The final Waterloo School Board meeting of the academic year saw a variety of discussion, though perhaps the largest item on the agenda concerned the district’s new policy on restroom privacy and gender identity accommodations.

The district’s gender identity policy plan was previously announced and had its first reading during the April school board meeting, where members of the board thanked the community for voicing concerns and opinions at the meeting prior.

This discussion as well as the policy came as the result of a large protest in March, during which a substantial number of Waterloo High School students sat in the hallways in order to protest against transgender students using school bathrooms that aligned with their gender identity.

As previously reported, the new policy outlines a number of items including rules regarding the district’s Gender Identity Plan system, which would formally allow students access to certain accommodations should they go through the described channels.

The details of the policy as well as a survey for feedback on the matter was shared in an email the day after April’s school board meeting.

Before the board voted on the policy Monday night, two members of the audience spoke during the public participation portion of the meeting.

The first of these individuals was Zach Sheets, who requested that the results of the policy survey be shared before the vote took place.

Sheets also expressed his personal opinion on bathroom accommodations for transgender students.

“I’m personally still gonna stand here today, there’s two sexes: male and female,” Sheets said. “There ain’t no cats, there ain’t no dogs, there ain’t no bi.”

The animal comments were seemingly made in reference to false rumors about litter boxes being located in district bathrooms which circulated last year.

Sheets further spoke out against the state’s regulations and guidelines concerning bathroom accommodations, insisting that the district was following the policy due to “handouts” from the state.

He also pointed to the fact that only a small number of WHS students are transgender, suggesting they should simply use the school’s gender neutral bathrooms.

“I know, legally, we can’t tell them to use it, but a lot of the other schools are on the same page,” Sheets said. “I mean, get out of Illinois.”

Another speaker was recent school board candidate Lloyd Jarden, who expressed that he would like further clarification from the board on how this new policy would work.

The board voted 4-3 to approve the policy later in the meeting, and the policy passed with Amanda Propst, board secretary Kim Ahne and board president Lori Dillenberger voting against.

Voting in favor were board vice president Neil Giffhorn, Jodi Burton, John Caupert and James Yaekel.

The policy states that the board presumes students will use private facilities based on their biological sex unless a student has worked with a school social worker or counselor and administration to develop a Gender Identity Plan which identifies what restroom the student would use.

The student’s parents would need to agree to the Gender Identity Plan if the student is under the age of 18. Additionally, the student must review safety rules associated with the use of a bathroom and adhere to these rules.

Students are prohibited from using restrooms not associated with their biological sex unless expressly permitted. Those who do so without permission, regardless of gender identity, would be disciplined.

Additionally, students uncomfortable using a single-sex facility may request access to gender neutral bathrooms which would be identified following a meeting with the student and their parents.

The policy goes on to explain the aforementioned Gender Identity Plan, which essentially serves as an official step for transgender, gender non-conforming or nonbinary students to access gender accommodations.

A Gender Identity Plan would involve, according to the policy, a “lengthy discussion of all issues associated with a student’s gender identity,” including parent involvement and communication, student privacy, student names and pronouns, use of facilities and other concerns.

The policy also specifies safety rules for private facilities. These include students only using these facilities at appropriate times or with a pass from a teacher.

Students would also be expected to respect the privacy of other people in the restroom by not purposefully looking at or watching other people in a state of undress in the bathroom.

After Monday’s vote to approve this policy, several members of the audience, including Sheets, questioned the fact the board did not share survey results with the public.

Waterloo Superintendent of Schools Brian Charron noted that his office would try to share responses publicly in the next few days, though information such as student names would have to be redacted for privacy reasons.

Charron added that only 57 responses with a variety of feedback were received, an exceptionally low number given the district’s population of roughly 2,000 students and the noteworthy turnout at the March school board meeting.

Also during the public participation component of the meeting, American Heart Association Youth Market Director Renee Ades spoke to the board, outlining the district’s strong performance in the Kids Heart Challenge.

Ades said Zahnow Elementary, raising $39,064, was number two in the entire state and ranked very high in the Midwest.

Similarly, Rogers Elementary raised $33,093 while Gardner Elementary raised $16,000 and Waterloo Junior High School raised over $8,000.

Ades added the total amount raised for this school year stands at just shy of $96,000, and the total raised during her time working for the AHA with the Waterloo School District stands at $1,072,000.

“This is my last year working for the American Heart Association, and I’ve seen some really great things happen through the years,” Ades said. “I was looking at some notes that I had going back to when I started back in 2003. And just the engagement that has just, you know, stepped up year after year on top of it, and I know it’s because of the passion of the teachers and the principals, they get into participating and challenging the kids.”

The board thanked Ades for her work in the district, as did district PE teachers Carla Schwehr of Rogers, Karla Bivins of Zahnow and Josh Hogan of Gardner, whom Ades also recognized during her presentation to the board.

Other items on the agenda included discussion of the District Climate Study – which Caupert questioned given the district’s similar use of the Illinois 5Essentials Survey – as well as a vote to reject a bid proposal from Butler Supply for work on the Zahnow switchboard.

Charron explained that the major renovations to the school’s switchboard were part of a larger plan to renovate the school in the near future.

“It needs to be replaced anyway, and it is insufficient to handle any building addition, so it is a necessary component,” Charron said, adding there is a “12-month lead time to get it manufactured for the specifications that are needed.”

That exceptional lead time is the reason he stressed that progress needs to be made on the switchboard bids rather quickly, as the school will need to be shut down for three weeks as the new switchboard is installed, meaning the work will need to be done in the summer of 2024 lest the entire renovation plan be pushed back by a year.

Charron further explained there was some trouble with contractors reaching out for the project through email when district policy requires sealed bid proposals, and Butler Supply’s proposal didn’t fully cover what work actually needs to be done – though Charron expressed hope that bids will be taken care of soon.