Keller ISD board approves pronoun policy, other controversial rule changes
KELLER – Keller ISD students will be required to get their parent's permission to go by a name or gender other than what is listed on their birth certificate. The so-called pronoun policy was one of more than a dozen new rules the Keller ISD school board adopted unanimously Thursday night.
School employees must also notify parents if their child asks to be referred to by pronouns other than those assigned at birth.
The fear, advocates say, is that LGBTQ students who have not come out to their parents, or whose parents do not accept their identities, will be subjected to mistreatment at home.
The board also passed a rule that requires a parent's permission for students to participate in any extracurricular activities. One of the many students who spoke against the policies at the meeting said LGBTQ students with homophobic parents would suffer.
"Queer kids can't even have a safe, comfortable environment without their parents knowing," said Brendan Geary, a sophomore at Timber Creek High School. " You are keeping kids with hateful parents from joining a safe space that should be their home but, sadly, isn't."
The ACLU sent the district a letter this week arguing that the policies violate students' right to equal treatment under the law and put a vulnerable group of students in harm's way.
"You are considering this policy at a time of extreme hostility for Texas LGBTQIA+ youth, including hostility engineered by this very school board. If passed, these policy revisions will be a cruel escalation of the attacks on an already vulnerable group," the letter said.
None of the speakers at Thursday night's meeting expressed support for the policy changes.
Student cellphone policy
One of the new rules not related to gender and pronouns that the board passed Thursday night was a ban on cellphones. The rule mandates that students turn off their devices and keep them in a backpack, purse or locker for the entire school day, including lunch and passing periods.
Keller ISD joins a growing list of districts adopting similar policies with the goal of reducing distractions in the classroom, and bullying on social media. Critics, including students and parents who spoke at Thursday's meeting, argue that the policy will make it harder for them to coordinate pickups and after-school plans or communicate in an emergency.
One mother who opposed the policy alluded to a controversy from earlier this year, when a foreign documentary crew was filming students on a Keller ISD campus without permission from parents. She said students being able to record it on their cellphones was the only reason the story became public.
