Kane County Reporter

An Elgin Area School District U-46 board member takes issue with the administration's decision to add gender identity to the list of attributes for which employees cannot be harassed or discriminated against because, she says, it could mean female-identifying teachers who are biologically male could supervise female students in locker rooms.

Jeanette Ward said the debate arose from changes proposed by the administration for acceptance by the board that included adding gender identity to the list of attributes for which employees may not be harassed, or discriminated against for teacher transfers. 

"(District Chief Legal Counsel Miguel) Rodriguez's responses did not allay my concerns that teachers could be disciplined or prosecuted for refusing to refer to a colleague by the sex they are not," Ward said in an interview with the Kane County Reporter. "Rodriguez also admitted publicly that a biological male could potentially be assigned to supervise a girls locker room—and, presumably, that a biological female could potentially be assigned to supervise a boys locker room."

Jeannette Ward

Ward said this should concern every parent.

"These policy changes, upon which the board will vote on Feb. 4, set the district up for profound potential legal challenges," Ward said.

Ward said her biggest concerns are twofold.

"Peer to peer, teachers could be compelled to use language that violates their deeply held convictions and First Amendment rights," Ward said.

Ward said, for example, it could be construed to mean that a teacher who refuses to refer to another teacher by the sex they are not is harassing them.

"Adding language to a policy that prohibits discrimination based on 'gender identity' in teacher transfers could mean that a biologically male teacher could demand to supervise female students in, say, locker rooms," Ward said.

Ward said when she voiced her concerns recently, a fellow board member rudely interrupted her and indicated that her comments were political and that she was getting tired of hearing them.

"The addition of 'gender identification' to school policy is on its face political," Ward said. "My responsibility as a board member is to perform my fiduciary duty in assessing and warning of risks that changes in policy may bring about which could adversely affect the district. I will never tire of doing so."

During a recent school board meeting, when Ward asked about the possibility of a biologically male teacher being assigned to a female student locker room, Rodriguez said yes.

"I think this policy leaves it open because it says, 'Personnel will be assigned without regard to race, creed, color, gender or gender identification,' which includes allowing a biologically male person who thinks he’s a female to be in charge of girls in the locker room. And apparently, we’re not going to tell parents," she said at the meeting.

Ward asked that the language of the decision be revised to clarify what kind of speech constitutes harassment in order to protect free speech and bring the policy into alignment with court decisions.

She also requested that harassment is defined as verbal or physical conduct that is "severe, pervasive and objectively offensive," which is the same language used in the U.S. Supreme Court decision Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education.