Parents and community members are invited to give input on where transgender students should use the bathrooms and locker rooms at Center Grove schools at a public meeting next week.
School board members will listen to comments from the public to determine if the school’s transgender policy needs to be updated or revised. The community forum will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, at the Center Grove High School auditorium, 2717 S. Morgantown Road, Greenwood.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education released guidance that transgender students should use the restroom or locker room they identify with, not their birth gender. An attorney told Center Grove school board members that they could either ignore the federal guidance, convert all restrooms to single-stall unisex facilities, install designated unisex bathrooms, work with transgender students individually to find the best solution for them or allow students to choose whichever restroom they want.
At the last school board meeting, four people asked Center Grove to consider revising the policy for where transgender students can use the restroom. Currently, students work with building administrators to determine a solution on a case-by-case basis. For example, a Center Grove junior currently uses the nurse’s office bathroom, instead of using the public restrooms throughout the school building.
If the school board does decide to update the transgender policy, a vote will take place before the start of next school year, Center Grove superintendent Richard Arkanoff said.
