have the same 40-hour-a-week jobs as men because women were weaker.

I don't know what this is about, but I don't think what we're talking about here merits the time and the amount of conversation that we had. The important work is the work that Dr. Garceau has talked about. The food insecurity work. That's what's important, rather than this. I don't even know how many people are affected by this policy because no one in any of these discussions has ever brought to us one single incident that's affected a student or a teacher here at the school - at least not in any conversation I've heard. I would urge you all to move on and do the important work that the school committee does.

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Robert Chiaradio: With all due respect to the previous speaker - You're suspicious of somebody who cares about girls? That's pathetic. Secondly, there is a solution and it's already going on in some of our schools. It is a single-use lockable facility for any kid who is uncomfortable using the bathroom of his or her biological sex. That's the solution. You're doing it now, I believe, in some schools, I know a bunch of people that I've talked to in different districts are doing it. There's just no need to single out kids who are confused with their sexual identity in that policy. It should be any kid. They should all be treated the same. Kids who are confused with their sexual identities don't deserve any more or any less protection than any other kid. That's how it is.

I don't know what else [the previous speaker] said, but she's suspicious of ... me, I guess because I care about all kids, girls in particular. I have a daughter. I don't want a daughter in a locker room or changing facility with a man next to her changing. I don't want that. I think most sane people would not want that. Not that that population is inherently dangerous - I've never said that, but it is a comfort and a safety issue for our girls and it's just not right. That is the hill I will die on folks. I'm not going to budge from that feeling.

The deflection is massive on this issue. Of course, they want to talk about anything but what is going on? That is the trans cult that I'm talking about. They need to be stopped. The kids are the victims here.

Lastly, these policies discriminate against 99% of our school population. And this must be fixed. That's what you all voted to do last March. It is now September. I and others look forward to listening, when this agenda item comes up tonight. I trust you will formulate a sensible solution that protects all kids, not just those who are confused with their sexual identity.

I don't use the term trans. That's not a term I use. Stop discriminating against biological girls and boys. Every single kid deserves the same protection. And there are solutions out there that can be easily had. It just takes common sense.

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Committee member Lori Wycall: Thank you both for coming to the podium. I agree with both Diane and Bob tonight. The time and energy that we've put into this just blows my mind. There is a common-sense solution that I think we can get to as a committee where every kid will be safe. Both Bob and Diane said it - single-use bathrooms, where anybody can go to feel safe and protected. The problem is solved. This is just too much conversation for things that don't affect our general population and that's what we're here for. We're here for all of the kids and doing what's best for them. I think that we can do that. We agreed that we would rewrite or write our policy. I think we can get there - something that's common sense and can do everything that needs to happen for the kids.

Committee member Leslie Dunn: Thank you to both of our speakers. I know we're going to discuss it more when it comes up, so I'll save some of my comments for that. But it needs to be said that for any students or families who are part of the trans community and in general in our school population - these are very tough conversations to be had and to hear. I hope people are practicing self-care and doing what they need to do because one thing we can't do here is to determine whether this is somebody being confused, a boy is a boy, a girl is a girl - That's not something I think anybody on this body can do to address that to our whole school population. But what we can do is understand what the community's doing.

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45 minutes later, the committee took up the policy. Here’s the discussion, edited for clarity and brevity:

Committee member Diane Chiaradio Bowdy: I asked to put this back on the agenda because we did talk about the transgender policy a long time ago and I've been getting questions from people within Westerly and school committee members outside of Westerly. I wanted to put it on the agenda so we can [do] what we said we would do, which was create our document.

What we've done to date… is nothing. I want to bring it out because the topic keeps coming up. That's it.

Committee member Michael Ober: It's come up a couple of times. It seems like we're not stuck on it, but this is an issue that will take a lot of time and will take people to look at it. I was thinking that we should send it to the new Equity Subcommittee to review, have open meetings on it, and have experts come and talk to us about it, as well as community members, staff, and school committee members.

If we're going to write a policy on it, let's have them look at it and open up the public meetings and review it and they can send it back to us for review.

Committee member Robert Cillino: For me, we write the policy The seven of us now who are up here, we're the ones who write the policy. And when we come up with something we can take feedback on, we will, and we'll present it here. We'll have a first reading, we'll have a second reading, and as many readings as we need to - and go back and make edits and changes as necessary. But we're the ones who need to make sure that we're writing a policy.

Committee member Lori Wycall: I agree with Rob. I think we should do a workshop with the six of us and who knows, maybe we look back and go our handbook. Who knows? We should sit down as a group - not at a regular meeting like this - it would take an hour of discussion at least to get it going. I'd like to make a motion that we look at our calendars... and put something on the calendar.

Committee member Robert Cillino: Do we need a motion? I think we can look and we can set a date.

Committee member Diane Chiaradio Bowdy: I know Leslie and Mike just mentioned getting people involved who are affected by the policy. I don't know that any of us are experts on it. I don't know if the six of us could come up with something and then get it reviewed as Mike is saying by by the new [equity] committee that we formed.

Committee member Michael Ober: A meeting is a good idea. After that, we want to have an open forum and then come back to a regular school committee meeting and approve or go forward with it.

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The meeting was scheduled for September 17th at 5 pm.