By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Despite federal officials’ decision to withdraw earlier guidelines with respect to transgender students’ access to facilities, such as bathrooms and locker rooms that match their sense of gender identity, the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District has no plans to change its practices., The school district adopted a policy last year that ensures that “all students, including transgender students, have equal educational opportunities and equal access to the school district’s educational programs and activities.”, Transgender describes students whose gender identity is different than their gender assigned at birth – male or female. A student may have been born a male but psychologically identifies as a female, just as a student who was born a female may identify psychologically as a male., The transgender policy adopted by the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District’s Board of Education in January 2016 is in line with statements of policy and guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice in 2015 and 2016., Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, sex discrimination is prohibited in educational programs and activities operated by schools that receive federal funds. The prohibition extends to discrimination based on a student’s gender identity, according to a letter from the two departments issued in 2016., But a letter issued Feb. 22 by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice rescinds those policies because of the lack of legal analysis and because the policies did not undergo any formal public process. The departments believe it is up to the states and local school districts to establish educational policy., In response to the Feb. 22 letter, Superintendent of Schools David Aderhold issued a statement to school district staff that states the district “remains committed to providing a safe, supportive and inclusive learning environment for all of our students, including those that identify as transgender.”, The policy adopted by the school board in 2016 “codifies the strong held belief of the Board of Education and the district: all students should have equal educational opportunities and equal access to educational programs and activities,” Aderhold wrote., “In the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, we support the rights of the members of our LGTBQ community and are committed to providing an environment that is free of discrimination and which promoted equality for all individuals,” Aderhold wrote.
