Earlier this summer, the Post asked our readers what issues you wanted to hear candidates running for Blue Valley Board of Education to address leading up to the Nov. 4 election.
Based on that feedback, we developed a five-item questionnaire centering the issues most important to the Blue Valley community.
Each day this week, we’re publishing the candidates’ responses to one question.
Today, we’re publishing candidates’ responses to the following question:
Transgender students: There has been much scrutiny in recent years on schools’ policies regarding transgender students. As a school board member, it’s partly your job to set policies that guide how schools accommodate all students. Do you support or oppose policies that allow transgender students to express their gender identity at school, specifically ones that may allow them to use their chosen pronouns or use a bathroom different from the gender they were assigned at birth?
Below are the answers the Post received from candidates on this issue:
Member 5
Gina Knapp (incumbent)
The role of the school board is not to set one-size-fits-all policies on this issue, but to ensure that our schools are safe and respectful for every student. Questions about how transgender students are supported day to day fall under administrative practice, not board policy. In those situations, each case should be handled individually, with school leaders working directly with the student and their family to develop an action plan everyone is comfortable with. That approach respects the rights and dignity of the student while also keeping families central to the process. The board’s responsibility is to provide oversight that ensures our schools treat all students with fairness, compassion, and consistency, while leaving the specific plans to be crafted at the building and family level.
Steve Roberts
Did not provide the Post with a response.
Member 6
David Benson
Did not provide the Post with a response.
Jim McMullen (incumbent)
The premise of this question is seriously flawed. No child is “assigned” a gender at birth. The adults in charge should not entertain or push falsehoods on children such as the noxious idea that one could be born in the wrong body. The school district should just return to using common sense in these matters. We’ve had sex-segregated bathrooms for the entire history of the United States for good reason.
