Parents, students flood Pittsburgh-area school board meeting over bathroom gender policy
ALIQUIPPA, Pa. (KDKA) — Parents and students flooded a Hopewell Area School Board meeting on Tuesday about bathroom use and gender identity.
Superintendent Jeff Beltz said in the first week of October, a girl at the junior high school told her parents that she thought she saw a boy enter the girl's bathroom. Her parents called the principal, who verified through a video that the student who entered the bathroom was a girl.
Beltz told the crowd that the district cares about the safety and well-being of its students. He said the district follows Title IX, which prohibits gender discrimination for any student. Hopewell does not have a policy regarding transgender bathroom use.
"We are not going to avoid the topic," Beltz said. "The topic is rooted in law and legal ruling, whether it's case finding, and we are going to abide by those regardless."
On Tuesday, KDKA-TV heard from students and parents at the meeting.
"They are merely trying to give trans kids the same opportunities and equalities that your kids have had," high school student Haley Theys said.
"Are you not invading my daughter's privacy when a man walks into her bathroom?" parent Clay Mayernik said.
The superintendent said the district is looking into additional alternate bathrooms for all students. Currently, the options are the office bathroom or nurse's bathroom.