Central Valley School Board votes against sending letter on transgender students in sports

Central Valley School Board votes against sending letter on transgender students in sports

News Story by Elena Perry | The Spokesman-Review

At a standing-room-only meeting, the Central Valley school board became the latest voice in the conversations surrounding transgender girls’ participation in sports.

The board drafted a letter to send to the Washington Intercollegiate Activities Association (WIAA), vaguely urging them to consider fairness and inclusion as the assembly mulled proposed amendments to bar trans girls from playing in girls sports and another to create a third ungendered league for certain sports.

“Every student should be given the opportunity to fully participate in all aspects of a well-rounded education, including participation in sports and activities,” the letter reads.

The letter goes on to implore its recipients to suggest options to “secure the equal opportunity to all students, irrespective of sex.”

“One option may be having an open category in certain sports that is not specific to gender or sex. Another may be to create categories that relate to the level of competition.”

Members of the board had competing perspectives on the issue, leading them to unanimously decline to send the letter for different reasons. They are likely to bring it up again, possibly at a special meeting.

Following Mead School Board’s example

The board drafted the letter on the heels of Mead School Board unanimously passing a resolution explicitly calling for transgender girls’ exclusion from girls sports through amendments to policy of WIAA, the main body that oversees high school athletics.

These amendments come from school districts Lyndon and Eastmont, and are endorsed by other school districts in the state.

Dozens of Central Valley parents, as well as some students, came to speak on the topic, most against trans girls’ participation in sports, citing safety, fairness and privacy of cisgender female athletes.

The issue has had an ongoing presence in school districts in recent years as experts continue to debate how much being born male gives someone an advantage in sports, with cardiovascular, skeletal, muscular and other systems all examined. In Washington, students can play on the team that matches their gender identity, regardless of whether they have used hormone therapy or other forms of gender-affirming care.

Some at the meeting were moved to tears while they gave public comment, considering their daughters and what they said was the unfairness they may face competing in sports against trans girls.

Others said they understood the district and WIAA were bound by state law, but thanked the board for proactivity and being “leaders” in the topic.

None spoke in favor of existing WIAA policy that allows athletes to play on whichever team best matches their gender identity, though CVSB vice president Teri Landa said some submitted written comments were in support of the policy. It’s enshrined by state law and federal Title IX protections that list transgender identity as a protected class.

Board disagreed on letter’s purpose and clarity

On the Central Valley board, some felt the letter sent a message of exclusion to trans students in the district. Others felt the letter doesn’t send a strong enough message to support female athletes, favoring an explicit action akin to Mead’s resolution.

Director Anniece Barker said the letter was convoluted and should be clear, like Mead’s resolution.

“I support saying definitively that we know that there are differences between biological males and biological females, and that we need to protect our biological females from having to compete with biological males,” she said.

She said a third category for participation not based on gender would provide a more inclusive space for all, while also protecting safety and fairness for cisgender athletes.

“We’re actually creating more inclusion, because now more students will have the opportunity to compete in a category that suits them,” she said.

Barker proposed sending forth both a resolution and letter to lawmakers and WIAA to make their position clear.

Board President Pam Orebaugh agreed that the language should be stronger and said a resolution and a letter would send a powerful message to lawmakers and WIAA. Director Stephanie Jerdon felt the letter should do more to emphasize safety of female athletes, spurring her “no” vote on sending a letter.

Landa said she had several areas she’d change in the letter, one of which was the consideration of intersex students, who may be born with sex characteristics outside of the typical male/female binary, like chromosomes.

“I don’t believe we can make a blanket statement that any child is born physically a boy or a girl and that’s all there is. Well, it’s not,” she said.

‘We don’t want transgender students to be able to participate fully in sports’

McMullen said both this letter and the resolution contradict the board’s strategic plan that guides their work, emphasizing fostering a community of belonging and creating a safe, harassment-free zone for all. She said trans kids are some of the most “vulnerable” students who may seek sports as a place of belonging or inclusion.

“The more I contemplated the letter, the more I saw that we were using fancy language to talk around the true issue, which is we don’t want transgender students to be able to participate fully in sports,” McMullen said, her comments eliciting groans and boos from the packed room.

Watching school boards in Mead and Central Valley denounce transgender girls’ participation in athletics frustrated Jamie Eymann, whose childhood in North Spokane was constantly occupied by sports in and outside of school.

“It’s just fun, it’s community, it’s friendship and it’s bonding, and it’s something I’m very happy I had access to at the time,” Eymann said.

Eymann, a trans woman who transitioned after graduating, worries that the message sent from school boards through resolutions and letters will discourage other trans youth, closeted or not, from trying their hand at sports.

“Sports are one of the staples of our public lives, they’re one of the staples of community for cis kids and trans kids alike; this is Spokane we’re talking about; everyone plays sports,” she said. “It’s not just about sports, it’s about how we welcome people into our community life just generally.”

Eymann feels boards are focused on the wrong issue, overemphasizing fairness in competition rather than a sense of safety for trans students.

Will WIAA amend its policy?

National attention came to the area after a transgender girl from East Valley High School took home a state championship title in track last spring. She’s faced harassment locally and nationally, as a group from Westboro Baptist Church came to protest the 16-year-old at her high school. As she raced her event last year, parents and peers in the stands at the state event booed and jeered.

“It doesn’t feel like we’re focused on the well-being of kids being subjected to harassment, we’re focusing on high level competition and nothing else,” Eymann said.

In lieu of the letter, Barker wanted the CV board to consider a resolution like Mead’s. It’s unclear whether that will happen.

Lawmakers from 25 states have proposed restricting transgender participation in athletics in recent years; the first passed in Idaho in 2020. This law and others are facing legal challenges, as a federal appeals court prevented the Idaho law from going into effect with an injunction. Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador in July petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the injunction.

While the Central Valley board didn’t send its letter on the issue, the amendments concerning transgender students’ participation in sports will appear before the WIAA assembly for consideration. They’re still bound by federal and state laws in their own policy.

For a WIAA amendment to pass, 60% of the association’s membership must vote in support. There are 53 school administrators representing the association’s nine districts included in membership.

Elena Perry’s work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. FāVS republished the story under a Creative Commons license.