“The sex of a student shall be determined by the sex marker on the student’s certified U.S. Birth Certificate,” stated the proposed Policy Draft P2116 from the FHSD Board of Education. This policy on ‘Privacy in Locker Rooms and Restrooms’ has been a very controversial topic among the people learning and working in FHSD, as well as people living in the area. There are rebuttals from both sides about restrictions of who can go into certain bathrooms or locker rooms.

Grayson Jostes is an alumnus of Francis Howell Central High School who has been participating in protests at the Board of Education meetings regarding the Board’s outlook on assigned sex of people in FHSD and how it’s affecting transgender students and faculty. The assigned sex, the biological attributes of a person at birth, are debated on more than the identity of the people themselves.

“I’m protesting anything that is against the LGBTQIA+ community, which is really involved now from locker room bills or policies that are aimed towards the LGBTQIA+ community,” Jostes said. “I speak out as best I can, I post meetings as best I can, I speak out as best I can. You have to find what you believe is right. In this world, there are people who disagree with you. And there will be people who will take away what you love, and what’s about you, but there’s ways that you can fight for it. You can either protest safely or you can also sign up to be a member of the Board. And say your mind on what you believe in. Focusing on moving forward, instead of backwards.”

There haven’t been any previous policies in place that restrict any person from going into any bathroom or locker room. Although there are policies against inappropriate misconduct. The Board has taken some time since the last board meeting on Nov. 16 for research. All of the patron comments on that date were about P2116. Much of the concerns on both sides were about privacy.

“Why are we subjecting our children to this, why are we forcing our children to expose themselves to the opposite sex,” Adriana Kuhn, a speaker at the Board meeting on Nov. 16 and a mother of two students attending FHSD, said. “It is wrong to sacrifice the privacy and safety of many of our students for the desire of a few. I urge all seven Board Directors to move forward with a bathroom policy to ensure the safety and well being of all 16,000+ students in the Francis Howell School District.”

The majority of the Board of Education members align more conservatively. Therefore, there are many disagreements in the meetings from more liberally aligned patrons.

“When it comes to a solution, we have to listen to both sides,” Victor Balleydier, a FHN sophomore and transgender male, said. “A lot of people don’t want to listen to trans people and a lot of people don’t listen to the cis people’s concerns. We still have cisgender people who need to listen to trans people and trans people need to listen to cis people. And I think it would be beneficial to everyone.”

All but two people who spoke at the patron comments protested this potential policy during the recent Board meetings. The majority of those who are against this policy are students. This has been talked about as early as April of 2023, though it only escalated a few months ago.

“I hope that the board realizes that they’ve made a mistake in introducing this resolution, this opposing policy,” Jostes said. “That it’s not okay for them to bully a small minority group of people, because your beliefs or your viewpoints of a certain community [are that] they’re out to get you and your children, which it’s definitely not. They’re trying to live their lives as best as they can, because they’re in school. And if not, we’ll have the speakers at the recent school board [say that] we will be taking legal action if this gets passed.”