SW Washington School District Bans Teachers From Asking Students’ Pronouns

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Southwest Washington’s La Center School District has forbidden teachers from asking students for their pronouns, with the superintendent saying that the increasingly common practice amounts to telling students what to think about gender.

“We need to provide an inclusive environment for all our students, including those who think differently about the pronoun issue,” Superintendent Peter Rosenkranz wrote in an Oct. 28 email to school employees in La Center.

Rosenkranz then went further — in a move that’s still roiling the northern Clark County school district of 1,700 students.

In January, the district updated its “gender-inclusive schools” policy to say students could volunteer to teachers that they use names or pronouns that are different from the ones listed in school records, and teachers would honor those changes. But school leaders also would inform parents of any switch, sparking pushback from families and advocates who say the guidelines could endanger young people with unsupportive parents.

At a board meeting Tuesday, public testimony reflected the community’s polarization on the policy, which states “curriculum, instruction and ‘gender affirming’ activities in schools may cause gender confusion for children.” But the public-school district does not appear to be considering revisions, echoing some Republican-led states that have blocked or sought to block protections for transgender youth.

In Oregon, the Portland archbishop in January told local Catholic private schools to use students’ pronouns assigned at birth.

Back in October, Rosenkranz told district faculty to avoid asking students for their pronouns so that teachers could maintain “neutrality.”

“Asking for pronouns in a public setting can make some feel included and others feel excluded,” he wrote in an email.

In November, Rosenkranz reaffirmed his stance, telling faculty to ask students only for their names. In response, a La Center High School teacher who leads the Genders and Sexualities Alliance club, filed a complaint, backed by 30 others, with Lauri Landerholm, La Center School District’s civil-rights coordinator.

“The district’s directive limits teachers’ abilities to create an LGBTQ-friendly learning environment and creates a systemic barrier towards full inclusivity of LGBTQ students,” the letter said.

The district then commissioned an outside report from a Spokane Valley, Wash., consulting firm, RLR Consulting. In his subsequent report, RLR consultant Gene Sementi noted that a psychologist working with the district “is concerned that regularly asking all students about their pronoun preferences could be psychologically damaging at a time in their lives when they are prone to confusion.”

Sementi concluded in December that “the district’s new directive, which prohibits teachers from canvassing all students in their respective classes regarding preferred pronouns, is not a violation of the Civil Rights of Teachers or LGBTQ students.”

The La Center School District did not immediately respond to questions about the process it used for choosing the consulting firm.

In January, the district adopted its “gender-inclusive schools” policy, prompting some students and teachers the following month to file a second complaint with Washington’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, which opened an investigation on April 7.

At a school-board meeting on Tuesday, local advocates again took aim at the policy, saying it put children at risk of abuse from unaccepting parents.



Darcie Niemi, a parent in the district, said she works with children who have been physically abused by their parents.

“You as educators have an ethical standard to keep children safe,” Niemi said. “A small minority might be affected by their parents knowing they’re transgender, but they could be in serious danger.”

School-board member Win Muffett shot down such comments at the meeting and called the procedures “pro-family.”

“Parents are not dangerous,” he said, and urged people to recall him if they disagreed with his stance.

To combat possible danger, school leaders said they would attempt to speak with students about their families’ attitudes before contacting their parents about their gender-identity expression, according to the policy.

Other parents also criticized the board’s viewpoint when addressing LGBTQ+ students.

“Students’ rights, students’ safety, students’ ability to succeed and a safe learning environment is your lane,” said Erin Smelser, a teacher in the district. “It does not matter how many interviews you give claiming to be an expert on biology, or how many extremists you personally invite to our school board meetings to spread misinformation and stroke your ego. You are a state employer.”

Patriots United Washington, a conservative group that backs Rosenkranz’s decision, asked its hundreds of followers on Facebook and Twitter to go to board meetings in hopes of outnumbering LGBTQ+ activists there.

“They are dramatic and unreasonable. Obviously a dark spirit behind those actions. LET THERE BE LIGHT!” the group wrote in a post.

Justine Stimmel, a leader for Patriots United Washington, claimed in a livestream video posted to Facebook that Rosenkranz is a close friend and encouraged her to attend board meetings with her allies.

Rosenkranz denied Stimmel’s assertion.

“Justine Stimmel is a member of our school community, and, as such, we have occasional interaction, just as I do with many other individuals and families,” he wrote in an email.

People in favor of the new policy, including Stimmel, thanked the board for its work and called gender expression “delusion” and “fantasies.”

“Teachers are hired to educate and shouldn’t be put into difficult positions of hiding serious mental-health issues from families,” said Trish Huddleston, a school-board member from neighboring Woodland Public Schools, who said she hoped her district would follow La Center’s lead on pronoun policies. “I couldn’t imagine being a teacher and having to keep up with several students changing their names and pronouns every other day.”