Transgender Bathroom Issue Briefly Comes Up in Ohio Board of Education Meeting

by Michelle Faust

A Northeast Ohio Board of Education member wants local districts to decide for themselves how to handle bathroom policies for transgender students.
 

Sarah Fowler of Rock Creek proposed (see proposal below) Tuesday that local school boards be given an alternative to an Obama administration recommendation.

Last month, the U.S. Board Of Education and the Justice Department sent a letter of guidance to schools, instructing them to allow students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity.

Fowler wants the board to send each district in the state a copy of a response by Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine (see document below). In the letter, the A.G. calls the federal guidance “unlawful and ill-advised.”

“Really the intent of that resolution is to provide guidance to local school districts. so, they can have information available on both sides of the topic—or all sides. There are so many issues at hand that they need to be aware of to be able to make an informed decision,” says Fowler.

The State Board Of Education chose to put the matter to a future meeting of their executive committee.