JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – During a Wednesday meeting of Duval County Public Schools’ Policy Handbook Review Committee, school board members discussed a rule that would prohibit transgender students from using a bathroom that’s associated with their gender expression, requiring them to use the room tagged with their birth-assigned gender or use single-occupancy restrooms at school.
The members also reviewed a proposal to outline the method and protocol for the naming or renaming of school district facilities, such as schools, sports fields, libraries or anything else that might be named after someone.
And, following revelations about multiple faculty members at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, board members also discussed and reviewed the board’s policies on ethics and those that prohibit any staff fraternization with students.
Bathrooms, Locker Rooms And Overnight Trips
The DCPS student resource guide already states a rule that board members discussed adding to the official district policy handbook Wednesday.
The rule would require that students use the gender-segregated restroom that lines up with that student’s sex assigned at birth, eliminating the option for transgender or non-conforming students to use a bathroom associated with their identity.
“Students may only use bathrooms, dressing rooms, and locker rooms that correspond with their biological sex at birth,” the proposed rule states. “Alternatively, students may use single occupancy bathrooms.”
The rule also allows students to make use of single-occupancy restrooms, though it’s unclear how widespread those facilities are in DCPS school buildings.
The policy also outlines the rules for overnight trips:
“With respect to overnight school trips, prior notice and consent from parents will be required if room assignments for one or more students are not separated by biological sex at birth,” the proposed rule states. “Each student impacted by this exception must have an individual written parental consent form on file for that student’s lodging.”
The rule will need to be adopted by the school board during one of its regular meetings.
Naming Or Renaming Facilities
In response to a group of advocates pushing to rename an athletics field at Riverside High School, the board also revisited a proposal to enumerate a comprehensive process for the naming or renaming of district facilities.
The proposal would add a four-page section to the policy handbook that outlines how a recommendation would be made, how a renaming committee would be formed and what criteria would be considered when deciding on a name change.
Some provisions in the section would prohibit the renaming committee from choosing the name of a current employee of the district, from choosing the name of someone who is currently serving in elected office and from choosing a name that’s not reasonable in length.
The process was highly publicized in 2021 when the district underwent an 11-month process to consider renaming nine schools in the district. Six of those schools were eventually renamed, including Riverside High School.
Fraternization with Students
The members also revisited the district’s policy that prohibits any “fraternization” between district employees and students.
The policy bans “soliciting or engaging in sexual conduct, a relationship of a romantic nature, or lewd conduct with, or date, or agree to date, a student enrolled in the regular prekindergarten-12 program in the Duval County School District.”
The discussion came in the wake of investigations into at least three staff members at Douglas Anderson School for the Arts, one of which has resulted in criminal lewd conduct charges against longtime music teacher Jeffrey Clayton.
Members April Carney and Lori Hershey said the policy needs regular scrutiny, given that the protection of students is among the board’s highest priorities.
“The world changes, we have issues that are fluid, and it’s our responsibility to stay on top of board policy,” Carney told News4JAX. “We have to make sure that we review these items and that they’re up to date because we just never know what circumstance could arise. So, it’s important that we’re on top of it.”