Mat-Su School Board discusses policy regarding transgender athletes in school sports

At the most recent Mat-Su School Board meeting, members took on the high profile issue of transgender students, particularly transgender women, participating in high school level athletics.

Board Policy 6145 was introduced at a school board meeting June 1 after it was proposed by the MSBSD Policy Committee. The proposal seeks to bar transgender girls from school-sponsored girls’ extracurricular and co-curricular activities, stating that there are significant biological and physiological differences between males and females including strength, speed, and endurance capabilities giving males a competitive advantage.

If passed, each school within the district whose students or teams compete against other schools must designate each school-sponsored athletic team or sport as either male, female or coeducational.

“The proposed amendment of BP6145 extracurricular and co-curricular activities champions women and girls by ensuring an even playing field in athletics,” School Board President Ryan Ponder said.

Most members of the school board spoke in favor of the proposed board policy.

“I view this board policy is a women’s rights issue,” stated board member Thomas Bergey, who then cited his own family’s history of witnessing women given the right vote, lack of female athletics some schools, and pay disparity in the workplace as his mother worked alongside men who received more money. “This is an erosion of female rights. It is a crack and we do not need to go back there…this is a small step backwards.”

Bergey then went on to cite the state’s silence on the issue and that the amendment needs to go through to provide conflict to force the Alaska Schools Activities Association and the state legislature to act.

“How they act is up to them, but they need to act unilaterally because we cannot live in a fractured state. If the state is unwilling to act, to do what they believe is right, then we need to create conflict and force mediation,” he said.

Board member Jubilee Underwood, stated that as a woman who herself played sports on co-ed teams because her school didn’t have enough men and women, “it was always the males that dominated and that we had to play against,” saying that if she’d had the option, would have chosen to play men and women’s teams separately.

“It wasn’t equality and it wasn’t fair,” Underwood said.

“I feel like it’s a war on women, on women’s sports,” she continued, then suggested forming transgender sports teams. “It’s not discrimination, it’s equality…People could participate however they want to participate and then they don’t get excluded from the sports they want to play in,” she stated before adding that she was in favor of the amendment.

The policy mirrors the wording of Sen. Shelley Hughes, who sponsored SB 140 “An Act relating to school athletics, recreation, athletic teams, and sports,” which similarly called for a ban against transgender women competing in women’s sports. The bill did not pass, but MSBSD members said they wanted to enact a similar board policy anyway.

In this new revision, any student in the district who wants to be on a designated girls’ team or sport, their biological sex must be listed as female at or near the time of the participant’s birth on their birth certificate.

“I feel this unfairness will be destructive to the lessons and joys many of our women in athletics have enjoyed,” said board member Jeff Taylor, while also acknowledging that students who identify as transgender and their families should be treated with sensitivity, kindness, compassion, and an abundance of respect and love. He went on to say that the intended meaning of gender pertaining to the specific policy is biological sex at birth, and that while there are plenty of gender-neutral activities, athletics is different, that the policy gives specific reasons to separate sex-specific teams before adding his support to the amendment.

Speaking via telephone, board member Jim Hart added, “We need to challenge the state to come to a decision. At the very least if they won’t come to a decision, we need to.”

School board clerk Dwight Probasco, however, wanted to hear from the legal adviser for the district attorney before making any decisions.

“My question, you know does this amendment conflict with our board policy 0410 about non-discrimination in district programs and activities,” he asked the board and board president Ponder.

Dr. Randy Trani, MSBSD Superintendent, commented that district counsel had been consulted late last year for the exact language of the amendment as it was being proposed, and that members of the policy committee had conferred with other lawyers who have previous experience with similar policies. He added that the amendment could be re-examined if the school board elected to pursue that course of action.

Called into question was the applicability of Title IX, which promises: ‘no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation or be denied the benefit of, or be subject to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance,’ and whether the amendment would violate Title IX.

Probasco told the board that he found cases where the courts have ruled that transgender children can participate in school athletics. He would like to have a legal review of how the amendment would pertain to Title IX, and if there are accommodations that need to be made.

“We talk about a level playing field. That’s singular. And this mentions girls and women, where’s our fields for trans children, and what would they look like?” Probasco said.

He also addressed the section of the amendment regarding what is on a child’s birth certificate, and whether or not the birth certificate is appropriate for determining a child’s eligibility for participation and where a student may participate in a sport. He noted that there are 10 states in the US and 3 American territories that do not require gender designation on the birth certificates.

“What would an administrative reg (regulation) look like in terms of how do you make this work if we have children in a state where we have a lot of people coming from the lower 48 moving here if there’s no designation on their birth certificate? Where does that put the district?” Probasco said.

Probasco later went on to comment that there wasn’t notification to the board members or the public that the policy committee was working on the amendment months prior, but that a notification was made 10 days before the meeting.

Just two members of the public testified to the board about this revision with one in favor and the other in opposition.

“If this ban passes, it tells trans youth, athletes and non-athletes, out or closeted, that the adult leaders in this community are not safe and cannot be trusted,” Robin Moffet said.

Wednesday night was the first reading of the revision and no decision has been made yet. With no board meeting scheduled for July, the policy is being brought to the school board now prior to athletic practices beginning in August. Additionally, if adopted the policy would only affect teams within the Mat-Su School District and have no bearing on teams from other districts competing.

The board policy will appear again at the next school board meeting on June 15.