Boulder Valley School District reaffirms commitment to support transgender students

[kag]

Source: Boulder Daily Camera

Boulder Valley Superintendent Bruce Messinger sent a reminder Thursday morning to the school district's leadership team that the district will continue to support and advocate for transgender students.

The reaffirmation of the district's support came after President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday rescinded Obama-era federal transgender student guidance. The guidance carried no force of law.

Without the Obama directive, it will be up to states and school districts to interpret federal anti-discrimination law and determine whether students should have access to restrooms in accordance with their expressed gender identity and not just their biological sex.

Boulder Valley's support for transgender and gender non-conforming students was held up as an example for other school districts when the guidance was originally issued by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Read more: http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-schools/ci_30816002/boulder-valley-school-district-reaffirms-commitment-support-transgender

[beveeheart]

1. BVSD has been supportive of LGBT students for many years.

When my then 15 yr old grandson came out in 2001, his school supported his efforts to start a group for LGBT teens. BTW, his birthday is today.

[kag]

2. BVSD drives me crazy.

Yes, they have been very supportive, not only of the LGBTX community, but also of undocumented immigrants, special needs students, and others.

On the other hand, they are trying to close a popular elementary school, and they're being very sneaky about it, as if they want to slide it past the voters and other stake holders before anyone has a chance to object.

They are constantly "changing their minds" about what to do with bonds that have already been voted in for specific projects. Here's an excerpt from an article (http://www.boulderblueline.org/2010/10/22/3a-does-it-make-sense/) written by Fred Gluck, a long-time volunteer in BVSD schools, and a self-proclaimed "watchdog" on BVSD administration. Fred is very smart, and extremely knowledgeable about the district:

In a conversation with this author in 2006 about providing similar oversight in the BVSD capital improvements bond initiative, a high ranking BVSD official (one who is even higher ranking today), explained quite candidly why such controls do not appear in BVSD ballot issues: “We want the flexibility.” Those are not particularly soothing words to the taxpayer, nor even to educators; that is, to the teachers on the ground, so to speak. That is because quite often, in fact, typically in BVSD, funds intended by the voters for the classroom have ended up increasing the BVSD administrative empire instead. And characteristically, BVSD has kept the public in the dark about this. More on that issue follows. The bottom line: BVSD typically asks for your money predicated on a heartstring tug and then does what it pleases with it...

So, yeah, BVSD drives me nuts. Fortunately my kids have graduated, so none of it affects me personally anymore, but I still try to keep track of both the good and bad happening in the district.





A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your grandson.

[politicat]

4. Are you talking about Mapleton?

... and do you know Fred? Personally?

I met him back in 2004 during the Kerry-Edwards campaign. I found him... difficult. He seemed very intent on control and seemed to have a cast-iron world view. He took disagreement personally, and I felt he had a "my way or the highway" mindset. I am not seeing a change in aspect here. BVSD is far more open and transparent than, say, Jeffco or Adams-12, and there is an actual reality that budgets built in 2007/8 or 2010 are facing different realities now in 2016-2017. I'm not willing to throw out a necessary alteration in conditions just because Fred Gluck is having a thwarted moment.

I have a lot of sympathy for the Mapleton community wanting to keep their local school, but I am also responsible for a 100+ year old building. Buildings beyond their end of useful lifespan are extremely expensive to maintain, and often have a lot of internal components that are frankly dangerous -- old wiring, lead soldered pipes, asbestos, lead roofing, lead paint, to name a few -- and have poor insulation, are difficult to retrofit for safety and accessibility and utility. BVSD is really between a rock and a hard place on that building -- it's the most expensive building on the facilities list (including Boulder High, which is also expensive to maintain, and is bigger), and the service population continues to fall, because people living in Mapleton cachement are having fewer children, the housing market is shifting away from single family to shared/multi/mixed use, and that's becoming a neighborhood too expensive for a young family. Every dollar spent on maintenance is one we can't spend on instruction, so we have to make the best decision for the whole district.

In my case, I'm dealing with an old family house, not a public building, but it will be an order of magnitude cheaper to demolish the pile than to rehab it to a functional standard of efficiency, safety and accessibility. And I don't have to worry about lead paint or asbestos remediation, because residential buildings can just disclose and move on to sale. That's not true with a public building. I just don't see rehabbing Mapleton as a sensible use of funds if we have other options.

[kag]

6. No.

First of all, yes I do know Fred personally, and I completely disagree with your assessment of him. I find him to be completely open-minded and very knowledgeable about school issues. He's also a dedicated volunteer for the district, even after being thoroughly screwed over by the board and admin more than once. He's in it for the kids, not the politics.

Also, no I'm not talking about Mapleton, and your comment shows you to be a bit out of touch. Mapleton Elementary was shut down back around the same time they shut down Washington. It sat empty for a few years and is now used as a preschool.

And with those two shut down (Mapleton and Washington), now they're trying to shut down Uni Hill as well, leaving even fewer elementary schools on the west side of town. And while Uni Hill is, in fact over a hundred years old, despite the maintenance issues there are many who believe its age to be a good reason to KEEP it. Besides if BVSD wanted to shut it down because of maintenance issues, why did they JUST pass a bond which included many capital improvements for it, only to turn around and threaten to close it. If they want to close it, then how about they take that issue to the voters and let them at least get their opinions heard before pulling yet another bait-and-switch with bond money.

[beveeheart]

5. Thanks, I'll pass the birthday greetings

along to him.

[politicat]

3. It's nice BVSD said so, but it's not their call. CO law requires this.

(DC buried this lede about 12 paras down.)

Colorado state law since 2008 (signed by the odious R Bill Ritter) "forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in public places — including schools." (SB 2008-200, quote from also rank Denver Post.) The law went through a bunch of court challenges between 2008 and 2012, but has been consistently upheld. BVSD was not strongly proactive in this; it took them until 2012 to create and implement this policy.

BVSD is my school district, I am generally happy with them, but I do not trust their PR instincts at all. They would be better served if they would be upfront and say, "The Secretary of Education is wrong and has no power on this matter. We are subject first to state law, and second to our community, both of which affirm that discrimination is not tolerated here. Our policy remains unchanged, we stand with all of our students and our community. Our trans* students are safe in BVSD." Taking a strong stance would not at ALL harm the board in this community.

Happy mutant citizen of the People's Republic of Boulder.

[kag]

7. There's a lot I don't "trust" about BVSD.

My kids went through BVSD schools, and I found a lot to be skeptical about, as my earlier comments show. But I was generally happy with the schools themselves. It was the school board and admin that made me grumble, and still do.

I guess we're neighbors.