HOWELL, Michigan, September 28, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — The Howell Public School Board rebuffed a member's proposal for a “Parent's Right to Know” policy without giving her a chance to present it.
Trustee Deb McCormick reportedly accused the school board of ignoring the issue of transgender bathrooms after the board wouldn't include McCormick's proposal on the board's agenda for discussion.
The policy, McCormack says, gives parents a choice regarding what their child is taught about sex. It would also have informed parents when or if there was a transgender girl being allowed to use the boys' restroom or a transgender boy being allowed in the girls' showers and locker rooms.
McCormick told LifeSiteNews, “I have proposed a Board Policy that would have parents contacted before a transgender child should demand to use the bathroom, showers, or locker room that is not their birth gender. I could not get one member of the board to support me to even get it voted on. I am so disgusted. I was told at the meeting I was reckless because I would let this issue go.”
Howell School Board Secretary Brent Earl said the federal government is currently dealing with the issue of transgender rights, and so no additional information is needed. “If it ever comes up, (the school board) will debate it, but there is no reason to at this time,” Earl said.
Earl accused McCormick of “harping on this topic (of transgender bathrooms) … to the point of becoming reckless.”
McCormick responded in a statement to WHMI: “The only reckless behavior is how the issue occurred and was handled. When policy is made by employees of the district without the consent of the board and the superintendent, we have a big problem. … Parents have a right to know so they can plan accordingly and we avoid a repeat of the situation.”
“The reason I have pursued this because we had a situation occur when a principal allowed a transgender child in the elementary school use the bathroom that was not their birth gender,” McCormick told LifeSiteNews. “A child in the bathroom knew this child was not a boy and in fact a girl, and told his parents.”
“The principal in fact made district policy change without consulting the superintendent or the Board of Education,” McCormick explained. “This whole situation could have been avoided had the parents been informed. Only the Board can make policy.”
“I believe the school district is not in the business of parenting these children but educating them,” she said, adding, “Please pray for me!”
Howell schools became embroiled in controversy in June when the district adopted a policy allowing girls who identify as transgender to use the boys' facilities. The father of three sons decided to take them out of school when his son came home and said a girl was in the boys' bathroom.
The school district at that time blamed the Obama administration for forcing them to allow the opposite sex in the bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers. But shortly after the father's threat of taking his sons out of public school, he said the district backed off and “changed their positions.”
The district said, without explanation, that they no longer have a transgender girl asking to use the boys' facilities. “We are pausing on the federal guidance issued to all school districts across the nation … while we work to … gather feedback on this matter,” Superintendent Erin McGregor wrote.