Mat-Su School Board suspends transgender use of communal bathrooms and locker rooms that match their identified gender

In front of a standing-room only board room, the Mat-Su School Board voted on Wednesday to revise a district guideline to suspend transgender use of communal bathrooms and locker rooms that match their identified gender.

The board voted 5-1 to suspend the policy which was created in 2015.

Wednesday’s vote by the school board directs Mat-Su Borough School District Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani to suspend the use of those guidelines. District schools will continue to offer transgender students the use of school bathrooms that provide individual locked access and privacy, for locker room use, but not allow the students to use communal bathrooms or locker rooms that match their gender identity. Transgender students will continue to have access to communal bathrooms and locker rooms that match their sex assigned at birth.

Board member Ole Larson is part of a committee that reviews district policies. The board policy review committee works to update and revise board policies. During each week a board policy is highlighted and shared with schools to be enforced. Guidelines though are not policy. They are developed in response to events and are used to offer guidance to school leaders for actions.

“On this policy we did review it with our attorney as we did with the fair playing field policy and I am in support 100 % of the action item,” Larson said during the meeting.

Members Larson, Jim Hart, Tom Bergey, Jeff Taylor and Jubilee Underwood voted in favor. Board member Dwight Probasco was the lone dissent to suspend the guideline. He said that the board should look for a, “solution that involves the dignity and respect for all students. What should our guidelines in 2022 look like?”

Board president Ryan Ponder was absent during the Wednesday meeting. Hart, the vice president, limited public comments to two minutes per speaker to allow more comments heard in the hour-long comment period. Comments were unanimous in opposition to the guideline and urged the board to suspend the practice of allowing transgender students to use gender identified bathrooms and locker rooms.

The original guideline, drafted in 2015, was in line with the United States Department of Education’s Title IX guidance. It allowed transgender students to use communal bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz contributed. Contact the Frontiersman at news@frontiersman.com.