Othello board debates regional response after Moses Lake moves on transgender athlete policies

Othello School District board members spent more than an hour discussing a recent action by the Moses Lake School District that would restrict transgender athletes’ participation in girls’ sports, but they took no formal action and asked for more public input.

Superintendent Pete Perez told the board the Moses Lake decision, reported in local media, had prompted regional conversation and raised legal and student-safety questions for Othello. He asked directors to consider three areas before adopting any policy: employee rights, student well-being and the message the district’s words and actions send to vulnerable students. “Thirty percent of all kids report a sense of sadness or hopelessness at school. Sixty percent of transgender students do,” Perez said, citing the Washington…