Speaking truth to school boards

This is a story you won’t see in the mainstream media. If this can happen in a rural Indiana town of only 15,000 people in a Republican “fly-over” state, it can happen in your town.

A brave 11-year-old girl spoke out at a Lebanon, Indiana school board meeting earlier this year on January 16, 2024 in which she describes how she and other girls are forced to share a locker room with a boy while at school.

“I’m here to discuss the matter of a male being in the female locker room. Imagine this is you — you’re an 11-year-old girl who is coming into school thinking that they’re in a safe environment. You go to PE to get ready in the locker room and you see a boy in there. The first time you saw them, you panicked. Do I change in front of the boy? I feel like I’m doing something wrong. Do I take my shirt off? Do I take my pants off? He is doing so, so I think I should. I see him standing there, in his underwear. That was the first time I saw a boy half-naked — in a school that’s supposed to be safe.”

“I wanted to cry. I felt so uncomfortable. The only thing I’m asking for is that all students can change in a locker room that is matched to their gender. If they don’t feel comfortable changing, they could change in a private space alone, making others feel comfortable in their locker room. If I was your daughter and I came to you and said I saw the outline of male genitalia for the first time in the locker room at a school that is supposed to be safe, I would hope you would be proactive and find a safe place for all students, not just one percent.”

By the applause at the end, obviously there were many parents and community there for support. And obviously, you don’t address the school board unless you’ve exhausted all your options directly with administration. The board thanked her and moved on to other business.

As of this writing there has been no official response from the school. Like many school districts around the nation, this student’s concerns are not reflected in school policy regarding gender/sex and locker room use, which is a poor excuse for not bolstering and enforcing policy that would limit the potential for rape like what happened in Loudon County, Virginia two years earlier. Have we learned nothing?

School board members in Indiana are elected as “nonpartisan.” Yet the administration of our schools has proven to be the most partisan-biased small local governmental entities we have. Overall, 41 States elect their school board members as “nonpartisan.” A bill proposed for Indiana to change school board elections to partisan failed in the House in 2023. “Supporters of the bill have maintained that forcing school board candidates to declare a party will provide greater transparency for voters.” However, “Democrats and representatives from multiple education groups [big surprise here since education groups and unions are run by Democrats] opposed the bill. arguing that such steps would needlessly further inject politics into local school decisions.”

As if politics don’t already drive what’s happening in our schools. The time to lay dormant with our schools is over. Our children are worth fighting for.

H/T  RealNewsMichiana.com

Image: Ted Eytan