LGBTQ+ Persons Added to SMSD’s Non-Discrimination Policy

The Shawnee Mission School District school board decided to update its non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity with a 7-0 vote during a board meeting held specifically for the policy update on Sept. 16. The updated policy drew backlash from members of the SMSD community, as the update was the first mention of sexual orientation or gender identity in district policies.

The district already practiced non-discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity regardless of it not being included in a specific policy, but the board wanted to add in the specific language to align practice with the policy, according to the district’s Chief Communications Manager David Smith.

The policy states that “neither the board of education nor any employee of this school district shall illegally discriminate on the basis of race, creed, religion, color, national origin, ancestory, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or any statutorial prohibited basis.”

Sexual orientation and gender identity were the two classes added into the policy.

Although the board and many students saw the policy as beneficial, 10 out of 14 community members that came to speak on the topic spoke against it. The board discussed the remarks after the public comment section, but still decided to pass the updated policy in the best interest of students.

Rose Garinger, a community member who spoke out against the policy at the board meeting, believes that including LGBTQ+ people in the non-discrimination policy impairs children’s innocence and should be left to parents to discuss.

“Special rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity jeopardize parents’ rights to safeguard their children’s innocence,” Garinger said at the board meeting. “We should not expose young children to teachings about sexuality and gender that they are too young and ill-equipped to handle.”

Many community members also expressed concerns regarding transgender students in locker rooms and sports as well as teachers educating students about sexual orientation and gender identity. However, the updated non-descrimination policy doesn’t address those additional concerns and the district does not currently have policies for these issues. 

“This policy does not impact those policies in any way, that broader question is one that the board has not had formal discussion about within those meetings,” Smith said. “So it’s something that could come up, but it hasn’t at this point.”

The board had been considering adding the language for several months and was especially influenced by similar language added to the Olathe and Blue Valley School District policies about six months ago, according to Smith. He also hopes that SMSD’s change in policy will urge other districts or cities without a non-discrimination ordinance, or NDO, to update their policies.

The updated policy allows the district to discipline students or staff who discriminate against people based on sexual or gender identity. The consequences will be analyzed case-by-case, but the policy gives the district grounds to ensure that students and staff don’t face discimination, according to reverend and board representative from the Shawnee Mission West area Laura Guy.

“All of us have the right to say what we feel, what we believe, and this would not change that — we still have that right,” Smith said. “Obviously if there were to be some kind of [discrimination] based on gender identity or sexual orientation, then this would certainly allow the district, based on policy, to respond to that.”

East assistant principal Susan Leonard is hopeful that the district will address issues mentioned during the board meeting, such as transgender students in locker rooms, bathrooms and sports to make East schools more gender neutral.

“[As of now] it’s too much on the individual for the person needing the change to find a solution and I think that’s uncomfortable,” Leonard said. “We do have a bond issue coming up and one of our priorities is to have more gender neutral bathrooms and locker rooms and changing areas so hopefully as we look at projects with bigger building areas we’ll do that, and I think it’s a priority for the district too.” 

As of now, most transgender students bring their concerns regarding bathroom and locker room use to administration and allow the administration to analyze the specific case. There are also two different locations of single-stall gender neutral bathrooms at East, some in the library and some near the locker rooms.

The president of the Gay Straight Alliance club Oscar Conway hopes that the new policy will lead to teachers being more considerate of students’ identity preferences.

“[Teacher Melinda DiGirolamo] does introductory papers that you fill out like ‘What’s your name, what’s your prefered name, what are your pronouns,’ and I think that should be a thing all teachers should be doing because it gives those students a piece of mind in that classroom that their teacher is there for them,” Conway said.

Guy expressed that she was in favor of the policy because as a reverend, many members of the LGBTQ+ community have approached her, reflecting on their time in high school.

“They couldn’t come out to friends, teachers, administrators, not even to their own family sometimes…[They felt like] there wasn’t a place for them,” Guy said. “For many of them, this led to becoming depressed and suicidal thoughts…[This policy is] important because it says ‘Our schools are for all students, and we’re going to make sure it’s a safe place for them and they don’t feel ostracized or that they don’t belong’ with this language.”

Leonard also explained that the policy will increase conversations about the LGBTQ+ community and support high schoolers struggling with gender and sexual identity.

“[Talking about sexual and gender orientation] at the very least shows that it’s okay if you’re questioning things because I just always go back to the suicide rates of kids who don’t naturally see themselves as female, male or straight and there’s a huge correlation to the kids who start to question themselves or feel like nobody else accepts them [and suicide],” Leonard said.

Multimedia by Maddox Mogenson