School board member Josie Barnhart, who chairs the policy committee, proposed a "slight language change" to the policy. But her suggestion would effectively reverse the existing rules, approved last year, which allowed students to play on teams based on their gender identities — not their birth certificates.
Related: New Hanover County Board of Education passes transgender athlete policy
Barnhart argued this would provide “consistency” with North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s policy.
School board and policy committee member Stephanie Kraybill laid out the process. While it doesn’t require students to play on a boys' or girls' team in accordance with their birth certificate gender, it does involve medical and psychological exams, and interviews with a trans-student's family, teachers, and friends. Kraybill questioned whether the invasive process is appropriate for children aged 11-14.
"They don't necessarily need to be under the scrutiny of our school employees, to say, 'who you are is not good enough', 'you're not trans enough.' So that is all I'm saying, the process is very invasive and it's harsh," she said.
Barnhart acknowledged the concern, but pressed on, saying the decision should not be dictated by “emotion-led feelings”.
"I'll be very direct here, I was not in favor of the old board passing this policy... just as a parent. So it is a frustrating thing to be here to make that decision right here right now because I don't think that it provides consistency and fairness," Barnhart said.
Barnhart motioned to send the new policy to the full school board for a vote on February 7. Fellow committee and board member Pat Bradford seconded. Kraybill again protested, asking to give staff and students more time to adjust to the new policy — and saying that it would unfairly pull students off their current teams.
Barnhart dismissed Kraybill’s concern, saying those students would be removed at some point, and pushed to move ahead.
Barnhart and Bradford outvoted Kraybill 2-to-1.
