Guest Opinion: Central Bucks should respect students' preferred pronouns
During my first year teaching, my classroom was near the cafeteria. By the third week, Logan began pressing his face against my door, lunch tray in hand, pleading to come in. In class, his peers would sometimes erupt with laughter regarding his outfit choice and sneer about how gay he looked. I addressed it when I could, but there were times when I missed opportune moments to interrupt the harmful commentary and facilitate dialogue among my students to foster curiosity and understanding.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education says “the primary professional obligation of educators is to the students they serve” including using “reasonable effort to protect students from harm.” The Code of Professional Practice for Educators defines harm as anything impeding learning or resulting in any kind of damage to students or school community members. As a K-12 Central Bucks alum, educator, and LGBTQ ally, I am shaken by the decisions of the Central Bucks School District and board which impact the educational experience for students, particularly those identifying as LGBTQ. The decisions are in direct conflict with the code, and should be reevaluated to ensure alignment.
According to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, LGBTQ youth suffer from disproportionately high suicide rates, poorer mental health, increased school absenteeism, and a decreased sense of safety. The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey found that slightly more than half of LGBTQ youth find their school to be LGBTQ-affirming and jarringly, only about one-third find their home to be so. The statistics are the same or lower for transgender and nonbinary youth. This is critical because the Trevor Project’s survey found that LGBTQ youth who have access to identity-affirming spaces report fewer suicide attempts than LGBTQ peers who do not.
The Central Bucks School District has a responsibility to do more to protect LGBTQ students from harm. It is the professional duty of educators everywhere to provide identity-affirming school environments for the mental and physical health of LGBTQ students — display pride flags in classrooms, acknowledge students with preferred pronoun(s) and names, and connect them with validating and supportive resources. Central Bucks must support teachers who signal their allyship in their classroom by displaying pride flags, selecting texts that reflect LGBTQ lived experiences, and providing development on how to facilitate developmentally appropriate conversations among students about gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. The district should implement a policy allowing transgender and gender non-conforming students to be addressed at school and school-sponsored events by their preferred name and pronoun(s) without requiring parent or guardian permission. The 2020 Trevor Project National Survey found that youth whose preferences regarding pronouns were respected by most/all people in their life attempted suicide at half the rate of youth whose pronouns were not respected. Denying students identity-affirming experiences is a form of structural violence and ultimately leads to suffering. As educators they — we — are obliged to care for the students we serve. We can literally save lives.
The mission of the Central Bucks School District is to “provide all students with the academic and problem solving skills essential for personal development, responsible citizenship, and lifelong learning.” An important part of personal development for children includes creating spaces where students have the safety and freedom to explore and celebrate their identity. Responsible citizenship requires us to understand that we exist in local, national, and global contexts created by a culture of power grounded in white, cis-gendered, heteronormativity. Lifelong learning is a commitment to seeking to understand the experiences of others that are different from our own — not to agree with them — but because our lived experiences shape how we navigate every moment of our day.
When Logan knocked on that door my rookie year, I was unsure of what to do. Now, as a seasoned educator, I’m clearer about my bottom line in these complex moments. It is arguably quite similar to what the Central Bucks School District has committed to on paper: what is best for kids, the most important stakeholder we serve? I implore you to have the courage, compassion, and sense of responsibility to uphold your mission. A child’s life may depend on it.
Meredith Mehra is a Central Bucks School District alum and a former Doylestown Township resident who now lives in Philadelphia.
This article originally appeared on The Intelligencer: Guest Opinion: Central Bucks must respect students' preferred pronouns
