Quilcene School Board Meeting Sparks Controversy Over Gender Issues and Public Trust
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School Board members listen to public comment. Later in the meeting, they discuss amending or ending the public comment period. Photo by Nhatt Nichols. [/caption]
News by Nhatt Nichols
In their April 16 meeting, the Quilcene School Board's agenda showed a disconnect between the problems that students and teachers feel need the board’s attention and the issues the board discussed.
Although discussing requiring students to play on the sports team aligned with their birth gender was on the agenda, board member Vivianne Kuehl reminded the board that they had prioviously decided to wait until the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) had voted on an advisory amendment that would have restricted girls' sports to "biological females." This would have only been an advisory decision, as any rule change would have been in violation of current Washington state law.
The WIAA announced on April 21 that the proposed amendment failed to reach the 60% threshold needed to pass. The failure of this advisory amendment will inform the Quilcene School Board’s next meeting on May 7.
School Board Chair Shona Davis was asked for a comment on this decision, but had not responded by the time of publishing.
Educators Push Back Against School Board Agenda
During the public comment period, teacher Courtney Beck spoke about the school board’s decision to show a video on gender from PragerU, a nonprofit organization known for producing short, controversial videos that promote conservative viewpoints. PragerU, which is not an accredited university, has previously had its videos removed by YouTube for spreading misinformation.
Beck, in addition to being a teacher, is the president of the Quilcene Education Association and a mom to an Elementary and a High School student.
“I want to be clear,” Beck said in a public comment, “Our students are watching, and what they see right now is a school board that is more focused on targeting LGBTQ students and addressing the real issues that impact teaching and learning in our classrooms. Tonight, you plan to show a video that claims gender is binary. That message directly contradicts medical, psychological and educational consensus, and more importantly, it violates your own district nondiscrimination policy. That policy exists to protect all students, and you are not exempt from it. When board actions contradict district policy, it erodes trust, not just in you as leaders, but in the entire public school system.”
Other Quilcene community members highlighted their discontent with the board debating both the transgender athlete issue and the Bible curriculum.
“Our students are watching, and what they see right now is a school board that is more focused on targeting LGBTQ students and addressing the real issues that impact teaching and learning in our classrooms.”
— Courtney Beck, teacher and president of the Quilcene Education Association
Quilcene resident Peter Braccio succinctly summed up many of the other commenters’ views, saying, “I'm against both excluding trans athletes from sports teams and the proposal to teach the Bible in this public school. Discrimination seems to be the entire point of the first item and the second item violates the separation of church and state. It is also ironic that discrimination against a minority group directly goes against the New Testament teachings that you still want to teach. That is all I have to say.”
Not all of the commenters agreed, however. Brinnon resident Daniel Boone commented on the physical differences between boys and girls, though he didn’t address how hormone replacement therapy affects these differences.
Another commenter addressed the civil rights case that led to the establishment of Title IX, and allowed for the creation of the girls' softball team she played on. She did not mention that Washington State law protects against both gender and sex discrimination.
Eli Allen, the student representative on the school board and a Rival baseball player, commented that he didn’t understand why they were talking about trans students playing sports, when there currently are no students playing sports. He asked the board to instead focus on things that the students do need their support with.
Video Sparks Controversy, Discussion of Public Comment Ban
After the public comment period ended, the board showed the video on gender from PragerU at the request of board member Ron Frantz.
The teachers who were present and most of the other attendees left the room during the five-minute video. Former Beacon writer Derek Firenze chose to stay and disrupt the video by coughing through it, an action that led School Superintendent Ron Hoag to call the Sheriff’s office.
Two Jefferson County Deputies arrived and asked Firenze to leave the meeting, which he did without being charged. After Firenze left, the board showed the remainder of the video without incident.
The board then discussed removing public comments from their meeting, a decision that would directly contradict Section 1000 of school district Policy 1400.
The Quilcene School Board will be discussing the WIAA’s failed amendment at their meeting on May 7.
