Motion to restrict USD 413 transgender students fizzles

A motion aimed at restricting transgender students died on the vine during Monday’s USD 413 Board of Education meeting.

While talk related to the topic as an official agenda item has been minimal over the past several months, board member Scott McKinney brought it to the forefront early in the meeting.

McKinney had notified Superintendent Kellen Adams of his plans in advance, and Adams relayed that info to board members.

McKinney said that he is unsure as to whether he is cut out for the elected role.

“The topics are soul-wrenching at times and the conversations are difficult, especially with confidentiality and privacy laws,” he said. “The hours are long and the pay sucks. The additional stress is unfortunate, but I’ll admit, the food is very good.”

Following his preamble, McKinney noted that his statement on transgender restroom usage reflects his own personal beliefs and opinions.

“Gender identity is defined as a person’s inner sense of being male or female regardless of the person’s sex at birth,” he said. “Transgender is used to describe a person whose gender identity does not correspond with their sex at birth.” 

McKinney then pushed for a policy that emulates that of Gardner-Edgerton USD 231. Located southwest of Kansas City, the district’s policy bans transgender students from their preferred restrooms, locker rooms and sports teams of choice. 

“I feel a policy separating bathrooms and locker rooms by sex at birth is not only appropriate, but necessary,” he said. “Everyone deserves to feel safe, especially in private. Everyone has a line that they cannot cross, and everyone has a bathroom available to meet their individual needs.”

McKinney also referenced the district handbook. 

“In the district handbook, the community is at the top of our chain of operations,” he said. “Community support is vital to the future of our district.”

Despite the recommendation of the district’s three legal firms, McKinney made a motion for implementation of the policy. 

“I’d like to make a motion that we adopt a policy separating bathrooms and locker rooms in our district by sex at birth,” he said. 

After failing to receive a second, board member Jeff Caldwell requested further discussion. Caldwell first noted that McKinney acted in a unilateral manner.

“To begin with, the board didn’t take any action to bring this issue to the forefront,” Caldwell said, questioning the motives behind the divisive rhetoric. “When I joined the board in 2016, we had transgender students in the building, as I understood it (then). There was no request for policy and no issue, but it’s here nonetheless.”

Caldwell indicated that he values the opinion and recommendations of the district’s legal counsel, which includes Chanute-based Kluin Law Firm. 

“The board directed administration to contact legal professionals to provide some guidance,” he said. “We contacted local, state, as well as regional/national organizations to make sure that we had a good perspective.”

The needle has not moved from the guidance provided to the board by legal counsel last fall, Caldwell said.

“They all provided the guidance that no restroom policy was the best way to move forward,” he said.

The exact number of transgender students within the district is unknown, but previous board discussions have indicated that the number is either one or two at the high school. Additionally, Superintendent Kellen Adams has apprised board members on multiple occasions that there has yet to be a single corroborated incident related to a transgender student during the 2022-23 school year. 

“This isn’t best solved at our own local school board level. We need some federal support and some support from the court systems,” Caldwell said. “The court cases that we see are often tied up for many years, costing hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars.

“Running the district is a full-time job as it is. Let alone, to throw a court case on top of the staff, and the school board and everybody else. There will be a cost, and I would venture to guess it would be significant.”

Caldwell wants to stick with the current policy in the best interest of the district. 

“I certainly wouldn’t tie up my own business or my family’s financial future in that sort of scenario, and take on that type of risk that we would be directing the district to take on,” said Caldwell, a local business owner. 

Caldwell also noted that shielding the district from negative publicity is the prudent move. He harkened back to the separation of church and state controversy that gained national attention years ago. 

“There was a complaint about a portrait of Jesus Christ that was at Royster Middle School,” he said. “Once it hit The Chanute Tribune, I think it was exactly two days before we were contacted by a national organization threatening a lawsuit if we didn’t remove the picture immediately.”

Caldwell added that both sides are passionate about the topic and “itching for a fight.”

“Many people would love to see Chanute be right in the middle of that. But it’s not appropriate to tackle it in that manner — there has to be a better way,” he said. “So for those reasons, I’m of the opinion that for the board to ignore expert advice and direction would not be the path to move forward with the policy.”

Fellow board member Heather Guernsey agreed.

“We received help from those entities for a reason,” she said. “They are the experts, and so I don’t think our position should change.” 

Board member Ross Hendrickson agreed with McKinney, but opted not to second his motion. 

“I personally do not believe that transgender students should be using bathrooms, locker rooms, or playing sports that do not match with their birth sex,” he said. “I have a personal problem with that. I have a moral problem with that.”

Hendrickson said that he is frustrated that the board is unable to “follow through with common sense.” 

“But we have had close to 20 attorneys that have advised us with our current position,” he said. “My personal position is that this is a matter that we need to see what happens at the state level, to see if they can indeed get enough votes to override the governor’s veto. If they could, then I would be of the opinion of taking a stand to create a policy and not waiting for things to play out all the way to the Supreme Court, if we can get some cover from the state legislature.”

Board member Cassie Cleaver expressed disappointment with McKinney’s motion.

“Two weeks ago when this came up, I asked you if you would send me all of your thoughts and research behind this so that I could understand where you were coming from,” Cleaver told McKinney. “So I would love to look at your behind-the-scenes information and understand where it comes from, if you could send that to my email.”

Board member Matt Godinez also requested further research. 

“I’m all about education and numbers and metrics,” he said, also directing his comment to members of the public that were present. “So if you have anything, please personally email me everything that you have.” 

In a related matter, Board President Brad LaRue censured members of the public who had previously spoken on the matter during public forums. Due to negative and personal attacks by those individuals, LaRue issued apologies to those who had been attacked by the speakers. The censure applied to complaints about employees of the districts and others in attendance. 

“Public comments should be directed toward policies and administrative procedures and should be respectful,” LaRue said. “We’ve allowed people to break rule 3 and we should not have. We’ve allowed people to be disrespectful and this is not acceptable.”

The board approved the following after closed executive session:

Resignations: Dr. Kellen Adams, superintendent; Shawlisa John, teacher; Oral Lee Ramsey, transportation; Kathy Thompson, transportation

Retirements: Becky Tucker, paraprofessional; Laurie Ward, teacher

Employments: Zachary Callaghan, teacher; Jill Daugharthy, teacher; Cynthia Fehr, teacher; Kendall Fiscus, Royster Middle School boys assistant track coach; Hailey Shields, teacher ; Caitlin Willcut, teacher

Transfers: Chris Shields, Chanute High School Assistant Principal/Athletic Director to Royster Middle School Principal