By Christopher Connelly, KERA News for Audio Texas
FT WORTH – A few months after Fort Worth became the epicenter of a fierce debate over transgender students’ rights, that city’s school district revised its anti-bullying guidelines, getting a warm reception – even from critics.
On a functional level, Superintendent Kent Scribner says Fort Worth ISD’s revised transgender student guidelines are virtually the same as the original guidelines approved in April.
“The primary difference is the communication with parents is emphasized.”
When Scribner approved the guidelines three months ago, critics framed it as a bathroom issue. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called Scribner a dictator who should be fired, and panned the guidelines as social engineering. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a letter to the school board saying they violated the state’s education code. In statements today, both Patrick and Paxton applauded the revision. Superintendent Scribner says the revised guidelines call for school officials to work with parents to craft an individualized plan for each transgender student.
“We provide accommodations all the time for students. WE have students who have anxiety, students who are obese, students who are incompetent. And in each one of those cases we develop a plan in which the student will likely use the nurse’s bathroom or another single stall bathroom. This will be no different.”
Scribner says the revised guidelines – like the original ones – are about far more than bathrooms. They’re about balancing the health and safety needs of transgender kids with the rest of the district’s students.
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