PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles School Board is expected to vote on a new district policy regarding transgender students and will hear a report on the reorganization of kindergarten through eighth grades at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The board will meet at the Central Services Building, 216 E. Fourth St.
The policy regarding transgender students will have a second reading, and the board will consider approval of the policy.
The policy is required of all districts by the state Office of Superintendent of Instruction.
The policy would prohibit discrimination against transgender students, require schools to use the pronoun of a student’s choice and allow students to dress in a manner appropriate to the student’s gender identification.
It would require schools to allow transgender students to use the restrooms or locker rooms of their choice, and to provide alternatives for any student who has a need or desire for increased privacy.
The policy also provides for access to staff or other small, private restrooms for all students who are uncomfortable with privacy levels in larger, multi-toilet restrooms.
Task force report
Members of the Long Range Facilities Task Force will present their findings on how the district should organize grade levels at the district’s schools.
The task force was initially asked to investigate the possibility of organizing new school buildings and continue their work after recommending the construction of a new high school.
The report recommends a return to the pre-kindergarten-through-fifth-grade elementary school and sixth-grade-through-eighth-grade middle school model previously used by the district.
District schools now place the sixth grade in the elementary schools.
The full report is expected to include the task force’s reasons for making the recommendation to return to the former district model.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
