The board believes in fostering an educational environment that is safe and free of discrimination for all students, regardless of gender expression, gender identity, sex, or sexual orientation. To that end, the board recognizes the importance of an inclusive approach toward transgender and non-binary, gender-expansive students with regard to key terms, communication and the use of names and pronouns, student records, confidential health and education information, communication, restroom, and locker room use, and accessibility, sports, and physical education, dress codes, and other school activities, in order to provide these students with an equal opportunity for learning and achievement.
 
This policy is a component of the district s responsibility to create and maintain a safe, civil, respectful, and inclusive learning community and will be implemented in conjunction with comprehensive training of staff and volunteers. Specific training requirements are included in the accompanying procedure. The superintendent will appoint a primary contact to receive copies of all formal and informal complaints and ensure policy implementation. The name and contact information for the compliance officer will be communicated throughout the district. The district compliance officer will participate in at least one mandatory training opportunity offered by OSPI.
 
This policy and its procedure will support that effort by facilitating district compliance with local, state, and federal laws concerning harassment, intimidation, bullying, and discrimination. 
 
Legal References:
RCW 28A.642 Discrimination prohibition
20 U.S.C. 1232g, 34 C.F.R., Family Education Rights, and Privacy Part 99 Act
 
Prohibiting Discrimination in Washington Public Schools OSPI Guidelines for school districts to implement Chapters 28A.640 and 28A.642 RCW and 392-190 WAC (February 2012)
 
Cross References:
2145 Suicide Prevention
3210 Nondiscrimination
3207 Prohibition of Harassment, Intimidation or Bullying
3231 Student Records
 
Management Resources:
Policy & Legal News, July 2019
Policy & Legal News, December 2014
Policy & Legal News, December 2013

The principal or building administrator or an appropriate, designated school employee is encouraged to request a meeting with a transgender, non-binary or gender-expansive student upon the student s enrollment in the district, or in response to a currently enrolled student s change of gender expression or identity. Before contacting a student s parents, the school will consult with the student about the student s preferences regarding family involvement.
 
The goals of the meeting are to:
develop an understanding of that student s individual needs with respect to their gender expression or identity, including any accommodations that the student is requesting or that the district will provide according to Policy 3211 and this procedure and under state and federal law; and
 
develop a shared understanding of the student's day-to-day routine within the school so as to foster a relationship and help alleviate any apprehensions the student may have with regard to their attendance at school.
The school may not require the student to attend meetings as a condition of providing them with the protections to which they are entitled under Policy 3211, this procedure, and state and federal law regarding gender expression or identity.
 
Key Definitions/Terms
Assigned sex at birth: The sex a person was designated as at birth, usually based on observable anatomical characteristics or in some instances on anatomy or chromosomes (e.g., male, female, intersex, etc.).
 
Cisgender: A term used to describe people whose assigned sex matches their gender identity and/or gender expression (e.g., someone who was assigned female at birth and whose gender identity and/or gender expression is also female.
 
Gender Expansive: A wider, more flexible range of gender identities or expressions than those typically associated with the binary gender system.
 
Gender Expression: The external ways in which a person expresses their gender to the world, such as through their behavior, emotions, mannerisms, dress, grooming habits, interests, and activities.
 
Gender Identity: A person's internal and deeply-felt sense of being female, male, both, non-binary, gender-expansive, or other regardless of the assigned sex or assigned gender role at birth.
 
Transgender (Trans): An umbrella term often used to describe a person whose gender identity or expression, or both, are different from those traditionally associated with their assigned sex or assigned gender role assigned at birth.
 
Transitioning: The multi-dimensional (social and/or medical) process in which a person transitions from living their life in the gender role they were assigned at birth to living the gender they identify with.
Gender Role: Th binary-only (masculine/feminine) societal stereotypes and expectations
artificially associated with a person’s assigned sex at birth.
 
Communication and Use of Names and Pronouns
 
An appropriate school employee will privately ask known transgender or gender-expansive students how they would like to be addressed in class, in correspondence to the home, and at conferences with the student s parent/guardian. That information will be included in the electronic student record system along with the student s legal name in order to inform teachers and staff of the name and pronoun by which to address the student. However, the student s legal name should be accessible by only necessary staff members it should not be visible to teachers or other staff who have access to the electronic records system.
 
When appropriate or necessary, this information will be communicated directly with staff to facilitate the use of proper names and pronouns. A student is not required to change their official records or obtain a court-ordered name and/or gender change as a prerequisite to being addressed by the name and pronoun that corresponds to their gender identity.
 
When communicating with transgender or gender-expansive students regarding particular issues such as conduct, discipline, grades, attendance, or health, school employees will focus on the conduct or particular issues rather than making assumptions regarding the student s actual or perceived gender identity or gender expression. Before communicating with parents of transgender or gender-expansive students, it's important to ask the student how school employees should refer to the student when talking with their parents and guardians. For families who are supportive, using the student s name and pronoun could be affirming for the student. For parents who are not supportive, or who are not aware of the student s transition at school, referring to their name and pronoun could be very dangerous. The district will not condone the intentional or persistent refusal to respect a student s gender identity or gender expression, or inappropriate release of information regarding a student s transgender or gender-expansive status.
 
Official Records
 
The standardized high school transcript is the only official record that requires a student s legal name. School staff should adopt practices to avoid the inadvertent disclosure of the student s transgender or gender-expansive status. The District will change a student's official records to reflect a change in legal name upon receipt of:
Documentation that the student s legal name or gender has been changed pursuant to a court order or through amendment of state or federally-issued identification; or
 
A written, signed statement explaining that the student has exercised a common-law name change and has changed their name for all intents and purposes and that the change has not been made for fraudulent reasons. 
Schools may change a student's official gender designation upon parent or student request pursuant to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction s (OSPI s) process found at (https://www.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/public/cedars/pubdocs/2018-19cedarsreportingguidance.pdf) The process should not be overly cumbersome, and the district may not require verification from a physician.
 
The school must use the name and gender by which the student identifies on all other records, including but not limited to school identification cards, classroom seating charts, athletic rosters, yearbook entries, diplomas, directory information.
 
Confidential Health or Educational Information
 
Information about a student's gender identity, legal name, or assigned sex at birth may constitute confidential medical or educational information. Disclosing this information to other students, their parents or other third parties may violate privacy laws, such as the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. 1232; 34 C.F.R. Part 99). Therefore, to ensure the safety and well-being of the student, school employees should not disclose a student's transgender or gender-expansive status to others, including the student's parents and/or other school personnel, unless the school is (1) legally required to do so or (2) the student has authorized such disclosure.
 
Restroom Accessibility
 
Students will be allowed to use the restroom that corresponds to the gender identity they assert at school. No student will be required to use a restroom that conflicts with their gender identity. Any student regardless of gender identity who requests greater privacy should be given access to an alternative restroom. However, schools may not require a student to use an alternative restroom because of their transgender or gender-expansive status.
 
Locker Room Accessibility
 
The use of locker rooms by transgender or gender-expansive students will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, with the goal of maximizing transgender or gender-expansive student social integration, providing an equal opportunity to participate in physical education classes and athletic opportunities, and ensuring the student s safety. The district will take an approach that conforms with OSPI s guidelines. In most cases, the district should provide the student access to the locker room that corresponds to the gender identity they assert at school. Reasonable alternatives to locker room conditions for any student who wants additional privacy include, but are not limited to:
Use of a private area (e.g., nearby restroom stall with a door, an area separated by a curtain, an office in the locker room, or a nearby health office restroom);
 
A separate changing schedule (e.g., utilizing the locker room before or after the other students.
The school will provide accommodations needed to allow the student to keep their transgender or gender-expansive status private. No student, however, will be required to use a locker room that conflicts with their gender identity.
 
Sports and Physical Education Classes
 
The District will provide all students, including transgender and gender-expansive students, the opportunity to participate in physical education and athletic programs/opportunities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity.
A student may seek a review of his or her eligibility for participation in interscholastic athletics by working through the Gender Identity Participation procedure set forth by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA).
 
Dress Codes
 
The District will allow students to dress in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity and/or gender expression within the constraints of the dress codes adopted at their school site and within the constraints of the District guidelines for dress as they relate to health and safety issues (e.g., prohibitions on wearing gang-related apparel). School dress codes will be gender-neutral and will not restrict a student's clothing choices on the basis of gender. The district will take an approach that conforms with OSPI s guidelines.
 
Other School Activities
 
In any school activity or other circumstances involving separation by gender (e.g., class discussions, field trips, and overnight trips), students will be permitted to participate in accordance with the gender identity they assert at school. Teachers and other school employees will make every effort to separate students based on factors other than gender where practicable.
 
Training and Professional Development
 
The district will designate one person to be the primary contact regarding this policy and procedure relating to transgender or gender-expansive students. The primary contact must participate in at least one mandatory training opportunity offered by OSPI. When possible, the District will conduct staff training and ongoing professional development in an effort to build the skills of all staff members to prevent, identify, and respond to harassment and discrimination. The content of such professional development should include, but not be limited to:
Terms and concepts related to gender identity, gender expression, and gender diversity in children and adolescents;
 
Appropriate strategies for communicating with students and parents about issues related to gender identity and gender expression, while protecting student privacy;
 
Strategies for preventing and intervening in incidents of harassment and discrimination, including bullying and cyber-bullying;
 
District and staff responsibilities under applicable laws and district policies regarding harassment, discrimination, and gender identity and gender expression issues.
Discrimination and Harassment Complaints
 
Discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression are prohibited within the district. It is the responsibility of each school, the District, and all staff to ensure that all students, including transgender and gender-expansive students, have a safe school environment. The scope of this responsibility includes ensuring that any incident of discrimination or harassment is given immediate attention and/or reported to the person designated as the primary contact relating to transgender or gender-expansive students. The primary contact will communicate with the district s Civil Rights Compliance Coordinator.
 
Complaints alleging discrimination or harassment based on a person s actual or perceived gender identity or expression are to be taken seriously and handled in the same manner as other discrimination and harassment complaints. This includes investigating the incident and taking age and developmentally-appropriate corrective action. Anyone may file a complaint alleging a violation of this policy using the complaint process outlined in the district s Nondiscrimination Procedure 3210P.

I will identify and disrupt my biases and own my privilege;
 
I know my culture/race/ethnicity and its relationship to and impact on others;
 
I will disrupt deficit oriented language and/or practices toward other persons, groups, etc;
 
I will manage the dynamics of difference;
 
I am proactively learning from, about, and with the communities I serve;
 
I will embrace and leverage the unique differences each learner brings to educate and empower them;
 
I will dismantle practices and policies that perpetuate oppression;
 
I will design experiences and spaces that promote unbounded growth and outcomes for each student.

District Beliefs

To ensure achievement of each student, the following beliefs drive our strategic engagement:

A belief that our equity discourse needs to shift from potentially deficit language and assumptions about students and families. Specifically, we accept the responsibility of the educational debt owed to students we have failed to serve.
 
A belief that equitable access to schools, classrooms, resources, and services provided by the district requires acknowledgment of potentially unequal learning needs.
 
A belief that it is the district's responsibility to evaluate and correct policies and procedures that have resulted in inequitable, negative educational impacts.
 
A belief that the staffing composition of administrators, teachers, and all other personnel that is representative of the diversity in the district is paramount to designing and implementing successful policy and procedure solutions to achieve equity and diversity.
 
A belief that education of exceptional quality for all students includes a greater appreciation of and respect for racial and cultural differences.
 
A belief that all students, staff, parents, and community members have a vested interest in and should work together to correct system inequities.
 
A belief that all students have the potential for academic achievement regardless of circumstances.
 
A belief that our work can and will properly serve each student.

District Commitments

Family, Student and Community Engagement and Partnerships

Camas School District employees will cultivate and implement equitable practices for and with our students, their families, and other community members, including:
Intentionally seeking and including students' multiple perspectives, particularly racial perspectives, in the development and implementation of culturally responsive teaching and learning practices and curriculum;
 
Engaging family and community members with staff and students, district-wide and at school and program sites, in the development and implementation of culturally appropriate and effective partnerships between home and school;
 
Inviting and including community members to bring multiple cultural perspectives to examining and solving issues that arise; and,
 
Ensuring each site is welcoming and inclusive to all members. 

Leadership

Camas School District leaders will ensure that equity guides employee actions and leads to improved academic results by:
Ensuring the student's voices is viewed as critical and incorporated routinely in decision-making.
 
A continuous and comprehensive review of disaggregated district-, school-, and student-level data to identify areas of disproportionally and identify strategies to ensure demographic profile no longer predicts student outcomes.
 
Recruiting, employing, supporting, retaining, and continuously developing a workforce of culturally conscious and responsive administrative, instructional, and support personnel who will bring their unique talents and skills into our school system.
 
Modeling equity in professional practices, including but not limited to, decision-making and resource allocation.
 
Focusing accountability systems and metrics on equitable results with a priority on race, ability, and socioeconomic status.
 
Providing multiple opportunities and varied pathways to success in order to meet the needs of the diverse student body, and actively encouraging, supporting, and expecting high academic achievement for all students.
 
Distributing resources in a way that considers equity in a performance-based budgeting philosophy in order to eliminate or significantly reduce systemic, measurable inequities in achievement.
 
Provide students with equitable access to high-quality curriculum, programs, teachers and administrators, extracurricular activities, and support services, even when this means differentiating resource allocation.

Teaching and Learning

Camas School District employees will work together to increase their individual and collective capacity to effectively teach each student by:
Ensuring a positive and academically rigorous school environment that engages all students and includes multiple pathways for success;
 
Collaborating with all staff, teachers, and administrators to create and implement culturally responsive instructional practices, curriculum and assessments; and,
 
Eliminating practices that lead to the over- or under-representation of any student group compared to peers.

Professional Development

Provide ongoing professional development for all district stakeholders including board, staff, and community members to recognize and eliminate influences of bias and oppression.
 
Train staff to use a race and equity decision-making tool.
 
Support ongoing staff training on the differentiation of instruction and assessment.

Equity in Systems and Operations

Develop and strategically use a race and equity decision-making tool.
 
Collect, analyze, use, and share disaggregated data, as legally allowable, with a race and equity lens.
 
Identify barriers and transform practices, including assessment, which lead to the over-representation of students of color and/or socioeconomic status in areas such as, but not limited to, special education and discipline.
 
Identify barriers and transform practices, including assessment, which lead to the under-representation of students of color, ability, and/or socioeconomic status in programs such as, but not limited to, Highly Capable, Honors, accelerated, and Advanced Placement courses.
 
Recognize and empower under-represented families as essential partners so that all students are successful.
 
Commit to equitable budgetary alignment. 

Workforce Equity

Formally and informally recognize the value of a diverse workforce.
 
Make appropriate efforts within existing legal frameworks to recruit, hire, support, and retain racially and linguistically diverse staff.

Student Outcomes

Raise the achievement of all students while narrowing the gaps between the lowest and highest performing students.
 
Eliminate the racial, ability, and socioeconomic predictability and disproportionally in all aspects of education and its administration.
 
Ensure each student, regardless of race, ability, or class, graduates from the Camas School District ready to succeed in a racially and culturally diverse local, national, and global community.
 
In order to achieve educational equity for our students, the Camas School District will provide each student with equitable access to a high-quality curriculum, support, facilities, and other educational resources, even when this means differentiating resource allocation.

Monitoring and Progress Reporting

The district's strategic plan is the district's primary equity plan, as we will not reach our ambitious goals without ensuring all students are prepared for college, career, and citizenship. The Superintendent is directed to provide regular updates to the Board and school community on the strategic plan objectives and to ensure that an equity lens is used in each update. When relevant and appropriate, this includes evaluating our accountability measures and their effectiveness through bringing disaggregated data to the Board, providing information on how funding is differentiated based on student needs, or how programs or services are being implemented to ensure each student is being served. The district shall review existing policies, programs, professional development, and procedures to ensure the promotion of racial equity, and all applicable new policies, programs, and procedures will be developed using a racial equity analysis tool.
 
Cross References:
5010 Nondiscrimination and Affirmative Action
5010P Nondiscrimination and Affirmative Action
 
Legal References:
Title VI, Civil Rights Act of 1964
RCW 28A.400.310 Law against discrimination applicable to districts employment practices
RCW 49.60.030 Freedom from discrimination
RCW 49.60.180 Unfair practices of employers
RCW 49.60.400 Discrimination, preferential treatment prohibited
WAC 392-190 Equal Education Opportunity
WAC 392-190-0592 Public school employment