Polk County News/Education
14A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • November 25, 2015
Transgender policy enforced Students take on
Law allows Dallas High School student to use boys locker room with others
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — On Nov. 16,
the Dallas School District
sent a letter to parents of
students in physical educa-
tion classes with a transgen-
der student who is being al-
lowed to use the locker
room of the gender he iden-
tifies as.
The letter outlined the
district’s policy, which in ac-
cordance with federal law,
prohibits “discrimination on
the basis of sex or gender
pursuant to ‘Title IX’ federal
laws.”
“The legal guidance re-
garding the enforcement of
‘Title IX’ is very clear that
transgender students have
the right to ‘same sex’ facili-
ties such as bathrooms or
locker rooms based on the
gender they identify with,
not based on their biological
gender,” the letter read.
The rights of transgender
students are included in the
district’s nondiscrimination
policy, which also prohibits
discrimination or harass-
ment against staff or stu-
dents based on race, reli-
gion, sex, sexual orientation,
and national or ethnic ori-
gin, to name a few.
Transgender is included
in “sexual orientation” for
the purposes of the policy,
which states: “sexual orien-
tation means an individual’s
actual or perceived hetero-
sexuality, homosexuality, bi-
sexuality, or gender identity
regardless of whether the in-
dividual’s gender identity,
appearance, expression or
behavior differs from that
which is traditionally associ-
ated with the individual’s sex
at birth.”
Superintendent Michelle
Johnstone said the district’s
enforcement of the policy
was determined only after
consulting with the district’s
lawyer, representatives from
Oregon Department of Edu-
cation and Oregon School
Boards Association, Dallas
School Pr incipal Steve
Spencer, and Athletic Direc-
tor Tim Larson, the district’s
Title IX director.
“It’s not an overnight
thing,” Johnstone said.
Also, high school officials
met with students who
would be affected by the
policy to explain what it
meant. Johnstone said very
few expressed concerns or
asked questions in those
meetings. Students were
asked to take the letter
home and discuss it with
their parents. Assistant Su-
perintendent Dennis Engle
said the district has received
calls from six parents who
had concerns, but most un-
derstood that the district
was following the law.
Engle added because of
the federal laws involved,
this is not a decision that
could be made by the Dallas
School Board.
The timing of the letter
coincided with controversy
over statements made by a
Dallas city councilor regard-
ing transgender students,
but that had no bearing on
district policy or its practical
applications, Johnstone
said.
Developers share ideas for Valley Concrete
City of Independence gets three request for qualifications with visions for site
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE —
Three developers have sub-
mitted requests for qualifi-
cations, vying for the chance
to work on and purchase the
old Valley Concrete site in
Independence.
“All three were very good,
well-qualified proposals,”
said Shawn Irvine, economic
development director for In-
dependence.
No purchase price or
numbers have been dis-
cussed. The RFQ process al-
lows developers to outline a
vision for property without
getting down to the nitty
gritty details, Irvine said.
“They all, for the most
part, have the conceptual
ideas of what we’ve been
talking about,” Irvine said.
“Two had specific visions
that included building a
hotel; one left space for a
hotel, but nothing too spe-
cific on that.”
When city leaders pur-
chased the 20-acre parcel in
2014, the hope was to find a
developer who would build
something to contribute to
the downtown atmosphere
of Independence.
The property was pur-
chased for $800,000. The city
has spent more than half a
million dollars on grading,
inspections and other im-
provements in hopes of
making it more appealing to
a developer.
In addition to possible
SERA ARCHITECTS/ Itemizer-Observer file
Well before asking developers what they would do with the old Valley Concrete site on
the Willamette River, city officials hired a firm to design a concept plan for the area.
lodging, Irvine said develop-
ers included small commer-
cial shops, restaurants and
residential housing options
in their proposals.
“This is the vision-con-
ceptual level, so they didn’t
get real specific about size,
scope, design,” Irvine said.
“As the market develops,
they’ll get a better idea.”
Irvine said the city hopes
to have selected a developer
to work with by Dec. 25.
At that point, a memo-
randum of understanding
would be drawn up be-
fore negotiations begin —
and those may take a
while.
“They’re going to be figur-
ing out what pencils out for
them, and we’re going to
have to look real hard at
what pencils out for us, be-
cause we’re going to need a
return on investment for
what we’ve put into it,”
Irvine said.
While city leaders are will-
ing to offer incentives, the
prices have to be right, he
noted. It also may depend
on the developer’s building
schedule, which could be
years.
“If they’re going to build
all at once, and we’re going
to get all the fees and taxes
right away, maybe that does
work,” Irvine said.
If the city cannot come to
terms with the first choice, it
can turn to the next devel-
oper, Irvine said.
2016
WHO’S
WHO
IN POLK COUNTY
FULL COLOR GUIDE
To Businesses Serving
POLK COUNTY
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — The
play isn’t until January, but
a l re a d y C e n t r a l Hi g h
School’s production class is
causing some waves.
“People don’t like being
uncomfortable, especially
the majority of people in
this small town,” said Reba
Hoffman. “Already, the idea
that this show is happening
is making people uncom-
fortable.”
The class will perform,
“Bang, Bang, You’re Dead,”
a play by William Mastroi-
mone loosely based on the
Thurston High School
shooting.
“This is a creative way to
bring this to the communi-
ty and students that’s more
acceptable,” Hoffman said.
“These scary things can
happen.”
The play was cast during
spring term, said Jeff Witt,
teacher of the production
class, well before the mass
casualty shooting in Rose-
burg.
Those events gave stu-
dents a firmer resolve that,
complaints or not, the
show must go on.
They realized that a
mass shooting could hap-
pen anywhere.
Witt said he wanted to
do a play that was darker
and edgier than shows he
had done in the past.
“Bang, Bang,” has a per-
sonal connection to him,
as a college friend of his
had parents who worked at
Thurston high when the
shooting happened.
“It’s not a sit-back, hum-
along kind of show,” Witt
said. “It’s good for people
to be challenged. No one
thought it would happen in
Roseburg or Sandy Hook.”
The play explores what
happens to normal kids to
take them to a dark place,
driven to commit an act
such as killing their class-
mates, Witt said.
“There’s not a lot of solu-
tions in the show,” he said.
“A lot is left up to the audi-
ence.”
The point is not to glori-
fy violence, said Rynn
Hastings.
“We forget that empathy
is such a huge thing,” she
said, adding that when a
threat at Central spread
across social media in Oc-
tober, people were joking
about the person accused
of starting it, laughing and
making fun, which just
made matters worse.
Although the threat was
later found not to be credi-
ble, but still had students
and their parents on guard
and worried or afraid.
“That’s when I thought
about this show,” Hastings
said. “You learn what a per-
son has to go through. I’ve
never been more excited to
do a show until now. I hope
we raise awareness.”
Other students echoed
Hastings’ excitement.
Jacob Eschette said the
play is not about a specific
thing, but more about the
big picture of society, espe-
cially high-school mentali-
ty.
“High schoolers have in
their mind these social
constructs,” he said. “In re-
ality, we’re all people trying
to fit in. Josh (the shooter
in the play) is very much
portrayed as a disturbed
person. He’s reached a
point in his mind where
everyone is against him.
You become dark — there
are no justifications — but
there are things we can do
as a society to help stop
people from getting to that
place.”
The play shows how bul-
lying can stack up and take
its toll on someone. Stu-
dents hope the play will get
people talking about it and
talking about how to
change it.
Superintendent Buzz
Brazeau said the play will
help the discussion of seri-
ous topics.
“The idea is to bring the
idea of bullying and all the
things we’re concerned
with about kids to light and
get them to understand, in
the video game, you can
push reset, and in real life,
you can’t,” Brazeau said.
“I’m really proud of the
kids. We had to look at that
with some sleepless nights.
When I see the kids excited
to get the message out to
help themselves, I salute
them for taking on a tough
topic.”
He said the topic was
made tougher by the
shooting in Roseburg and
the threat at Central, “but
in some ways, more impor-
tant.”
That responsibility to
tackle the issues is at the
top of the minds of the
young actors.
They hope to raise
awareness of not just
shootings, but increasing
empathy for others and de-
creasing bullying.
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Jan. 20
2016
Central’s production class prepares
show about school mass shootings
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