Policies approved by the Berwick Area School Board put student lives at risk, some community members said during a contentious meeting Monday night.
After passionate pleas and statements from advocates of the LGBTQ+ community, school directors approved policies that detail when staff can refer to students by their preferred names and pronouns, and what bathrooms or locker rooms students can use.
“I'm so disappointed,” said advocate Lydia Price, who stood at the back of the room holding a rainbow Pride flag. “This is abhorrent, and I hope you know that. I hope you can't sleep tonight.”
Board members did not discuss the vote publicly and did not address the concerns of speakers. After the meeting, Board President Jared Yost said he would not speak to WVIA News.
Community members filled the board meeting room, some applauding the new policies. An eighth grader said she would not feel comfortable with a biological male using a girls’ bathroom or locker room. Another resident, Cindy Jensen of Hollenback Twp., accused speakers of bashing Christians and encouraged the board to stand strong.
The school board approved the first reading of the policies last month. With the passage of the second reading on Monday night, the policies became official.
Advocates say the pronoun and name policy and bathroom and locker room policy are the latest attacks on Berwick students within the LGBTQ+ community. In October 2024, the board banned employees from displaying most flags on district property, including the rainbow-colored Pride flag.
Berwick policy details
The name policy requires staff to call students by their legal name and use the corresponding pronoun, unless parents provide written permission — and deliver it in person. School personnel must to refer to each student using the student's legal first, middle or last name, or a derivative of the name, or a nickname commonly associated with the student's legal name.
“If school personnel cannot use a requested pronoun as a matter of conscience, then as a reasonable accommodation for the school personnel, they need not do so, but must avoid addressing the student by the unwanted first name and pronoun,” according to the policy.
The other policy details the use of district bathrooms or locker rooms. Students may only access multi-user facilities, such as a locker room or multi-stall bathroom, based on their biological sex. Single-user facilities may be used by any student, and the policy states the district may add more single-user facilities when new buildings are constructed or existing facilities are renovated.
Mental health, bullying concerns for transgender students
Speakers, including parents of transgender students, detailed the bullying children receive in school now. Some transgender students do not receive support at home, and will not have the written permission to be called by another name, speakers said.
“These students deserve what every child deserves, the right to learn in safety with dignity and respect. Yet for too many trans youth, this isn't their reality,” said Heather Shrader, of Berwick. “They're more likely to be bullied, harassed or assaulted simply because of who they are. They face higher rates of depression and anxiety and suicidal thoughts… Trans kids are not a danger to their classmates. They are vulnerable, and they need our protection.”
A 2024 study from the Trevor Project, a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to end suicide among LGBTQ+ young people, found that those who identify that way are not inherently prone to higher suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Rather, “they are placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society.”
In states that passed anti-transgender laws aimed at minors, suicide attempts by transgender and gender nonconforming teens increased by as much as 72% in the following years, according to the organization.
Multiple speakers shared statistics. Studies estimate that about 1% of the U.S. population is transgender. In a district with fewer than 3,000 students, fewer than 30 kids — perhaps a handful — may identify as transgender, said Jill Freeman of Berwick.
“This is not a trans pandemic. This is a very small number of vulnerable students,” she said. “Policies about names and bathrooms may sound like just small administrative details, but research shows that they can cause real harm.”
Claudia Glennan, of Salem Twp., questioned the process of how the policies came to the board and why directors have not talked about them in public.
“These policies are not being discussed in a robust way for having such an impact on our district and our children,” she said.
Legal questions for policies
The Education Law Center, with offices in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, sent a letter to school directors on Monday, urging them to vote against the policies.
The letter, obtained by WVIA News, states that the policies violate the law and make the district liable for a “hostile environment that harms students.”
Allison Smith, of Briar Creek Twp., questioned the separation of church and state and accused school directors of passing policies based on their religious beliefs.
“It is incredibly hypocritical and selfish to think that only Christians should have their traditional values represented in our schools with zero regard for anyone else's values or lifestyle. If parents want Christian and traditional values taught to their children, there are private schools available to do so,” Smith said before the vote. “By using preferred names and pronouns requested by students, you are simply respecting another human being… If you pass these policies and any of our LGBTQ+ students in this district are harmed, whether by themselves or others, I want you to remember that you facilitated this.”
