North Carolina school board backs away from law on policies on pronouns, gender identity instruction
CHAPEL HILL, NC — Officials say a central North Carolina school board’s decision to omit two LGBTQ-related provisions that the General Assembly has ordered districts to follow could lead to legal complaints or action from lawmakers.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools board voted unanimously Thursday to approve the first approval of several updated policies in accordance with the Parents’ Bill of Rights legislation enacted in 2023 by Republicans controlling the Legislature.
But the board declined to include a provision to create a procedure for schools to warn parents before a student uses a different name or pronoun, and another procedure to enforce instruction about gender identity and sexuality in K-12 classrooms. prohibit secondary education.
Board members acknowledged at Thursday’s meeting that failure to implement a requirement of the law could create legal challenges. But most community members, students and faculty who wrote to the board or spoke at Thursday’s meeting said the law discriminates against LGBTQ students and could cause them more harm, The News & Raleigh Observer reported.
A second vote on the policy update will take place at a future meeting.
“It is not our intention to be contrarian or get into any kind of conflict with legislators or anyone else, and we hope that will not happen,” board chairman George Griffin told the newspaper on Friday. “Every time you go against a regulation or a law, you run the risk that people will not be happy with it.”
Republicans who passed the law by overriding Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the legislation say the broader measure is intended to give parents more options for their child’s primary and secondary education. The law also gives parents a process to review and object to textbooks and other instructional materials, and a process to address their complaints.
Senate Majority Whip Jim Perry, a Lenoir County Republican, wrote on social media Friday that the Legislature could take action to address omissions from some policy updates. The General Assembly is expected to reconvene for business in April.
“A supermajority voted in favor of this legislation,” Perry wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I look forward to addressing this lawless behavior during the short session. This provides a great opportunity to see where others stand on public policy.”
Democratic Sen. Graig Meyer of Orange County, a former social worker in the district, said he is proud of the district’s decision and said the law should be challenged in court.
“As I told my General Assembly colleagues during the debate on the bill, if I were back as a social worker in (the district) and I had to choose between caring for a student and your stupid law, I would kill the student every choose times. time,” says Meijer.
Most school districts have revised their policies to comply with the new law. The Campaign for Southern Equality and other groups have filed a federal complaint against the Buncombe County school system for adopting policies that comply with the law. They claim they create a hostile educational environment for LGBTQ students, families, staff and faculty.