WAUSAU, WI (WSAU-WAOW) — Transgender student’s rights took the spotlight at a Wausau School board committee meeting Monday night as Wausau students will be allowed to use the bathrooms and locker rooms for the gender that they identify with.
The school administration recently drafted a set of guidelines for the schools to follow that protect the district from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights.
“Those guidelines will go forward for now,” said Wausau School Board president Lance Trollop to Newsline 9. “We left it open for now, this is changing daily. We received brand new information today on a legal case… so I’m sure we’re going to have to continue to address this.”
“With the law changing we can’t get any firm advice from attorneys,” said Trollop. “It’s a difficult decision because we know that no matter what decision we make, we have potential to anger people either way. We have potential for litigation either way.”
School leaders said that there have been cases of students in Wausau schools wanting to use a different locker room than the gender they were born with. Up until Monday, the Office of Civil Rights could have taken away more than $8 million in federal funding if the school didn’t comply with their guidelines. A federal judge in Texas blocked the letter, but board members said they were uncomfortable with making any decisions right now.
Interview and Reporting by Courtney Terlecki, WAOW Newsline 9.
