WENTZVILLE — Transgender students in the Wentzville School District saw their ability to use bathrooms and locker rooms restricted under a new policy approved by the school board Thursday night.
Board members voted 5-2 to establish rules that go into effect April 3 that require students, faculty and any person inside a district school building to use restrooms and locker rooms “based on an individual’s reproductive biology at birth.”
“This increased level of privacy has been demanded from the public and that’s the purpose of this policy,” said board member Jen Olson, who sponsored the draft policy that was the subject of intense debates between board members.
Board President Shannon Stolle, who voted to enact the proposal, said she backed it because of privacy concerns for students. In addition to Stolle, the other members to vote in favor of the proposal were Katie Lyczak, Renee Henke, David Lewis and Olson.
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Board members backed Olson’s proposal over a policy supported by the district’s administration. That plan would have allowed transgender students to continue to be able to request to use bathrooms and locker rooms of their preferred gender.
Transgender students will be able use single-person bathrooms and locker rooms if they are available in their particular school building, according to the enacted policy.
Thursday’s meeting at North Point High School marks the latest example of the culture war debates in St. Charles County. The county in recent months has seen fights over sexually explicit books in public libraries, calls for gender-neutral outfits for library workers, and student walkouts to protest the rollback of diversity and equity programming.
Wentzville School Board member Jason Goodson, who is not seeking reelection, said the policy reeked of bias against members of the LGBTQ+ community and said the district’s legal counsel had repeatedly advised the board to not enact any policy in this “gray area of law.”
“Something that we have been counseled on throughout is that objectivity in policymaking really matters, and the perception or potential for perception of bias could exacerbate our problems, create more legal risk and more potential damages,” Goodson said.
He along with fellow board member Julie Scott were the two board members to vote against the proposal.
“Regardless if it is one student or if it is 2,000 students, it doesn’t matter,” Scott said. “Every student needs a place to go to the restroom safely and our current procedure allows for that to happen without implementing this policy.”
Goodson’s concerns were reiterated by Wentzville Superintendent Danielle Tormala, who said the policy exposes the district to lawsuits alleging discrimination against transgender students under the federal government’s Title IX and Equal Protection Clause.
She told the board that less than one one-hundredth of a percent of the district’s 18,000 students are transgender.
Board members delayed the implementation of this proposal until early April to allow administrators to meet with transgender students about the policy change.