BAYFIELD – The Bayfield School District’s Board of Education is considering a new nondiscrimination policy that would allow students to go by their chosen name or a nickname.
The district has implemented a series of policies over the last several years aimed at curbing potential harassment and discrimination targeting transgender students, just as other districts across Colorado have done under state Title IX laws barring sexual harassment and gender-based harassment of all students.
Transgender rights tend to be a touchy subject in today’s volatile political landscape, with some politicians putting forth legislation targeting that demographic and others working to enhance protections. President-elect Donald Trump pledged to roll back transgender rights protections during his second term.
Bayfield’s policy, which the board has not yet adopted, would involve directing the district superintendent “to establish procedures allowing students to inform the school of their chosen name (or preferred first name such as a nickname) without altering their official name in school records.” Under the policy, students wouldn’t be required to provide proof of a legal name change for a “chosen or preferred name for use at school and during extracurricular activities.”
A portion of the draft policy has a detail discussing parental approval. An edit in a previous revision suggested parental approval would be required for students to go by a chosen name.
That sparked an allegation that the district wasn’t fully implementing its nondiscrimination policies and that it was going against House Bill 24-1039, which requires a school to implement a written policy outlining how the school will honor a student's request to use a chosen name.
Multiple Durango and Bayfield area residents voiced concerns over the potential harm of the district disclosing a student’s chosen or preferred name to family. That, in part, led to the board deciding to start over and have further discussion at its Dec. 10 meeting.
The policy would also require the district to maintain a permanent student record, an “official record,” that includes the student’s name and gender, and that students or parents wishing to alter that student’s name or gender must follow the process under policy JRA/JRC-R, which involves reviewing and amending student education records before a formal hearing with district superintendent Leon Hanhardt that’d be held within 25 days after a request is made.
Hanhardt, who noted the legal mess that could unfold if the matter isn’t resolved, told the board there were multiple iterations of the policy to where he felt it was in the board’s best interest to start over by looking at the original policy and do necessary research entering the Dec. 10 meeting.
mhollinshead@durangoherald.com
