NEW ALBANY — Though the language didn’t exclude them before, transgender students and employees in the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. now have written protections in the district’s student rights and responsibilities handbook.
The district’s board of trustees approved the language, along with other changes to the handbook, unanimously at its meeting Monday.
Bill Briscoe, assistant superintendent, said the language, which says “including sexual stereotype non-conformity,” was recommended by Amy Matthews, the attorney who reviewed the document.
On Tuesday, Briscoe said the language is in step with what the Office for Civil Rights — part of the U.S. Department of education — recommends. He said though the district hasn’t excluded transgender people from fairness policies, this explicitly gives them protections in the handbook.
“We’ve never discriminated against students for any reason,” Briscoe said. “These protections have always been there, but this is the first time it’s been written down.”
Lee Ann Wiseheart, board member, brought the subject up for more discussion at Monday’s meeting.
“I’m glad that’s in there,” Wiseheart said.