Numerous comments on social media over the past few weeks have brought to light concerns of parents about biological male students in middle and high schools using girls’ bathrooms while identifying as female to school administrators and faculty members.
There has been no public comment from district officials about this as of press time. Some have charged that the Henry County Board of Education secretly approved this practice, while others said that the school board was left in the dark as school administrators signed off on the practice on their own.
The Times reached out to the district’s central office and received the following statement December 2 from chief spokesperson J.D. Hardin: “We have recently received some inquiries from individuals regarding this matter. Our board has not taken any action regarding this matter nor is there a BOE policy about it.”
The fact of the matter is that this behavior has the tacit approval of the school board because of a federal court case in Florida which resulted in an August ruling by the 11th Circuit Court that applies to all public schools in Georgia. The facts of that case are outlined below as taken from email communication between the Henry County school board and its legal counsel.
A high school student in the St. Johns County School District, on the Atlantic coast immediately south of Jacksonville, was assessed as female at birth but has since identified as male, going so far as to have legal documents changed and even submit to surgical procedures. That district had an unwritten policy of students using bathrooms based on their biological sex. Since the student in question enrolled in the district in fourth grade as female, the district considered the student to be female.
The student began using the boys’ bathroom for several weeks in high school, but other students noticed and told school officials, who then prohibited the practice despite the student’s updated legal documents and a verified medical diagnosis of gender dysmorphia. After discussing with the student’s mother, the district proposed that the student either use the girls’ bathroom or a single-stall bathroom not typically used by other students. Officials cited concerns for student safety and a concern that a differing policy would give rise to an abuse by those who are “gender fluid” and wanted to use both sets of bathrooms from time to time.
But the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals – which governs Alabama, Florida and Georgia – held that the St. Johns County district’s unwritten policy and proposed solution discriminated against the student because the overall “boy/girl” policy discriminated against transgender students and favored non- transgender students.
The Florida district could still appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. But until it is overturned or the Georgia General Assembly passes a law to govern students’ bathroom access, it appears that Henry County public schools will accommodate students according to their self-proclaimed gender identification.
