The Worcester School District’s Standing Committee on Teaching, Learning and Student Success addressed a petition seeking the use of a Gender Support Plan provided by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that one educator says has been held up for years.
The petition, filed by Burncoat High School teacher Andrew Willis, was discussed Sept. 24, nearly five years after Willis and members of the school department attended a conference where DESE presented a Gender Support Plan as a guideline for preserving a student’s confidentiality regarding gender identity. Since the conference, Willis has championed implementing the plan in Worcester and said the School Committee has not acted on it since receiving it two and a half years ago.
A copy of a plan document from Gender Spectrum was included in the meeting packet and indicates the purpose of the document is to “create shared understandings of how the student’s authentic gender will be accounted for and supported at schools.” It also encourages collaboration in determining how a student’s gender identity should be discussed among school staff, including with the student’s caregivers.
Willis said DESE’s expectation is for schools to establish a protocol under which school personnel speak with a student before discussing gender nonconformity or transgender status with a parent or guardian. He said staff should also discuss with students how the school should refer to them, including pronoun use in written correspondence, and establish a plan for using chosen names and pronouns consistent with a student’s gender identity.
Willis said the lack of a plan is even more concerning as DESE prepares to visit Burncoat next year, when he feels he will need to address the district’s inaction.
“I don’t know what I can say to my students when they come to me with this issue, ” said Willis, “and because DESE is actually showing up to Burncoat High in February to have a meeting for the LGBTQ students, I don’t know what to say to them if they ask me what’s going on with this Gender Support Plan. I don’t want to embarrass the school department if we don’t have this put forward. We need to do something.”
The discussion also included firsthand accounts from several transgender students who said they had been outed without their consent and forced to endure bullying or educate others about their identities.
Konstantin Kibe, a Burncoat senior who uses he/they pronouns, was one of those students. Kibe said they were outed last year to both teachers and students and felt the situation could have been avoided if a Gender Support Plan had been in place.
“I didn’t find out until the day after that this had all happened,” said Kibe, “and it was left up to me, a 16-year-old, to do damaged control and educate all the adults on how we should handle matters concerning transgender students, but also to do damage control within the actual students in my classes. This Gender Support Plan would have prevented that from ever happening.”
The administration offered little input on the matter. Tom Toney, administrative director of Positive Youth Development, said the district works closely with DESE’s Safe Schools Program and consults legal counsel to ensure it is following DESE guidelines.
The committee voted 2-1 to file the item, with Alejandro Guardiola and Maureen Binienda in favor and Vanessa Alvarez opposed. Alvarez said she was uncomfortable with filing the item.
Binienda also made a successful motion requesting a written report from the administration outlining practices already in place to support transgender and LGBTQ students.
Jason Bleau, a seasoned reporter from Connecticut’s Quiet Corner, has more than 11 years of news media experience. He has worked as a news anchor for WINY 1350 AM, contributed to Stonebridge Press publications, and covered racing as a Press Box coordinator at Thompson Speedway. Outside journalism, he is a movie enthusiast, freelance film reviewer, banker and solo musician. He can be reached at bleau.jason@yahoo.com
