Westerly MAGAs go nuts over trans kids and...chalk

Westerly School Committee discusses transgender student policy and the dangers of chalk rainbows

Steve Ahlquist

At the September 3 Westerly School Committee meeting, committee members once again took up the school system’s Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Transitioning Students protocol. This policy, legally mandated by state law, is meant to protect children from bullying and abuse, while allowing them to be their best and authentic selves. Committee member Lori Wycall had asked to discuss this policy at the last meeting, over concerns she had about the effect of Donald Trump’s Executive Orders regarding transgender rights and Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or education program that receives funding from the federal government.

“I had a two-hour-long conversation with our Superintendent [Marc Garceau] and one of our attorneys who was helping us rewrite our Title IX policy for the district,” said Committee Member Wycall by way of explanation. “When we went through every regulation, because I went through and looked up every regulation that [the lawyer] was referencing as to why we needed to make the changes, there was a Title 11 and a Title 34 specifically that she referenced. When I looked at them, no state regulation says we have to change the definition of sex in our Title IX policy to include sexual identity, so we left that out of our Title IX policy for the district, which [means] we are now in compliance with both the state and the federal Title IX law.”

Later, Committee Member Wycall expanded on her comments. “I’ll repeat what I said [earlier]. Based on the reasons that I mentioned, A. we’re not in compliance with Title IX, and B. we’re not technically following the details of the protocol. I want to make a motion that we task the superintendent with drafting a policy to codify what he has been doing in our district that has been working, and give us a chance to review that.”

In essence, Committee Member Wycall was asking that the current policy be scrapped, and a new policy, based on what the Westerly School District has been doing, be created. A big problem with this idea is that, according to Superintendent Garceau, the district follows the current policy, the policy works, and no changes are needed.

Orlando, FL where Trump wannabe Ron Desantis
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Committee Member Angela Goethals: The problem I see with throwing out a document that has been vetted by our [State] Department of Education and using individual incidents during which this protocol has been activated to craft a new one is that it seems like we’re going to be chasing our tails. How many times has this protocol been utilized? What was the outcome? How did it look? And then, how do you build something based on a few students and their experience that’s meant to apply to everyone?

Committee Member Michael Ober: Dr. Garceau, regarding the current protocol, are you having any problems implementing or following it?

Superintendent Garceau: No, we’ve had the same protocol in place since 2017, and we’ve had no issues.

Committee Member Ober: Do you think there are any changes you need to make to the protocol or how we’re following the protocol?

Superintendent Garceau: I don’t see that there’s any need for changes based on what we’ve experienced. No.

Committee Member Peter Nero: I’m hearing Lori loud and clear, but the policy book is loaded with a whole bunch of stuff and all kinds of student discipline things, and sometimes things aren’t followed by certain teachers and students… if the superintendent is saying that it works well right now, let’s keep it that way.

Committee Chair Leslie Dunn: My concern is similar to what Angela was saying. If the protocol is there and it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing. It can be enacted in the right way, asking our administration to go back and start over again, when I would feel confident in saying we’ll probably end up back in the same space.

It’s working, together with students, families, and the district, to make sure that students are supported. I don’t feel there’s a space where handing it back to the superintendent will be productive for us to move forward, solidify our students, and say, “We see you, we want you here, and we have something to support you.”

The motion failed on a 5-2 vote. Committee Members Wycall and Joseph Jackson were the only ones to vote in the affirmative.

Near the end of the meeting, Committee member Wycall said, “I’ve never been more embarrassed by the votes that were taken at this meeting tonight. I can’t believe the things that were voted on at this meeting. And Dr. Garceau, I wish you had spoken up the way you did when you and I were having a conversation yesterday, and were more clear about what we are actually doing and what we are not actually doing with that protocol.”

There was plentiful public testimony to keep the policy as is, or even strengthen it. There were also people testifying against the policy, some of whom went so far as to deny the existence of transgender people.

“I’ve had the privilege to teach over 2000 students, and some of them have been trans, and they’re still not scary. They’re still not a threat to anyone,” said a Westerly resident who identified as a voter and high school history teacher for over 20 years in another district. “They are still great kids trying to be themselves and live their lives. They need and deserve our empathy, understanding, and support. Tonight, I ask the school committee to strengthen the Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Transitioning Students’ protocol by making it policy.”

“I’m here to speak up for the students in our school district who are transgender,” said Westerly resident Madeline Labriola. “As a former educator, concerned citizen, and grandmother of a transgender grandchild, I feel my voice is important, and I would like to share what it’s like to be a witness to a transgender person growing up in this time.

“Currently, transgender people are being scapegoated as the enemy. Some people in our government and society would like to see them persecuted, harassed, and denied their human rights. We cannot let that happen. In Rhode Island, we have a fair and reasonable protocol that has been in place for several years. Every state has the right to develop procedures to ensure that all students can learn in a safe environment. While the president has spoken out against the transgender community, his executive orders are not well-defined and are being challenged in court. As a school committee, you have already adopted the state guidelines, and I see no reason to change them unless you would like to make them a part of our policy, which would strengthen them.

“I have firsthand knowledge of the type of discrimination my grandchild has had to deal with her whole life. As a high school senior in Connecticut, she has a right to feel safe in her school and extracurricular activities. Her name and pronouns should be used correctly because this is how we should treat all people: With respect and dignity. This is what our young people deserve, regardless of gender identity.

“How we, as adults, respond to these challenges is a life lesson for our children. Transgender students continue to be under an enormous amount of fear and anxiety in the present atmosphere. Let us not add to their stress by acting like they were some plague to be wiped out or hated. They are our children first and foremost, and we are responsible for loving and caring for them just as they are. Therefore, I urge you not to succumb to the pressure of a few citizens and to make the existing protocol a policy in the Westerly School District.”

What is the effect of the President’s Executive Orders, and how do they affect Rhode Island State Law? Attorney Jennifer Wood, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Center for Justice, testified about that, noting an August 19 Superior Court decision that affirmed RIDE’s regulations.

“I’m here this evening to speak in favor of you retaining the legally required protocol that your school committee has adopted pursuant to state law. I’m concerned that there seems to be a lot of confusion about the mandatory or voluntary nature of protocol, policy, and guidance, so I want to run through the basis on which the protocol you have already adopted is located.

“In addition to having practiced law, specifically education law in Rhode Island for 40 years, for 10 years, I was the chief legal counsel at the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE). So I’m quite familiar with how this process works. The requirement that school committees adopt policies and protocols to prevent discrimination on the basis of gender identity for transgender and gender non-conforming students is based on state statute. First, there was guidance in 2016, and then a regulation was legally adopted in 2018, which, under state law, requires your school committee to have in place a protocol or policy that conforms with the duly promulgated state regulation - not state guidance - although the guidance itself also has the force of law.

“These protections for students are based on two basic principles that every school committee in Rhode Island is bound by: First is your statutory obligation to maintain safe, supportive, and affirming schools for all public school students; and second, to prevent discrimination on the basis of race, gender, gender identity, disability, and all the other legally protected categories in Rhode Island State Law.

“Therefore, I was confused to see that there would even be a question coming before this committee about whether or not it was something that you could undertake to move away from or revise a protocol that conforms with the requirements of state law, because that would place you out of compliance with state law.

“Why do I know this so firmly? I was in court on August 19th when Judge Joseph McBurney, at the Rhode Island Superior Court, reviewed a challenge to the state regulation that requires you to have the protocol you’re discussing this evening. In his decision, Judge McBurney ruled very clearly that every school committee in the State of Rhode Island has a regulation that governs its conduct in this regard, that the regulation is valid and required under state law, and conforms to the state statute and the state constitution. In a very detailed manner, he went through the sources of the commissioner’s authority in promulgating and enforcing that regulation.

“I have a complete transcript of the judge’s decision which I’ll be happy to provide to your attorney so he can review it and advise your committee on its impact, but I’m here today to make sure that this committee understands, and is on notice, of the fact that the Rhode Island Superior Court has ruled in this matter and that were you to deviate from the requirements of the state law and regulation,, that would be contrary to state law and contrary to your mission as duly sworn school committee members.

“The judge went through the basis on which state law requires these anti-discrimination measures, then very methodically reviewed whether or not any federal action, whether it be a federal statute or a presidential executive order, has any impact at all on the state law requirement that you have a policy and protocol protecting transgender students from discrimination. The judge clearly ruled that neither federal statute nor presidential executive order has any bearing on the requirements placed upon you by state law.

“I will read one sentence from the judge’s decision: ‘The commissioner and Board of Education can act to protect students from discrimination regardless of an executive order of President Trump or any interpretation or implementation of Title IX.’

“State law governs in this regard,” said Attorney Wood, “I would encourage you not to deviate from it.”

Expert testimony and a recent court decision could not persuade those opposed to the policy.

“The … protocol is in serious violation of Title IX in numerous ways, and the attorney who spoke earlier knows this,” said Westerly resident Robert Chiaradio, during his testimony.

“I need to point out to the attorney who brought up the state laws and all of that, I have to disagree with you because I had a two-hour-long conversation with our Superintendent and one of our attorneys who was helping us rewrite our Title IX policy for the district,” said Committee Member Wycall.

“I’m talking about sports as it relates to Title IX. Title IX ensures that no individual is excluded from participation in educational programs or activities, including sports, on the basis of sex. This protection extends to transgender students, affirming their right to participate in sex segregated athletic activities consistent with their gender identity,” said another Westerly resident during public comment. “Westerly’s current policy complies with Title IX. Transgender participation in sports is not only a matter of legal compliance but a fundamental issue of equity and inclusion. Denying transgender students the opportunity to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity perpetuates discrimination and exclusion, undermining the core values of Title IX.

“Sports play a critical role in fostering teamwork, confidence, and physical wellbeing, and all students deserve access to these benefits. By allowing transgender students to participate, we send a powerful message that their diversity is valued and that every student has the right to belong.

“There definitely seems to be an issue regarding a transgender male participating in sports. No one seems to worry about a person being harmed by the other male students on a team. However, when a transgender female comes to play, protests start, yet most good female athletes who participate in any sport will admit that they got better playing with their brothers or the boys’ team.

“This is not a student issue; in my opinion, it is an adult manifested issue. Has anyone polled our students on their feelings? My guess is they would agree with the current policy. Our kids are far more accepting than we adults. School safety, school funding, teacher shortages, and students’ mental health are far more important issues to address than wasting time modifying this policy. Our current policy fosters inclusivity, provides resources, and adheres to Title IX. This policy empowers all students, including our transgender students, to fully participate in sports, promoting equity, respect, and the transformative power of athletics. Let’s stop messing with it.”

Westerly Town Councilmember Alexandra Healy: Tonight, I’m here as a resident and the parent of a Westerly Public School student. I’m here to speak on agenda item 13b. The protocol clearly states that all students need a safe and supportive school environment to progress academically and developmentally. I urge the school committee to strengthen that commitment by adopting this protocol as policy. In doing so, every student in Westerly can come to school and have an environment that is safe, supportive, and free of discrimination.”

“I’ll not take this time to speak of my journey in an effort to familiarize you with the trans person in such a brief time, but given that you are called upon to set guidelines affecting these individuals, I would hope you are open to knowing more of your world through their eyes,” said Woonsocket resident Jojo Clark. “Instead, I’d like to challenge you to reexamine this policy thoroughly.

“I will begin by assuming that you are all decent, unbiased board members who act to protect all students without bigotry. I also hope you realize that the policy you are examining concerns human rights and safety.

“First off, bathrooms. Is it your intent to make bathrooms safer? Have you vetted studies or reviewed history indicating an increase or decline in safety, or has this been brought up subjectively, outside of professional analysis? Architectural design has proven to make a space safer from molestation, harassment, or intimidation. Matching or unmatching genitalia is not a direct link to criminal behavior, and efforts in making a space safer by casting a certain set of people as dangerous with malicious intent are fallacious and bigoted. The only intent that a trans or non-binary person has, first and foremost, is their own safety. It’s that simple and inherent to us all.

“Case in point, you’re heading to the parking garage at the end of the evening. The most direct route is a dark alley with noises of an unknown origin. Maybe a few intoxicated people from a nearby bar proceeded ahead of you down that alley. One block over is a well-lit, busy street with pedestrians and cars. Which one are you going to choose? Would you choose the closed-off bathroom with the bullies from the football team that stared you down in the lunchroom, or a safe street? Be honest with yourself. You’d reprimand yourself and others for taking the dark alley and commend or compliment a loved one or another for using the safer route. If you wish to take the shortest route, you petition the city to light the alleyway with sky cams and monitors to prevent criminal mischief. You would not make it safer by passing the curfew ordinance against a minority.

“Our good behavior comes with transparency, not with hidden corners. If safety is your true goal, rip the doors off your school bathrooms. When entering a public bathroom, we all know that when the door closes and echoes behind us, we are on our own with whatever mischief. Alerts inside are unseen and unheard by others who could lend a hand if needed. Without a door, there could be no foot blocking your exit or the deafening of a call of distress. I would go as far as making a window to the wash area to monitor the same, but I would not sleep soundly, convincing myself that an ordinance on a set of individuals would do the justice of safety to all. Regardless of genital conformity, the weak, the slow of wit, the standalone, and the outcast will remain vulnerable and unsafe.

“Secondly, names and pronouns. There is no better first step between two individuals than respecting an individual’s name. This is of the greatest importance to building a dynamic of trust. Learning that names and pronouns can be chosen acknowledges a point of balanced respect. In addition, it seems you are needlessly burdening teachers. There is no sense in expanding their role in discerning every student’s feminine or masculine spirit. It is outside of their expertise to report on the predisposition of the student’s gender to parents or guardians, not knowing the outcome of acceptance or punishment to the student and themselves.”

“The Westerly Public School’s mission is to create an inspiring, challenging, and supportive environment where students are encouraged and assisted to reach their highest potential,” said a Westerly resident. “This mission statement does not say, ‘with the exception of transgender students,’ but includes them collectively with all students. You are responsible for ensuring that your mission comes to fruition in a safe environment for all students. The currently adopted protocol supports a safe environment for all students to reach their highest potential, and I urge the school committee to vote this protocol into policy.”

“I spent almost 10 years at the University of Rhode Island,” said Westerly resident Diane Goldsmith. “I directed the Office for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, where we worked to improve the teaching of our faculty. I had the privilege of working with some of the most excellent teachers and faculty, and I learned a lot from them.

“One of the big things I learned from them is that when asked, ‘What do you teach?’ meaning, ‘What subject do you teach?’ the best teachers answer, ‘I teach students."‘ What they said, over and over, is that good teaching is about recognizing the individuality of our students, knowing my students, and being able to give them the individualized respect they deserve. And one way to do that, and they talked about it constantly, was learning students’ names - and they meant their preferred names because all of us have preferred names. I don’t like anybody but my very close family to call me Di. I’m Diane, and I’ll correct you if you do that. I want my professors to do that. So, whether your name is Richard or Rich or Ricky or Rina, you may change that over time so that the fifth-grade Ricky becomes the eighth-grade Rick, right? - This notion about names is so important to understand. Students want that respect.

About Title IX and sports. I don’t know if I’m the only person here who grew up and went to high school before Title IX, but I did. Title IX, as far as I understood it - and I lobbied for it - was not about Diane Goldsmith, five foot two, being able to make a basketball team, because I never would be able to do that. What it was about is that there would be a basketball team for girls to play interscholastic sports. That’s what this is about: fairness for girls in sports, and we still have not achieved that.

“We know we don’t have parity. We know girls don’t have the same opportunities. We know we don’t have, for example, girls who want to play baseball. There’s no baseball team for girls. We have not lived up to the promise of Title IX. That’s what Title IX is about. And when people talk about safety in sports, I want to say, seriously, there is no safety in sports. Anybody who watches the WNBA knows what percentage of basketball players are out right now. It’s ridiculous. I’ve been hurt in every sport I’ve ever played. That’s what happens. It has nothing to do with trans kids in sports.

“Let’s talk about bathrooms, because right now the only people being hurt in bathrooms are women who look like me: women with short hair who don’t meet whatever somebody’s standard of femininity is. Those women have been attacked in bathrooms by vigilantes who are determined to make sure that bathrooms are safe for whoever they’re supposed to be safe for.

“Lastly, I fully support this protocol. I think the protocol privileges the triad this school system has privileged: parents, students, and teachers. It builds its emphasis on the respect for that triad. Sure, there are exceptions; we need to deal with those, but it’s a policy that emphasizes kindness and support, and I urge you to keep the positive protocol, and even better, turn it into a policy.”

“I drove down from Providence tonight,” said Joanne Rich, “because I heard that the LGBTQ chalk display was removed [Editor: More on this later], and I wanted to make sure that there would be enough voices here tonight on behalf of the vulnerable, queer students in your school system. I’m a retired educator. I’ve known I was queer since I was 13. I used she/they pronouns. Growing up in the seventies and eighties, school was really difficult. Back then, there was not a single out teacher, and no one was out in my high school class of 400 students. I felt like a freak, and I felt invisible.

“These days, it’s both better and worse. There is more representation and support for queer kids, but there is so much hatred coming at them 24/7, on their phones, in this room, and from the President, who they really should admire, and who instead fills them with terror for their survival.

“One of my best friends, her son, is trans, and he just moved to France to do his doctorate because he does not feel safe living in the United States. In my career, I worked at schools in New York, Amsterdam, the Caribbean, and here in Rhode Island: rich kids, poor kids, and kids from more than 40 countries. And one thing that I can tell is that they all, every single one, had LGBTQ+ students.

“You’ll notice I’m trembling, I have a tremor, but I get especially trembly when I’m emotional. I want you to understand how personal this is. At the schools where I worked, I was often one of the advisors for the Gender and Sexuality Alliance. These were the clubs that the LGBTQ kids, questioning, or just supportive, could be—for these kids, having support made a huge difference. Being seen and validated in school made a difference. Being able to play sports made a difference, and sometimes, the difference was literally life and death. The reason it matters when somebody talks about fairness or truth is that it can be a life matter for these students.

“It’s absolutely true that LGBTQ+ youth take their lives at much higher rates than other youth. But that is not because there is anything inherent, or mentally ill, in being queer that makes you troubled. It is because of discrimination, harassment, and invalidation, which are completely avoidable. You cannot control whether your students are LGBTQ+; you can only control whether they suffer or thrive. You have the opportunity to make school a place where they can do what they come here to do: grow and learn.

“And one more thing: a school that encourages students to be their true selves is better for every student. I implore you, on behalf of students who did not make it, to maintain the RIDE policies that protect and support LGBTQ+ students. The student whose life you save might be your own.”

“You have an opportunity here to teach a valuable lesson to all the students in your town,” said Greg Avedisian. “When students are participating in athletics, they’re learning a lot of valuable lessons. They’re learning how to be active, positive participants in their community. By choosing to adopt this protocol, you’re teaching a lesson to all of them. You’re teaching them a lesson to be active, positive participants in the community, all the students, all the citizens. I strongly encourage you to adopt the protocol. To not do it would be to isolate and victimize a small percentage of people. Everyone has a right to live the way they choose, and not doing this would deny them that.”

“I’m thAs you can see, a director of resources and programming at Youth Pride and I’m a psychotherapist who worked in South County for many years and provided services to many of the trans youth within the multiple school districts in this area,” said Logan England. “We often hear, when these types of things come up, about the rates of suicidality and developmental concerns with puberty blockers. I want to share some of my actual, lived experience as a therapist providing services for these youth and as a transgender person myself - 25+ years post-transition - about what those experiences are like for the youth that they have shared with me over the years that I have provided therapy.

“When a transgender youth is in high school, [they need to] have their preferred or affirmed name and pronouns validated by family and school members. One of the first things that you see when you look at the normal developmental phases of youth is that when they can’t use a name that resonates with them, they don’t want to get an ID because they don’t want to get it with a wrong name, gender marker, or photo on it. It doesn’t represent anything they are as a person, so they resist learning to drive. They don’t want a driver’s license, don’t want to get a job, and don’t want a name tag with the wrong name on it. They don’t want to be invalidated over and over again, one more bathroom they have to figure out if it’s safe to use, a place where they have to spend more time, where they are not validated and affirmed in their identity. If school policies don’t allow them to take their preferred date or dress how they would like at their prom, because they have to follow a dress code or a protocol, they don’t go. Graduation with a diploma with the wrong name on it gets skipped.

“I can’t have any gender affirming medical care until after I turn 18, and I don’t want to go away to college with the wrong name and the wrong pronouns and a body that doesn’t align with my identity. So I’m not going to start college as soon as I graduate, I’m going to move out and get a job, which means that I’m going to go live with four or five roommate while we all wait tables and try to afford this apartment, and then suddenly it’s been two years and five years and that kid has never gone to college.

“When we talk about developmental delays, we’re not just talking about delaying social transitions - we’re talking about robbing children of adolescence. They miss some informative milestones that make up their young adulthood. When doing so, they miss some developmentally appropriate scenarios to build their resilience, maturity, and skills to cope with adult life. When we remove those possibilities from trans youth, we’re not just saying wait till you’re 18; we are skipping milestones that they will never get back. I ask you to keep that in mind tonight.”

“RIDE has a policy in place,” noted Laura Carnahan. “I don’t understand how we can legally not follow our own Rhode Island Department of Education’s policy. Second, I want to highlight the fact that trans people are not predisposed to suicide unless they’re in a non-supportive environment. The numbers go up when they’re in a non-supportive environment, and whether you agree with transitioning or not, your first loyalty is to the child. How the child identifies is not for you to judge. You are there to support the child.

“Some children can’t talk to their parents, so you can be even more supportive in an environment where they need support; whether or not you agree is not the agenda here. The horse already left the barn, and the kid identifies as another gender. Do you want them to feel suicidal? Do you want them to believe they’re not worth living because you don’t believe they should have that choice? That’s what I want all you school board members to think about. In true Christianity, we are told to love our neighbors. Not if they are cis, not if they are Black, not if they were white, but all neighbors. That’s the Christian thing to do, no matter what you hear.”

“I came in support of people who are concerned about trans rights being threatened,” said Amy Crawford. “I am moved to speak because it makes me sad to hear adults pass on a message that a person is not worthy of their decisions about who they are, the lack of compassion, and the judgment of people who know better than the person in front of them. How that person feels is just concerning to me.

“To speak to a concern that someone said, why would we be protecting people who are perhaps less than 1% of our population? I answer that those are the people we need to protect, right? The others are in the majority. Why would we not protect those hurt by the comments I heard today, dismissing them and saying they can’t be what they say they are? I had to say that. I hope that people can someday come to a better understanding of what other people go through. We all know our own experience, and if we don’t respect someone else when they describe their experience, we’re missing out.”

“First, thank you for this opportunity to discuss this issue,” said a Westerly resident. “One of the main things to tell people is to learn. I want to thank, especially, the people who are transgender who spoke tonight from their own experience. I thought I had a fairly good understanding of transgender issues, but I’m still learning. I’ve learned a lot tonight, just from hearing these personal stories about the importance of this policy, and about the importance of all of us to continue to learn and understand each other, not just transgender people, but to understand all aspects of our identities, and to not make assumptions. I truly appreciate those who spoke tonight and helped us continue learning.

“I also want to make the point that many of the calls for removing this policy seem to be based on misunderstanding, and statements that are portrayed as facts but don’t seem factual. Your job is to do your homework. Do the research. Listen to those who have lived experience and do your own research. Know that this RIDE policy dates back to 2016 and is based on years of research. Let’s not forget that.”

For the testimony in opposition to the policy, see this footnote.¹

The School Committee members then took the opportunity to comment on the public comment:

“As far as the Title IX situation, I thank everybody for coming tonight. I thank everybody for being respectful, because there is a ton of divisiveness in this room,” said Committee member Timothy Killam. “I agree and disagree with many different things that were said tonight.

“But I also have a senior and a 2023 graduate of Westerly High School, and you know what? They don’t come home talking about it either. Here’s the biggest problem I have tonight: No parent of a current student came up to the podium tonight. There was not one student who came up to that podium. Not one. And you know what? In the past, we have had plenty of students. This is not my first rodeo up here. Unfortunately, I’m nuts and came back. We have a former school committee member out in the audience who knows, along with everybody else up here, that half of being up here is learning. We learn every night that we’re here. We learn every day. We receive emails and phone calls, and our information is public.

“My cell phone is on the town of Westerly website, as is every other person’s sitting up here. So is my email address. What bothers me the most is that I have not had a single call or email from a parent about this issue, which makes this even harder for me because when we’re talking about currently enrolled students, nobody said a word to me. So where do I go from there? It is such a difficult situation, and I am disheartened that students didn’t come up here and express their feelings. I really am. I wish we would hear from more of the parents and the kids who are living this situation…

“Madeline, when you spoke about your grandchild being bullied for being transgender, I’m sorry to hear that. The bullying situation, whether it be transgender, a haircut, or the way they dress, I’m sorry. Kids these days in school are horrible to each other. They just are. It is lousy. It’s a situation we continue to deal with. But some of the stuff said tonight hurts me, on both sides. Look around. Look to either side of you. I mean, come on. Why do we have to have all this hate and anger? Where did this all come from? It was not there when I was in high school, everyone's problem it’s in a room of adults. My kids aren’t coming home with this problem. They’re just not. I don’t know if this is adults creating a problem that doesn’t exist. I’m not sure. But like I said, I have a senior grader and I have a graduate of Westerly High School, and this has never come home as a problem. So I don’t understand how the hell we got here and why this has become such a big topic. We were elected to support this district’s students, families, and staff. And that’s what we should be doing instead of wasting time on things that are frankly, adults not getting along with each other.”

“I know it’s not always easy to come to the podium and say what you want, but we appreciate it,” said Committee member Ober. “I agree with Tim. We haven’t heard from the parents. We haven’t heard from the kids because this isn’t their issue. If it were, they’d be here, and you’d have to adjust the policy. It’s an issue for us. When I went to school, I went in 1985, and to say things I didn’t see or hear about it doesn’t mean it didn’t exist, and doesn’t mean the schools didn’t deal with it in their own way. The schools serve the needs of a population, whether it’s just coming to school and doing the work, or if you have other issues with your parents or medical issues, the schools have to deal with that. We don’t have a choice. We can’t send you home and say it’s not our problem.

“I appreciate both points of view, but we have to make decisions based on policy to deal with children. If someone comes to us with an issue of being transgender, how do we deal with that? We can’t just pretend that they don’t exist. We can’t just pretend that those policies aren’t there for them. And I kept hearing that we’re forcing - no one’s being forced to do anything. This policy is how we deal with these situations, so when a teacher or an administrator is presenting this issue, they don’t have to make it up every single time or hope that they’re not going to be doing something that’s a problem. Some people may disagree with that. That’s fine. We can continue to talk about this and maybe adjust it for the future.”

“I want to thank everybody for coming to the podium. I appreciate hearing everybody’s opinion on this issue. So many people spoke, and there were a lot of moving statements on both sides of the issue,” said Committee member Wycall. “A couple of things that I need to point out are that the attorney who brought up the state laws and all of that, I have to disagree with you because I had a two-hour-long conversation with our Superintendent and one of our attorneys who was helping us rewrite our Title IX policy for the district. And when we went through every regulation, because I went through and looked up every regulation that she was referencing as to why we needed to make the changes, there was a Title 11 and a Title 34 specifically that she referenced. When I looked at them, no state regulation says we have to change the definition of sex in our Title IX policy to include sexual identity, so we left that out of our Title IX policy for the district, which we are now in compliance with both the state and the federal Title IX law.

“Another issue that I have is the last speaker who spoke about fear and talking about misinformation, the incessant comments about life and death, suicidal rates, and these types of comments that are coming from a point of emotion that is not realistic. There is no data to back up the fact that transgender students and children have a higher suicidal tendency. The facts are, and the studies show, that transgender people who begin to transition have higher suicide rates. That’s a fact. I wish we could be factual.”

Let’s be factual, courtesy of The Trevor Project:

• Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 14, and the third leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ+) young people are at significantly increased risk.
• LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers (Johns et al., 2019; Johns et al., 2020).
• The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ young people (ages 13-24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S., and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds.
• The Trevor Project’s 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ Young People found that 39% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including roughly half of transgender and nonbinary youth.

“I appreciate where people are in their lives,” continued Committee member Wycall. “I’m glad people are happy with their identity and who they are as adults. My greatest issue with this is that here’s a school committee for a public school district we’re supposed to be focusing on education guidelines. All of this that we talked about earlier is what we are here for. In my opinion, these social issues do not have a place in our school.

“We are to support our students. Every student in Westerly, trust me, is supported and encouraged to be their best selves. We are doing right for our kids here. The issue that lies with us right now is that we have this protocol in place that we have a couple of issues with. We’re not following it, and it isn’t compliant with Title IX. So my suggestion was that because we’re not following the protocol, we need to work on codifying what we have been doing as a district that has been working for us, where every student feels safe and protected. And I’ll tell you that in conversations I have had, we offer the students single-use bathrooms - problem solved.

“The protocol says that a boy who identifies as a girl can enter the girls’ bathroom. That doesn’t happen in our district, so we’re not following the protocol. Another issue is the co-ed accommodations on overnight field trips. I was told it never happens. It wouldn’t happen. It wouldn’t be offered. So we’re not in compliance with the protocol. Also, I have been told that parents are involved at every level and age we have in our K through 12. The parents are involved in the conversations. If a student ever came to us for any reason saying that they did not feel safe at home, we would be required, as a mandated reporter, to report that, and the parents would have to be involved.

“We also have just started conversations, from what I’m being told, that the athletic department is going to be told that if a transgender student comes from another district or we go to another district, we will forfeit the game, because it is not safe. It’s biology, and I’m sorry, but a male biology, playing in a female sport, is not safe for our children. Just as I was told, if we went to another field that was very [un?]safe conditions on the field itself, we would forfeit the game because that’s not safe.

“So the policies are sitting there. It makes people feel better to pretend that we are doing all this, but we are not. As a district and school committee, I want to ask, ‘What’s been working? What have we actually been doing?" Let’s be compliant with federal law, and let’s stay in touch with what we have already decided to do, based on the attorney’s recommendation of not involving gender identity or sexual identity and confusing that with sex. That’s all I have to say.”

“I don’t want to get into the transgender policy too much because we will talk about that later,” said Committee member Jackson. “The only thing I just wanted to mention is that it’s important for both sides to remember that a school district is not a parent, and cannot take the place of a parent. We will do everything we can to ensure our kids feel safe and supported, but we can’t come between children and parents. That’s going to get this district all kinds of problems.

“The other thing I wanted to say, to build on Tim’s comment, is that if we had this kind of turnout for other issues, this district might see some changes. But you guys only come here to fight about the transgender policy. Hey, we’re here to educate! Come talk about that sometime.”

“We’ve heard a lot of talk and mentioned this at the last meeting,” said Committee member Peter Nero. “We had a conversation about executive orders - there’ve been a lot of executive orders, and our attorney briefed us on them during our last meeting. But, as I learned from my social studies teacher, we have three branches of government: judicial, executive, and legislative. This issue will be played out when the Supreme Court returns in the next session. We know where that will lead because it’s a hand-picked Supreme Court.

“But I would say, to Ms. Wood, that you’re the most formidable attorney I know in education because we have faced one another, and we don’t always agree, but we always come to a reasonable compromise. And if she knows the law, she knows the law. That’s all I’m going to say.”

“To everyone who showed up for the kids of this town, all the kids, I see you and I thank you,” said Committee member Goethals. “I know who you are. We know who you are. To echo what Mr. Flanagan said, I want to honor the people who shared their personal stories from their hearts. I think Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, "Speak even if your voice shakes." Mine is, a little bit at the moment, but here we are speaking anyway, and the fact that you’re vulnerable in this space and in front of this committee means something. And I want to acknowledge that.

“To Madeline, I’m sorry for your grandbaby. To Ms. Van Dover, I’m wondering if you have any support for your assertion that sex is being taught in the second grade. If you have evidence, I’m sure this committee would like to see it. I’d also like to encourage everyone, including the members of this body and everyone listening tonight, to do some research on evolutionary biology and the so-called gender binary. To Ms. Cole, who left: check your facts. If anyone knows her, maybe you can pass that along. Where do we cater to only 1% of the population? How about the wealth in this country?

“To Nate, I’m just going to repeat your statement that ‘we are damning a generation of children by affirming them.’ I want to leave that right there. Mr. Magliari: respect and compassion, truth and facts. I think we have a different idea of what those things are.

“I’m just going to end by reading something I wrote while waiting for this meeting to start. Protocol and policy without humanity, without compassion for the people who will navigate it, who will use it as a beacon, as a touchstone whose lives it will save, is hollow, empty. We can do better. To quote Mr. Ahlquist, from one of his columns. ‘Protocol is a floor. It’s not a ceiling.’ As a committee, we have an opportunity and an obligation to every child and family in this district. Why are we not embracing the robust protocol that is in place? From my understanding, this protocol was developed by mental health professionals and attorneys for RIDE to be used as a framework, crafted by experts, for us to use in our district to help support our kids. And, I would add, our most vulnerable kids.

“I’d ask everyone who came out tonight, ‘For whom are you fighting?’ And if the answer isn’t all kids in Westerly, including LGBTQ+ kids, kids from all cultures, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, kids with non-traditional family structure, kids who face housing insecurity, trans, racially adopted kids, multi-generational Westerly kids - if your answer isn’t all kids, you are actively fighting the work of this committee. And it’s good, meaningful, hopeful, and messy work. It matters.”

“I would like to thank everybody who came up to speak this evening. And a really quick correction, Tim. We did have one Westerly parent. I want to make sure we say that.

“Regarding our Transgender, Non-Conforming, and Transitioning Student protocol, I’ll save my comments. I want to say that I appreciate everybody who spoke. And I understand that these are issues that activate people. However, as we’re talking about it, we keep saying, ‘The issue, the issue, the issue.’ And as we keep hearing, it’s really not a student issue. This is an adult issue that we are dealing with. We are the ones trying to navigate it and figure it out.

“I can guarantee our students are really good advocates for themselves. I have to give credit to the people in this district. If they felt like this was going to hinder their school day, if they felt like they couldn’t learn in their classroom confidently, and if our teachers really felt like this stops my day and I cannot continue teaching and my kids cannot continue learning, we would be hearing about it from all sides. So while I appreciate that everybody showed up tonight, I appreciate that we heard from across the spectrum about how people feel about the protocol we have in place.

“Respectfully, if we need to continue this conversation in other spaces and people need to have that dialogue in other spaces, we should. But as far as this committee is concerned, we need to wrap up this conversation, because it keeps coming back to us, and then we look around, and we’ve actually hurt kids in the process. They have to hear this. They have to possibly sit there and understand that, perhaps, the way they’ve been coming to school every day is in jeopardy. We have to think about the kid sitting there thinking, ‘I want to talk to my parents about this. I want to go to my teacher with this, but maybe now’s not the time for me to do it.’ We have to think about the kids who may not be dealing with our transitioning protocol, but there might be other adults that they’ve looked to for safety and to have a conversation. Now they’re not sure if they can do it anymore. So respectfully, it’s time for us to move this conversation forward, make a decision, and move on to the next conversation.

“Secondly, Ms. Van Over made a comment that we’re teaching sex to our children. If there is something there, if there’s something you feel like our students are being exposed to that is deemed inappropriate, please, by all means, share with this committee. And as we heard in the beginning, our assistant superintendent gave a great view of what is going on in our schools, and I can again guarantee we have reading, writing, science, and math, and this document here is a full roadmap as to what we’re going to be doing in our district. Anybody who thinks our kids aren’t learning - there’s a lot of evidence to support that our kids are learning actively.”

Chalk

“Since it came up earlier, the chalk on the sidewalk, which has been considered an illegal activity of defaming town property,” said Committee member Wycall. “I think that we, as a committee, should maybe discuss this at some point. If we need to wait until after the investigation is finished, I’m fine with that. But it needs to be an agenda item at some point to determine how we feel about school committee members possibly being charged with a crime and decide if we think there should be any repercussions for that, or if we’re just okay with it. I want to discuss it once everybody’s ready to, or once the investigation is complete.”

What’s up with the chalk? The day before the School Committee hearing to discuss the school district’s Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Transitioning Students protocol, two members of the school committee, Michal Ober and Angela Goethal, along with Town Councilmember Alexandra Healy, used chalk to decorate the sidewalk in front of the Westerly Town Hall with rainbows and messages of acceptance.

Conservative elected officials involved the police. Here are some pictures from the internet:

 

 

“I don’t know how much [the chalk incident] is within our purview,” said Committee Chair Dunn. “We can figure it out if it’s necessary to make it an agenda item.”

“I wanted to compliment {Angela Goethals], Ms. Healey and Mr. Ober on your artwork. You’re excellent,” said Robert Chiaradio, during his second set of comments. “Really, really excellent artwork that you did last night. Gutless, hateful, and disrespectful of this town. That’s the most you’ve done in five years, Mr. Ober, the fastest you’ve moved, and the most you’ve contributed in five years. You belong in handcuffs, all of you. We’ll try to see that happen.”

“…if it is true that you’ve vandalized our sidewalks,” said Nate, “I don’t care what the message is. If I took chalk to the side of the police department and wrote, ‘Go my favorite team,’ I don’t think anybody would like that. Chalk or paint, it doesn’t matter what it is. Just so you know, I stopped at the police department today on my way here to see what will be done about it. I’m very interested in something happening - whether you be removed from the board, fined, or whatever, because you can’t do whatever you please in our town.

“I’m a taxpayer; people had to come down and waste taxpayer dollars to clean the sidewalk. I believe you [Angela Gorthals] were involved as well. So no, I’m not happy about that and it shouldn’t go on.”

“I’m here as a concerned citizen, not as a town counselor,” said Councilmember Van Dover. “…the chalk issue: you two - you should be ashamed of yourselves, and I’m going to ensure this doesn’t get swept under the rug.”

“I want to discuss something that I don’t think needs to be talked about here at all, and that is coloring on the sidewalks with chalk,” said Councilmember Healey. “People are definitely mad - big mad - over some rainbows. That’s wild. That is wild to me. It’s wasting your time and our tax dollars. To have an elected official start that and start spending our tax dollars that we were talking about back there to wash away some chalk? That’s wild."

“On the other side of that, if you want to look into the state vandalism and graffiti statute, it’s Rhode Island State Law § 11-44-21.1, which clearly says whatever happened last night, there’s nothing against the law about it. Nothing was defaced, nothing was malicious. There were no swears, no nothing. The law is on the side of the children and the parents who wrote things like ‘You are loved’ and ‘Westerly loves everyone.’ To be clear, for anybody listening, that is what was written in chalk in front of our town hall in preparation for today, to remind people that you are valued in Westerly. I want to apologize for the scare tactics that happened to two of our committee members because that was ridiculous on all counts. If we cannot talk about the law, then don’t talk about it. Don’t come to this podium spewing if you don’t know the facts. It’s not fair to everybody who’s taking the time.”

“I don’t usually speak at these things, but I feel I should talk in defense of the First Amendment,” said this reporter. “I’m a reporter and want to speak specifically about the chalk. This year was the 29th year you had a festival in Wilcox Park. An Art Festival. And every year, they do chalk art there. Children and parents do chalk art together. And if that’s actually defacing [public property], then every year, for 29 years, [the art festival] could be defacing Wilcox Park with chalk. Chalk is First Amendment speech and is protected. It is not graffiti, it is not defacing anything, and it’s protected. And if it’s not, believe me, there will be people here to protect you. So again, I’m standing for the First Amendment because I think that’s important as a writer.”

“The smugness of the town counselor who defaced the town property and can’t admit that what she did was wrong, and instead comes up here and laughs at us because it was a rainbow,” said Committee member Wycall. “It doesn’t matter what you did, you did it to town property, and that was wrong.”

“…this conversation around chalk, and defacing and graffiti/not graffiti. It is interesting to me, in this community, the things that make everybody do a collective gasp and clutch their pearls, because chalk drawings with kind messaging and nothing inappropriate or extreme seem to have some people on edge,” said Committee Chair Dunn. “I would like to remind people to think about the things you say, that you make public, and the things that you co-sign on, that you make public, that there’s an eyeroll behind anybody approaching that subject. It sounds like that will be something we’ll discuss at another point, based on continued action from the town. But we’ll discuss that when we get there. That will close up our agenda for the evening, so I’ll seek a motion to adjourn.”