Dear Superintendent Lanoue and Members of the Clarke County Board of Education:
Upon reading an article on flagpole.com (“CCSD Will Follow Letter on Transgender Students,” In the Loop, May 17), I was shocked to read a district official say Clarke County schools will follow the Obama Administration’s guidance on giving transgender girls access to girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms. The Georgia governor states he will sue the Department of Education over this issue, so why implement this policy until the outcome of the lawsuit?
As a parent of two girls attending Clarke Middle and Barrow Elementary, my questions on this policy are as follows:
• Is it fair to use our children as guinea pigs in an experiment that may go horribly wrong?
• Are you willing to personally guarantee you have covered all the safety issues?
• Have you, being the Clarke County Board of Education, vocally discussed the abuses that could harm children?
• Have you hired a consultant to research the effects of this policy?
• Have you set aside money to escort children to the restroom to ensure that a child’s safety and peace of mind are not in jeopardy?
Clarke County was a recently embroiled in the rape scandal at Cedar Shoals High School, and we now know the victim of this crime was pushed aside and her accusations went unheard, allowing her rapists to remain free to attend school for one month before being arrested. This travesty of justice left a whole school of potential victims in jeopardy due to inaction by the school district. My biggest concern is, if a whole school of girls can be callously put at risk while accused rapists continue to attend classes, what assurances will you give to ensure that our sons and daughters will be protected, especially in a most unprotected vulnerable place as the bathroom or locker room?
During the 2015–2016 school year, two principals have been injured severely enough to seek help from our local hospital. Are you willing to say you can protect my children in the bathroom when your own principals have been assaulted by children? I fear, given these few examples in this past school year, you have not thought this whole scenario through. I encourage you to rethink your decision.
Please do not allow this policy to be enacted. The Obama Administration’s “dear colleague” letter requires no scientific litmus test, no psychological evaluation of any student who claims to be transgender.
Personally, I have spent a lifetime trying to undo damages done to me as a young girl of middle school age, and I have reviewed this mandate and see the dangers it presents, and it is not worth the slightest risk to our children. Please consider that our state is actively challenging this mandate for a reason—it’s about safety. When it comes to my children specifically, I think it is very short-sighted and dangerous to play political games with them.
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