Opponents of a district resolution that officially stands against allowing transgender students to participate in sports activities consistent with their gender identity raise signs in protest. (Israel J. Carreón Jr./Staff)
It was another packed house during the last Redlands Unified School District (RUSD) Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, April 22. Over 100 speakers filled out comment cards, creating a line that wrapped around the building’s parking lot. The open session lasted until just before midnight; the board, unable to get through the entire agenda, adjourned to finish at the next scheduled session on May 13. The board then met in a closed session for 10 minutes.
Topic on the evening’s agenda: more discussion on proposed policy centering on instructional material regulations, which ceremonies and observances the district will honor, what flags RUSD employees can display on campus and a motion for censure against Board Member Melissa Ayala-Quintero.
Much of the evening’s district discussion revolved around support against allowing trans students to participate in sports activities consistent with their gender identity.
The resolution submitted by Board Member Candy Olson, “Supporting Title IX and Fairness in Girls’ Interscholastic Sports,” states that it endorses “ensuring fairness, safety, and equal opportunities for all student-athletes,” specifically for girl students. The resolution cites that “biological differences between male and female athletes can create inherent advantages in competitive sports.” Although the resolution is not a policy, it makes a firm declaration in which the board and, by extension, the district stand regarding transgender students participating in sports. It also mentioned alignment with Title IX — the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding — guaranteeing that “female athletes have equal opportunities to participate and succeed in sports” and “preserving the original intent of Title IX.”
Board of Education President Michele Rendler, Board of Education Board Clerk Jeannette Wilson and Olson voted to endorse the resolution. Board of Education Vice President Patty Holohan and Ayala-Quintero dissented. The district will forward the board’s approval of the resolution to the Governor of California, the California State Legislature, the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation.
Federal and state actions reverberate in Redlands
Several public comments debated the legality of the district potentially adopting a policy restricting transgender students from participating in sports activities. The conversation concerning this issue has remained active in the public sphere, at both the federal and state levels.
Back on Feb. 5, President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls and women’s sports. Trump signed the order — Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports — during a ceremony in the White House’s East Room.
“Under the Trump administration, we will defend the proud tradition of female athletes, and we will not allow men to beat up, injure and cheat our women and our girls. From now on, women’s sports will be only for women,” Trump said, outlining his administration’s goal to “putting every school receiving taxpayer dollars on notice that if you let men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding.”
The state law, Pupil rights: sex-segregated school programs and activities, passed Aug. 12, 2013, enshrined protections for transgender students from “discriminating on the basis of specified characteristics, including gender, gender identity, and gender expression.”
Some legislators have proposed changes to the state’s protections for these students. California lawmakers have recently rejected two attempts to keep trans athletes from competing in schools and athletic programs. Republican Assembly Members Kate Sanchez, representing District 21 (Rancho Santa Margarita), and Bill Essayli, for District 63 (Corona), drafted bills — introduced to the state legislature earlier this year — to prevent transgender students from competing on sports teams inconsistent with their gender identity.
At the local level, the district’s recently elected board members — Olson and Wilson — have brought this conversation to the forefront, along with other policy topics related to academic freedom and parent notification. Meetings have remained contentious since their appointment in January, drawing ire and support for proposed policies. Law enforcement continued to escort individuals out of the board room after using profanity while directing anger toward Olson, Rendler and Wilson, supporters of the resolution. Recent sessions drew out battle lines between two factions, donning armor in the form of T-shirts, messaging including: “You should be more mad about transphobic hate speech than profanity,” and “Save Girls Sports.”
Former school board candidate Valerie Taber — reaching a level of minority for being escorted out during the last meeting for using profanity after believing board members failed to protect trans students against hate speech, continued to voice opposition against standings such as the ones defined in the discussed resolution.
Taber implored the board to use logic, “How would you fairly ensure that every single student on a girls’ sports team is, in fact, someone with an XX chromosome? Gender essentialism is nonsense. You are harming women with these policies,” Taber said.
Sonja Shaw, Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) Board of Education president, came to the meeting to vocalize support for the resolution against the trans students’ participation in sports activities. Shaw has also been central to similar conversations and policymaking at CVUSD. During a recent CVUSD board meeting, Shaw, along with her colleagues, unanimously approved plans to send the Trump administration a letter requesting that it intervene in matters concerning transgender athletes.
Sonja Shaw, Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education president, came to Redlands Unified School District April 22 Board of Education meeting to vocalize support for a resolution against the transgender students’ participation in sports activities. (Israel J. Carreón Jr./Staff)
“This resolution to protect girls in sports is not controversial. It’s common sense. It’s fair. It’s about ensuring that our daughters, who train, sacrifice and give everything to their sport, are not robbed of the opportunities,” said Shaw.
Olson was the only board member who commented before the resolution’s vote. “You would have to be an absolute science denier to say that the boys and the girls are of equal strength and of equal speed. It’s just not the same,” said Olson.
During Olson’s comments, several people in the chamber held signs in protest. The front read, “No Hate Speech.” The back: “You are violating B.P. 4119.21 ‘Failing or refusing to intervene when an act of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying against a student is observed,’” referencing RUSD’s board policy regarding professional standards.
Several attendees held protest signs at the Redlands Unified School District’s April 22 Board of Education meeting, which discussed a resolution affirming the district’s stance against allowing transgender students to participate in sports activities consistent with their gender identity. (Israel J. Carreón Jr./Staff)
Olson acknowledged the signs and continued, “It’s about safety, and it’s about fairness. Let it be known that I will always stand for our girls, and I will do everything in my power to push for fairness and their privacy in their spaces.”
Several shouted in response, “What about trans girls?”
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