Superintendent Andrew tells Florida Board of Education that District has adopted new restroom/locker room procedure
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Superintendent Shane Andrew attended a conference call of the Florida Board of Education on Wednesday to answer questions about the District’s LGBTQ+ Critical Support Guide, which he said is no longer being used by the District.
The agenda item on the meeting provided an opportunity for Chancellor Manny Diaz, Jr., to update the Board on the 10 school districts with policies and procedures that were potentially out of compliance with Florida’s Parental Rights in Education laws; all of the districts told the Board that they had either changed those policies or were in the process of changing them.
As Alachua Chronicle previously reported, Alachua County was on the list because its LGBTQ+ Critical Support Guide had elements that violated the law, particularly regarding notification of parents about accommodations schools may make for students who identify as a different gender from their biological sex at birth.
During the call, Andrew said the Guide has been removed from use and replaced with Procedure 5865, which took effect on November 22. That Administrative Procedure, which may be read in full here, states that the School Board separates bathrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms on the basis of biological sex at birth.
The procedure states, “Parents of minor students will be notified before any school in the District permits a minor student to use a multi-user bathroom, locker room, or dressing room that is different from the student’s biological sex at birth or that differs from the student’s biological sex as recorded in the student’s enrollment information.”
The procedure provides for accommodations that may include access to a single-stall bathroom, the school clinic bathroom, or “other accommodations as identified” for students who do not wish to use facilities designated for their biological gender at birth.
Andrew also told the Board of Education that the District is “working on a new Guide at this time, but of course, we would collaborate with the Florida Department of Education prior to any implementation of a new Guide because we want to ensure that we’re in compliance with all state laws and State Board of Education rules.”
He further added, “And you are correct, that was a Guide; it wasn’t taken to the board for approval by the school board.” It is true that the school board never voted on the Guide, but it was presented to the school board in a workshop on December 8, 2021. Although no vote was taken, the school board discussed the Guide; former Chair Rob Hyatt was strongly in favor of it, but former Member Mildred Russell questioned several provisions in the Guide.
We are so fortunate to have the governor that we have.
We need to keep fighting, and backing him up…
Kathy, you are spot on!
How in the world did we get to this level of insanity?
Are there any wild animals who are conflicted about their gender? Is this gender reassignment not a crime against nature? Especially for minor children!
When will this “meeting the special needs” of a very small population finally end?
Home school your child if this becomes an issue.
Back the governor?? As our homeowner’s insurance disaster continues.
Microsoft Defender is blocking access to your link to the Procedure 5865 site that is in your article above.
It’s a link on my own site, so I don’t know why it would be blocked. If you have any ideas, let me know, but it’s nothing but a PDF document from the school district and a title describing that document.
Because MS is censoring, ask them.
No, they are not. Sounds like a pebkac to me
Problem exists between keyboard and chair
Thank god. Girls should not be subjected to boys entering bathrooms or locker rooms and visa versa.
Stop sexualizing children. It’s not about “gender” — it’s grooming kids by adults and pedophiles.
I hope you can hear me all the way to the 1950’s. Not all LGBTQ teens have been groomed.
It goes deeper. The Communist movement has always been interested in removing God and family from what we see as normal. Part of this is suggesting immorality is normal. This is about the destruction of core values that made us a unified nation. And they have come through our schools because they are week.
The existing School Board Members appear to be in a Bully Pulpit. What loser mentors wasting our money or taking money by fraud and not paying it back, and get reelected again?. I think thier funding sources need to be reveamped. Maybe if you have children in school you pay for all this BS and no discipline and all other taxpayers either volunteer their contibution or at least allocate it to Charter Schools that are so much more succesful than the same ole, same ole mindless , prejudice,lawless agenda?