Central Bucks West teachers pushed back against the directive, saying they won’t deadname trans students or out them to others.
2 years ago
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The Central Bucks School District is discriminating against LGBTQ students, the ACLU of Pennsylvania alleges in a complaint it filed Thursday with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education.
The ACLU claims that Central Bucks, the fourth largest school district in Pennsylvania, is violating Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution — overall creating a “hostile environment” for LGBTQ students.
The school board and “complicit upper-level administrators” have “exacerbated the hostile environment by making homophobic and transphobic statements, enacting blatantly discriminatory practices and policies targeting LGBTQ+ students, and retaliating against teachers and staff who support LGBTQ+ students,” the complaint says.
The ACLU cites policies censoring books, procedures about not using students’ correct pronouns and names, directives censoring the materials that teachers can hang in classrooms and intimidating teachers into self-censoring their materials, and administrative decisions punishing staff who speak out against anti-LGBTQ directives, among others, as examples of Central Bucks’ discriminatory practices and policies.
These measures have led to a noticeable increase in severe anti-LGBTQ bullying and harassment between students, according to the ACLU. Trans students report being afraid to go to school, and being afraid to eat lunch in the cafeteria, opting to eat in the bathroom or classrooms of supportive teachers. One former trans student attempted suicide in response to the bullying.
The district has demonstrated a “chronic failure to take reasonable and necessary measures” to address the bullying, the complaint states.
The students and families behind the complaint are asking the U.S. Department of Education to order Central Bucks to “rescind its discriminatory policies and directives” and to “take whatever additional measures are necessary to eliminate the hostile environment for LGBTQ+ students.”
The students and families also are asking that the U.S. Department of Education order Central Bucks to follow federal recommendations for supporting transgender and other gender non-conforming students. Those guidelines include using inclusive language, adopting policies that respect all students’ gender identities, and providing professional development opportunities for educators on equitable treatment of historically underserved students, including LGBTQ youth.
The ACLU says its team interviewed “dozens of LGBTQ+ students and their parents, current and former Central Bucks teachers, counselors, librarians, and other staff, and a variety of community stakeholders.”
The complaint includes seven stories from Central Bucks students and their families. Several more LGBTQ+ students and parents shared their stories but chose not to take part in the action, out of fear of retaliation from Central Bucks officials, according to the ACLU report.
The filing has a list of six policies, public statements, and actions they claim are discriminatory:
The report also lists six ways the district has rejected staff training on LGBTQ inclusivity and intimidated staff who oppose Central Bucks’ actions.
The complaint says district administrators took these actions even though many students, parents, and teachers had notified them of “pervasive” bullying of LGBTQ students in district schools.
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