YOUR OPINION: Real questions about transgender policy

Fred Forck,

Taos

Dear Editor,

If you go to the Blair Oaks R-2 School District's website, you will find Frequently Asked Questions about Policy 2115. (It only says 'Policy 2115', but does not let citizens know this is the transgender policy.) The FAQs should be labelled 'BMQs' (Basically Made-up Questions). It looks like a list of questions that were framed to match the answers the board wanted to provide. See https://www.blairoaks.k12.mo.us/Board_of_Eduction

Here are the actual questions citizens deserve real answers to:

1. Why is the board allowing heterosexual males to invade the restroom privacy of 6-year-old girls when other workable solutions are available?

2. Instead of focusing on civil suits associated with students the mental disorder called 'gender dysphoria', what consideration has the board given to the pain and costs associated with a criminal suit should a male decide to assault a female in a girl's restroom?

3. Why are the unlocked Blair Oaks bathrooms labelled as 'Girls' when they should be labelled 'General Use'?

4. Is the board planning to issue warnings to female visitors that boys might be invading their privacy should they decide to use the restrooms labelled 'Girls'?

5. When the transgender policy was passed in November 2020, why did the board leave the words 'transgender policy' off the meeting agenda and its accompanying minutes? (Again, if you spend any time at all with the Blair Oaks School board, you will find that transparency is not its strong suit. Most recent omission was on the June 2022 agenda.)

6. What specific Missouri statute is the Blair Oaks transgender policy based on?

7. During her June presentation to Blair Oaks citizens, why did the St. Louis lawyer use case law from outside the 8th Circuit to imply 'precedent' for our district, when outside case law would at best be considered 'persuasive' in the 8th Circuit? Why did the lawyer neglect to emphasize this?

8. Why did the lawyer (whose compensation comes from district taxpayers) refuse to take questions from school district citizens at the June meeting?

9. Why were the people who are promoting the use of girl's restrooms by boys given over twice as much time to speak compared to those with a differing opinion at the June meeting? (30+ minutes for the lawyer and 30 minutes for those in favor of the policy versus 30 minutes for those against.)