Metro Nashville school board refuses to update policy under state's new transgender student-athlete ban
The Metro Nashville Board of Education recently declined to update the district's policy regarding student-athlete eligibility to align with a new state law limiting which sports transgender athletes can participate in.
At least six board members met during a governance committee meeting earlier this month to review a variety of policy updates and later recommended that the entire board should vote to defer the policy.
The policy has to do with who is allowed to play on which sports teams in Metro Nashville.
Currently, the district's policy promises equal athletic opportunities to students of both sexes and that "no person shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, be treated differently from another person, or otherwise be discriminated against in any athletic program of the school."
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But it hasn't been updated since Tennessee lawmakers passed a new state law in the spring requiring transgender students to compete in school sports according to their sex at birth.
The law bans transgender middle and high school students from participating in sports under their gender identity. The legislation contains no exceptions for students receiving puberty blockers or treatments altering testosterone levels, factors scientific studies associate with athletic performance.
Metro Nashville Public Schools' updated policy would have added that students participating in interscholastic athletics "must meet the eligibility requirements set forth by the state and the governing body of the sport" if it had been approved.
With several board members expressing moral conflicts with the state law, board member Gini Pupo-Walker suggested the board defer the vote indefinitely.
"When I read this policy, I know that when we say 'eligibility requirements,' the reason for this is discrimination against trans students and I know when we say 'necessary documentation,' we are talking about asking children to provide documentation around their biological (sex)," said board member Emily Masters. "And that is why I find it immoral, unethical, a violation of civil rights, and not at all in line with what I know about our district and how we choose to care for students."
Though the board did not set a timeline for reviewing the policy, board members did originally discuss deferring it pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging the new law filed this month on behalf of a Knox County Schools high school student.
Luc Esquivel, a 14-year-old freshman at Farragut High School in Knoxville, is at the center of the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed against Gov. Bill Lee, Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn, the State Board of Education, the Knox County Board of Education and Knox County Schools Superintendent Bob Thomas.
The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) oversees eligibility criteria for students participating in school sports, which includes age, residency and grade in addition to new regulations regarding students' biological sex.
Students found to not meet eligibility requirements can be disqualified or made to forfeit athletic events, which could potentially affect the entire team in some cases.
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David Sevier, director of board policy, said he is not aware of any Metro Schools students currently affected by the new law, but several board members, including board chair Christiane Buggs and Freda Player-Peters, did express concerns regarding the impact of a policy decision on all students.
"Being penalized for who you are, that's also unfair to the rest of the teammates who are just kids doing what they love with a talent and a skill," Player-Peters said during the board's Nov. 16 governance committee meeting. "I don’t want to punish kids for another student being who they are, and I don’t want to punish that kid for being who they are."
Board member Abigail Tylor summarized the board's decision to defer adopting a policy in compliance with the state law: "If we are deferring this, we are not affirming the state. We are saying that we feel so strongly about the state law that we want to see how this state law plays out in court."
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Meghan Mangrum covers education for the USA TODAY Network — Tennessee. Contact her at mmangrum@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter @memangrum.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville school board refuses to update policy under transgender athlete ban
