The Eastern Lebanon County School District is talking over changes to its bathroom policy.
The policy committee read out changes to Policy 253 – Student Physical Privacy in School Facilities during a school board meeting Jan. 21. The updated policy would eliminate designations based on gender identity and focus solely on biological sex in multi-user facilities, along with establishing language surrounding single-user facilities, which can be used by all students.
Under the revised policy, students must use multi-user bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their biological sex, which would be either marked on their birth certificates or determined by a medical professional. The initial policy initially was first approved in 2023, after a district high school closed its locker rooms amid concerns about trans students using certain facilities.The revised policy adds language surrounding single-use facilities, which says all single-use bathrooms can be used by any one person at a time. These single-use bathrooms would be “available to any student without explanation,” the committee said. The new policy gets rid of language surrounding gender identity—specifically a section about “facility-use based on gender identity,” which had established that certain facilities would be available for students of the same gender identity, and other facilities would be restricted to students of the same biological sex.The policy, which has been in the works for about a year now, would comply with relevant state and federal laws, including Title 9 in Pennsylvania codes, while also protecting the district from potential legal troubles, the policy committee said. But not everyone who attended the Jan. 21 meeting was on the same page. Residents and taxpayers expressed differing opinions during public comment. “Given the highly polarizing nature of this issue, I’m genuinely concerned about the possibility of a lawsuit being filed over the next couple months if the policy is changed,” one district parent said, expressing concerns that the district’s solicitor has recommended twice now that the board wait to make any changes until the U.S. Supreme Court rule on relevant cases.Some on the board agreed with delaying the final vote, saying that it would be best to wait until a ruling is made in current Supreme Court cases focusing on transgender athlete's in women's sports."What happens if this boy that says that they're a girl, starts to get tendencies of being a boy again and finds a girl to come into the bathroom. What would happen then," a question another parent proposed the board.Man killed by PA troopers called himself 'pedo,' made child porn in online group: warrant John McDowell, 47, was pronounced dead at 9:20 a.m. at the scene of the shooting, which happened in the first block of Gable Drive in Myerstown.Pennsylvania Sen. Doug Mastriano is calling on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to resign amid pushback against ICE agents in Minneapolis.A York couple is facing charges after allegedly attacking a woman at a fraternal club in Hanover and calling her racial slurs.A Harrisburg candy store is taking a stance against Immigration and Customs Enforcement with their latest product, “ICE Out” Marshmallows.Sweet 717 is selling tA dump truck hit a car, flipped and then hit a home in Gardners Wednesday morning, according to Pennsylvania State Police.
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