The Gilford school board is following the lead of other districts across the state in establishing a non-discrimination policy for transgender students.
A first reading of the New Hampshire School Boards Association’s template for the “Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students” policy was completed earlier this month. The board will vote on the policy next month.
Superintendent Kirk Beitler said the policy is currently what the association recommends: allowing students into the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity consistently asserted at school, calling students by preferred names and pronouns, and working with students on a case-by-case basis to provide access to locker rooms.
“We’ve often almost always used their recommended policies as the framework,” he said. Beitler said that so far, there’s been no opposition to the policy, though school board members are open to suggestions for improvement.
“We might look at some other school districts,” he said.
Oyster River School District was the first to implement its own transgender policy in fall 2015. Concord, Candia, Hooksett, Merrimack Valley and others have put into place their own policies or updated their anti-discrimination policies.
If they approve the policy Feb. 6, Gilford will join the group and the policy will be put on the books right away.