Manitowoc school board puts pronoun use in hands of parents with 'parental bill of rights'

MANITOWOC - The Manitowoc Board of Education approved administrative guidelines to the existing policy on controversial issues in the classroom, which includes use of pronouns as approved by parents and the superintendent.

The guidelines are designed to clarify the school district's expectations and "parameters for carrying out this policy," according to a memo from Superintendent James Feil that accompanied the document for the school board.

"I think it's important that we're all on the same page on the parameters that we're working in," Feil said at the June 13 board meeting.

The guidelines, which Feil called a "parental bill of rights," states the following:

"This administrative guideline affirms the district's commitment to the fundamental rights of parents to play the principal role in directing the education of their children, to be fully informed of their children's educational experience, and to expect the district to work to ensure the best possible student outcomes in a safe, secure and inclusive environment."

In the board meeting, Feil said that while it falls under his purview to create and implement administrative guidelines at his discretion, he wanted the board to consider this set of guidelines.

The document lists 12 statements outlining beliefs held by the school district including welcoming students of all religious beliefs, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, and only engaging in conversations about gender identity and sexuality with the consent of the students' parents or guardians.

It then goes on to state the rights of parents in regards to their children's education, which ranges from a parent's decision to opt out of certain lessons to a student's use of bathroom and locker room facilities.

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"I will always give power to the parents when it comes to what their kids are being taught, and this just solidifies it and takes out a lot of confusion and question on what can and cannot be," board member Matthew Spaulding said.

The document also outlines the expectation that the staff will cooperate with the parents' decisions on their child's identity, including use of pronouns and nicknames.

"With policies like this, I worry that teachers won't be open to help if somebody comes up to them," board member Biff Hansen said. "... We have to design this so that students and teachers will feel safe if somebody asks a question."

The policy on controversial topics in the classroom states that topics considered controversial have an important part in a student's education, but they have to be approved by the district administrator and be presented in a way that is unbiased and does not disrupt the school environment.

The Manitowoc school district is not the first to wrestle with topics of student gender identities and sexual orientation.

In May 2022, the Kiel Area School District opened a Title IX complaint on three eighth-grade boys who were said to have used incorrect pronouns for another student.

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Title IX is a civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education settings that receive federal funding.

That investigation was closed by the Kiel School Board after they received national attention and threats of violence to their community.

In July 2022, the Wisconsin Supreme Court considered a case asking to block a policy in the Madison public schools that allows students to self-identify their names and pronouns without parental permission. However, the court's judges decided it wasn't appropriate for them to rule on the policy itself and instead focused on whether the parents who brought the lawsuit could remain anonymous.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, LGBTQ youth are at greater risk for poor mental health, but said when schools implement LGBTQ supportive policies, all students show better health outcomes including less emotional distress, less experience with violence and harassment, and less suicidal behavior.

Alisa M. Schafer is a reporter for the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter. She can be reached by email at aschafer@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Manitowoc school board rules on pronoun use, 'parental bill of rights'