Teachers will not be forced to address students by the pronouns that match their gender identity even if a parent asks them to and transgender students will be barred from playing sports after two new policies targeting gender identity were approved Monday night by the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District board.
The new policy also stipulates that individuals in district schools can only use the bathroom that aligns with their biological sex. It鈥檚 the latest move by a school board to more formally exclude transgender youth in schools. The board voted ended 4-3 in favor of these policies and several others. Board members Casey Ford, Shannon Braun, Tammy Nakamura, and Kathy Florence Spradley voted for it. Members Jorge Rodr铆guez, Coley Canter and Becky St. John voted against.
The meeting lasted nearly eight hours and more than 150 parents and North Texas residents signed up to speak about the proposals before the board was expected to vote.
Ford said the policies were what the school district鈥檚 community wanted and in accordance with state law.
"These policies are the product of input from several groups 鈥� the board's policy committee, the district's attorneys, the board's attorneys, a committee of administrators and principals and most importantly 鈥� community members," Ford said. "But, one group that's had the most input and influence: the Texas State Legislature."
St. John, who voted against it, disagreed.
"This policy is going to harm students in the classroom [and] overburden our teachers for a political agenda," St. John said.
The Grapevine-Colleyville district, located between Dallas and Fort Worth, just added Nakamura and Spradley to its seven-member school board in May. Both received donations from the Christian cell phone company Patriot Mobile, which has the defeat of any school board candidate who endorses what they call 鈥渃ritical race theory鈥� and ones who support books about LGBTQ identities, saying that kids were exposed to 鈥渆xplicit, 鈥榳oke鈥� books.鈥�
None of the seven school board members immediately responded to a request for comment.
The pronoun measure approved by Grapeville-Colleyville ISD states that 鈥渢he district will not promote, require, or encourage the use of titles or pronoun identifiers for students, teachers or any other persons in any manner that is inconsistent with the biological sex of such person鈥� as listed on a person鈥檚 birth certificate.
And if a student, parent or legal guardian asks the teacher to address the student with pronouns that match their gender identity, the district policy leaves it to the teacher鈥檚 鈥渄iscretion鈥� as to whether a teacher will do so. The pronoun policy is one of several new district policies that involve how race and gender is addressed in this school district.
Mike Sexton, whose children attend schools in the district, told board members he opposed the proposal targeting LGBTQ students.
鈥淵ou can talk about Santa Claus, but you can鈥檛 talk about gay people to fifth graders,鈥� Sexton said. 鈥淭his is incredible 鈥� you鈥檙e acting like people don鈥檛 exist. There鈥檚 thousands of people in this district that are LGBTQ, that live here, that are taxpayers.鈥�
A separate policy prohibits students from participating or competing in athletic events that are 鈥渄esignated for the biological sex opposite to the student鈥檚 biological sex.鈥�
One woman, whose grandchildren attend schools in the district, spoke in favor of the sports policy Monday night.
鈥淭he policy on the agenda tonight that keeps girls competing against biological girls is very important to me,鈥� the grandmother said. 鈥淚 want to make sure that my granddaughters can enjoy the fruits and labor of my generation by participating in fair competitive sports.鈥�
District staff also cannot teach or promote 鈥済ender fluidity,鈥� which is the idea that one鈥檚 gender identity is not fixed and can extend beyond male and female, and staff also cannot teach or talk about sexual orientation and gender identity until kids are in the sixth grade.
And a third proposal that the Grapevine-Colleyville school board approved Monday night relates to incorporating , the state鈥檚 so-called 鈥渃ritical race theory鈥� law into a districtwide policy.
This is seemingly the first school district to take this formal step. Since the bill was passed last year, there has been confusion about how the law should be applied. School administrators across the state have asked the Texas Education Agency for guidance on the law. The agency鈥檚 response is for school districts to just continue teaching the current social studies curriculum.
SB 3 was crafted to keep 鈥渃ritical race theory鈥� out of schools, with restrictions on how to talk about slavery and eventually sending teachers to civics training. Critical race theory is the idea that racism is embedded in legal systems and not limited to individuals. It鈥檚 an academic discipline taught at the university level. But it has become a common phrase used by conservatives to include anything about race taught or discussed in public secondary schools.
The Grapevine-Colleyville board new policy states that teachers and administrators cannot discuss critical race theory or what they have called 鈥渟ystemic discrimination ideologies.鈥� The policy, like the state law, prohibits requiring students to read the New York Times鈥� Pulitzer Prize-winning , a collection of essays that centered on how slavery and the contributions of Black Americans shaped the United States.
The discussion of such policies comes almost a year after James Whitfield, a Black principal in the district, was put on leave and then eventually after being accused of teaching 鈥渃ritical race theory.鈥� In 2020, Whitfield emailed a letter to parents and staff in which he wrote that systemic racism is 鈥渁live and well鈥� after the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
Protect Texas Kids, a conservative nonprofit organization, is rallied support for the school board meeting, on Facebook that conservatives must come out as they expect Democrats to pack the meeting.
鈥淭hey will be voting on great new conservative policies that will set precedent for other districts,鈥� the organization posted.
The ACLU of Texas criticized the policies, saying they would restrict education on the country鈥檚 history of racism and lessons that incorporate 鈥渟ocial-emotional鈥� learning.
鈥淚n order to thrive in a democratic society, students require an accurate and inclusive education so that they better understand the lives, cultures, and experiences of different people,鈥� the organization said in a statement. 鈥淭his includes learning about the history of and discussing race, gender, and systemic inequity.鈥�
Jesus Vidales contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared in at .
