Fair Haven School District To Hold Gender Identity & Transgender Student Support Session

The Fair Haven School District will hold a "Gender Identity Information & Transgendered Student Support" parent information night on Sept. 20.

Parents will be given "the most current information and training" on issues of gender identity, Superintendent Sean McNeil said in a letter to parents.

After two families reached out to Fair Haven schools saying that their children were transitioning, the schools decided to put in place a support plan for the community as a whole.

"The plan began with training all staff on this subject to ensure all of our employees had the information they needed to be successful in supporting all of our students," McNeil told Patch.

Next, an information session was offered to all eighth grade students at the beginning of the first day of the new school year. Although an opt-out option was offered, McNeil said, "We had nearly 100% participation in these brief information sessions that were designed to help all students understand what was occurring for someone experiencing this transition and how we, as a school community, could take an active role in creating and continuing to foster a safe and healthy school environment for all of our students."

The parents night is the third branch of the three pronged approach to be addressed: staff, students and parents.

Parent info night was planned "with the intention of sharing the general information and education on the subject that our staff received as well as offer our parents the opportunity to ask any questions they may have about how the Fair Haven School District has gone about supporting this situation," McNeil told Patch.

Megan Washburn, a clinical social worker specializing in transgender adolescents, will facilitate the session. Washburn has previously run info sessions for the school district, including those for administrative and 8th grade staff.

District administrators will be on hand to answer questions regarding their policies and the "steps the District has taken to ensure that all students receive their education in a safe and healthy environment," the letter said.

Fair Haven's policy on accommodating transgender students is available online, and is implemented on a "case-by-case basis," according to the policy.

While there is no data on how many students are transgender or gender non-conforming, the available data shows the difficulties they face. 75% of transgender youth have felt unsafe at school, and 59% say they have been denied access to bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality. Multiple New Jersey school districts have put policies in place to combat these statistics, as Patch has reported.

So far, there have been no problems at Fair Haven when it comes to tolerance of their transgender students. "I am happy to report that we are off to a wonderful school year and all of our students are doing well and enjoying school!" McNeil said.

For more information on Fair Haven's information session, you can click here.

Image: Photo of a transgender pride flag; torbakhopper, flickr.