by Reegan Reese, The Daily Caller:
- The LGBTQ coordinator of Poudre School District advised school nurses to ask students what name and pronouns to use when calling home to ensure kids aren’t put in a “potentially unsafe situation.”
- In a training, Shayna Seitchik, the LGBTQ coordinator, taught the district nurses gender transitioning terms such as “puberty-blocking medicines,” “hormone therapy,” “top surgery” and chest “binder.”
- “Transgender and non-binary students have the right to discuss and express their gender identity and expression openly and to decide when, with whom, and how much to share private information,” the training stated.
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An LGBTQ coordinator for a Colorado school district trained nurses to keep a student’s gender transition hidden from parents, according to a presentation obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
On April 27, 2022, Poudre School District (PSD) LGBTQ Coordinator Shayna Seitchik gave a presentation, obtained by the DCNF, titled “LGBTQIA+ considerations for PSD school nurses” that taught the school’s medical professionals different gender transitioning vocabulary such as “puberty-blocking medicines,” “hormone therapy,” “top surgery” and chest “binder.” When working with students, the training advised school nurses to ask students what name and pronouns to use when calling home to ensure kids aren’t put in a “potentially unsafe situation.” (RELATED: Mom Sues School That Allegedly Hid Her Daughter’s Gender Transition, Provided Chest Binders)
The training also advised the district nurses to “always use a student’s affirming name” whether or not it has been legally changed. Sharing information about a student’s transgender status with others, including parents, may be a violation of FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), Seitchik’s presentation states; FERPA does not mention gender identity, nor does its text explicitly prevent the sharing of a student’s gender identity with their parents.
“Transgender and non-binary students have the right to discuss and express their gender identity and expression openly and to decide when, with whom, and how much to share private information,” the training states.
Following the presentation, Seitchik followed up with a school district nurse, attempting to clarify what FERPA covers and how to address a student’s gender transition with others, April 2022 emails obtained by the DCNF show. Seitchik noted that it is the student’s right to share their gender identity, not the faculty’s.
“While a main goal is to support the student in having an affirming home for those who use a different name/pronouns at school vs at home, it is the student’s right to share their transgender status or gender identity, not ours as staff members (unless the student asks us to) and as a school we will support the student in their coming out process and them and their family with any requested resources,” Seitchik wrote.
Seitchik advises the nurse that parents have access to educational records with student’s “affirming name” but records that are kept in the possession of teachers and used for “as a personal memory aid” are not subject to FERPA, the April 27, 2022, email shows.
In April 2022, a sixth grade school counselor within PSD reached out to Seitchik asking advice regarding a list the middle school counseling team had made tracking student’s gender transitions, and whether the kids wanted their parents to know, according to emails obtained by the DCNF. Seitchik advised the counselor that staff should be in communication with each other about what name and pronouns a student uses at home versus at school to “avoid outing the student.”
“For those students who want staff to use a different name and pronouns at school than at home, it’s very important for clear communication to staff about what name and pronouns to use at school (and to correct rosters or other lists where the student would be listed with another name) and what name and pronouns to use with home to avoid outing the student to home and creating a potentially harmful situation for them,” Seitchik wrote on April 12, 2022. “Staff may need further conversations about why it’s important to use an affirming name/pronouns at school and refer to them as a different name with families.”
