Seattle Public Schools’ School Based Health Centers offer middle and high school students access to “gender affirming care” that includes hormone therapy and referrals for surgeries

The School Based Health Centers at Nova High School and Meany Middle School offer students “gender affirming care” as part of its school based medical services. The health centers, operated by Country Doctor Community Health Centers, offer “no cost comprehensive, trauma-informed, and gender affirming care, conveniently at the school. The center is “staffed full time by a clinic administrator, medical providers, and a behavior health specialist.”

According to Country Doctor Community Health Centers’ website, the services it offers include “gender-affirming medications (estrogen, androgen blockers, testosterone, etc.) and injection techniques,” “hormone therapy for adolescents and specialty referrals for younger patients as needed,” and “referrals for gender-affirming surgeries.”

The health center states that it “does not provide puberty blockers” for adolescents at the time.

Seattle Public Schools’ “Gender-Inclusive Schools: Transgender and Gender-Expansive Student Rights and Supports” (Policy 3211) states that “staff should not disclose a student’s transgender or gender X status to others unless (1) legally required to do so or (2) the student has authorized disclosure” and “contacting the parents/guardians of a transgender or gender X student and it is unclear whether the student asserts the same gender identity at home, it is best practice to avoid using gender pronouns.”

A list of over 1000 school districts across the United States that have policies that state personnel can keep a student’s transgender status hidden from parents can be found here.