Eugene weekly., January 21, 2016, Page 10, Image 10

NEWS
4J GENDER POLICY SERVES
AS MODEL FOR OTHER
OREGON SCHOOL DISTRICTS
• “Red Barn” is one well-known piece from the great legacy of Oregon artist Mark
Clarke, who died suddenly Jan. 11 at age 80. His memorial was Jan. 17 in The Shedd.
Remembered both for how he captured his surroundings in oil and acrylic, and for how he
and his family lived in this world, Mark Clarke fortunately had been planning a
retrospective in the Schnitzer museum on the UO campus next year. We have that to look
forward to.
• “What can we do about it?” was a recurring question Jan. 15 at the City Club of
Eugene meeting about racial and cultural inequity in health services. Easy answer:
Work harder than we’ve ever worked before to keep any of these Republican presidential
candidates from winning office in November 2016. If one of them does win, Obamacare
will be gone, the Supreme Court will be even more conservative, affecting voting rights,
and present inequity in health services will grow, grow, grow. We only have 10 months to
keep that from happening.
• Oregon Republicans are gathering for their annual Dorchester Conference March
11-13 in Seaside and they will actually be talking about gun safety this year. WTF? Maybe
they are feeling pressure to do something beyond their usual defense of unfettered gun
ownership. On the confab agenda is discussion of whether gun owners should be legally
culpable if someone else uses their firearms in criminal acts. We don’t expect the R’s to
push any positive legislation, but at least they are recognizing one aspect of our
irresponsible gun culture.
• The VanillaISIS occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge has drawn a lot
of attention, and mockery, to Oregon. But one positive aspect of the shitshow that is the
Bundy-led Y’allQaeda takeover of the Malheur is the focus that has come to bear on how
much Oregonians love our public lands. More than 100 people slogged out in the cold rain
on Jan. 19 to rally for the refuge here in Eugene. More calls for “birds not bullies” were
shouted at sister rallies organized by conservation groups in Portland, Salem and Idaho.
Meanwhile, Eugene natives Jake and Zach Klonoski are leading an anti-Bundy effort to
raise money by pledging donations to groups that are antithetical to the Bundys for each
day they remain at Malheur. As of Jan. 19, they had raised more than $40,000 for Friends
of Malheur NWR, Americans for Responsible Action, Burns Paiute tribe and the Southern
Poverty Law Center. Their website is gohomemalheur.org.
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Until last year, Eugene School District 4J did not have a policy in place to
specifically protect transgender and gender non-conforming students.
When 4J school psychologist Brianna Stiller was developing 4J’s gender
policy, which the 4J School Board passed in the spring of 2015, district lawyers
told her that since 4J already had anti-harassment policies in place, it didn’t
need a gender policy.
“I told them, ‘You’re missing the point,’” Stiller says.
Eugene 4J was the first school district in Oregon to pass a gender policy.
Now, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) is sharing that policy with
districts around the state, as well as sharing 4J’s push to change first names for
students in school databases.
“Kids who are transgender or non-gender conforming need support from the
district,” Stiller says.
According to a 4J School Climate Survey, 7 to 9 percent of secondary stu-
dents in the district identify as LGBTQ, which amounts to more than 1,000
kids, Stiller says. The data also shows that 54 percent of 4J secondary students
observe harassment related to sexual orientation at least once a month.
Stiller worked over several years to develop 4J’s gender policy, and she
wrote it in partnership with Carmen Urbina, 4J’s parent, family and community
coordinator, as well as others in the
district and community.
The policy, among other things, al-
lowed 4J’s superintendent to change
the district’s administrative rules re-
lated to gender, establishing language
that protects students’ rights to use
bathrooms that correspond to their
gender identity as well as participate
in athletics, access locker rooms and
dress in accordance with their gender
identity.
Another gender-related accom-
plishment Stiller and 4J implemented
— BRIANNA STILLER, 4J
recently includes a modification to
4J’s student computer information
system called Synergy, which gener-
ates attendance lists for the district and
collects data for ODE.
“What we were finding with transgendered students is that they often go
by a name that identifies them as a different gender than they were born with,
so they would be living under a different name and doing that for years, and
then at the beginning of the school year, the teacher would unintentionally read
down the list and out them as transgender,” says Cindy Hunt, government and
legal affairs manager for ODE.
The system didn’t allow first-name changes, but after Stiller worked with
ODE, students can have their first name and genders changed at the state level,
helping prevent students from being outed against their will.
Hunt says districts in Oregon are seeing students come out as transgender
earlier, and ODE is working with Stiller and others to develop a toolkit to help
other districts in Oregon develop their own policies regarding gender. Districts
in McMinnville, Dallas and Portland have expressed interest in developing a
gender policy, Hunt says.
Next up for 4J, Stiller says, is ensuring that the policy is followed. Currently,
principals are trained on the policy and then expected to pass the information
along, but Stiller says ideally, the district would pay for training the entire staff.
“Education and awareness is key,” Stiller says. — Amy Schneider
‘Kids who are
transgender or non-
gender conforming
need support from
the district.’
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