Kearsarge Regional School District has policy that appears to explain gender identity of students can be hidden from parents

Parents Defending Education submitted a public records request seeking any transgender guidance from the Kearsarge Regional School District. The district provided PDE with two policies. One policy is titled “Student Preferred Names and Pronouns.” This policy states that students may select their preferred pronouns and name and that typically parents are involved: “In general, the Kearsarge Regional School District will strive to support student name and pronoun preferences in conjunction with parental support.” However, the next sentence appears to suggest there may be circumstances where this may not be the case: “Consideration of student developmental readiness as well as physical and emotional safety will be the driving factors in any decision to honor a student’s request.”

The policy also states that not using the preferred pronouns of students can be considered sexual harassment: “The intentional or persistent refusal to respect a student’s gender identity (for example, intentionally referring to the student by a name or pronoun that does not correspond to the student’s gender identity) is a violation of this policy and subject to the provisions of Kearsarge School District policies ACAA – Sexual Harassment of Students.”

The district’s second policy is titled “Physical Privacy of Students.” This policy states that students can use the restrooms and locker rooms that match their preferred gender identity.