The Champlain Valley School District has become the first in Vermont to clearly spell out the rights of transgender and nonbinary students in a wide-ranging policy its school board unanimously approved last week.

The three-page policy hews closely to guidance the state Agency of Education released in 2017, which outlines best practices for students whose gender identity is different than their assigned sex at birth or who do not identify as male or female. But the school district's policy uses more decisive language than the state's to affirm students' rights to use a locker room or restroom and participate in school sports and activities that align with their gender identity.

School board chair Angela Arsenault, who served on the committee that created the policy, said it codifies practices that the school district has used for years. The district-wide approach ensures that educators at its six schools are on the same page, she said. The district is the biggest in Vermont, with more than 4,000 students in Williston, Shelburne, Charlotte, Hinesburg and St. George.

"A transgender or gender nonbinary student must be permitted to use a locker room or restroom that aligns with the student's gender identity," the policy reads. It defines gender identity as "one's innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both, or neither." Any student who asks for increased privacy "will be provided with reasonable alternative arrangements," such as a private area, a different changing schedule or a single-stall restroom.

The state, on the other hand, says a trans student should not have to use a locker room or bathroom that conflicts with their gender identity. The agency guidance also describes accommodations for "gender nonconforming" students.

The Vermont Principals' Association, which governs interscholastic sports, has its own policy that says it is "committed to providing all students with the opportunity to participate in VPA activities in a manner consistent with their gender identity."

Dana Kaplan, executive director of LGBTQ youth advocacy organization Outright Vermont, said the newest policy is "an exciting moment where a district is coming out and saying, in no uncertain terms, 'We want all of our students to be safe.'"

"Having really clear guidance in this day and age, when rhetoric is flying around and [there's a] concerted effort to squelch the rights of young people ... is incredibly important," Kaplan said. "I hope other districts will follow suit."

The policy was passed at a time when lawmakers across the country have taken an opposite approach. Twenty-three states now have laws that ban transgender youths from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity, and nine states have banned transgender students from using bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. Florida recently prohibited public school employees from asking children their preferred pronouns.

Data suggest that these laws have created a hostile, and even dangerous, climate for LGBTQ people. Eighty-six percent of transgender and nonbinary youths said debates about anti-trans bills have negatively impacted their mental health, according to a recent poll conducted by Morning Consult and the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ suicide-prevention organization. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual crime report, released this month, showed that anti-LGBTQ hate crimes rose by 19 percent from 2021 to 2022.

The Vermont chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics applauded Champlain Valley's policy, noting that the state is "not immune to attacks on transgender and gender diverse Vermonters."

"When students feel safe to express their identities across the gender spectrum, they will be more prepared to learn and thrive in school," the group wrote in a statement.

Arsenault, who also represents Williston as a Democrat in the Vermont House, said the policy committee intentionally worked slowly. Made up of five board members and five administrators, the panel gathered feedback from principals, school counselors and nurses, students, and parents, along with staff from the Vermont Department of Health and Outright Vermont.

A number of community members contacted board members to question the policy, with correspondence that ranged from "blatantly hateful to genuinely curious," Arsenault said. Board members responded to all of those who sent messages, she said, trying to dispel misconceptions and assuring them that the policy was based largely on systems already in place.

Tony Moulton, who has served as Champlain Valley School District's director of integrated wellness for almost four years, will help implement the new policy. Educators in the district, he said, have long collaborated to support gay, transgender and nonbinary youths, especially in light of data that show those students are more likely to harm themselves or use substances.

And the numbers of students who identify as being in one of those categories is sharply increasing. In 2021, 4 percent of Vermont high school students said they were transgender, compared to 1.3 percent in 2017, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a biennial study conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the 2021 survey, 29 percent of Champlain Valley Union High School students identified as LGBTQ+, compared to 10 percent in 2017.

Moulton said he sees the policy as one that will benefit all students by making the district more inclusive and welcoming. The policy requires school staff to use students' preferred names and pronouns. And school records will use the name and gender that is consistent with a student's gender identity, except when the district is legally required to use a student's legal name or gender.

"Honoring those students who are transgender or nonbinary is a way to normalize what is already normal," Moulton said. "We have different ways of identifying, and that's OK."

The district is still ironing out some details. For instance, one section of the policy says, "The school will work closely with the student and their caregivers (when appropriate) in devising a plan regarding the confidentiality of a student's transgender or gender nonbinary status that is safe and affirming while meeting competing legal requirements."

Ideally, Moulton said, the school district would include family members in any discussion about a student's gender identity. But if that disclosure might lead to a student feeling unsafe, a team of educators would discuss what to do. Similar policies in other states have drawn the ire of "parental rights" activists, who say educators should never withhold information about students from caregivers.

At the school board's October 17 meeting, Williston parent Michelle Gagne spoke against the policy. She said she's always told her daughter, who has Down syndrome and attends Champlain Valley Union High School, that she can go into a bathroom or locker room and not worry about encountering someone with male anatomy. She said the new policy would contradict that and make her daughter's life "more confusing." As an opponent of the policy, Gagne said she felt like "the lone voice in the wilderness."

Before the vote, board chair Arsenault addressed Gagne directly.

"I have faith that our administrators will work with you the way I think they'll work with anyone," Arsenault said. "I really do believe that as we work through this policy, we really do mean it when we say the focus has been on the safety and well-being of every student. And I personally want that for your student as much as I do for any student."

In an interview, Arsenault said she's aware that the policy could face legal challenges given the current political climate. In Vermont last year, conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom sued the Orange Southwest School District on behalf of a student and her father. They alleged the district violated their First Amendment rights by punishing them for comments they'd made about a transgender student athlete who used the girls' locker room at Randolph Union High School. In May, the school district settled the case for $125,000.

In July, the same legal group sued the Vermont Agency of Education, the Vermont Principals' Association and Mountain Views Supervisory Union on behalf of David Bloch, a former snowboarding coach at Woodstock Union High School. He claimed he was fired unfairly after making comments about a transgender snowboarder on an opposing team. That case is pending.

Arsenault noted that Champlain Valley's policy underwent two rounds of legal review before it came up for a vote.

"We really do feel that we've covered our bases on the legal front," Arsenault said, "and are confident that the policy would hold up to any legal challenge."