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Tehachapi Unified hears extended public comment on student locker‑room access as speakers cite Title IX and state law
Summary
At its Aug. 26 meeting the Tehachapi Unified School District Governing Board heard more than a dozen public commentators on a reported incident involving a student using a girls’ locker room. Speakers urged both protections for girls’ privacy and protection for transgender students; the board took no immediate policy action.
Tehachapi Unified School District trustees heard extended public comment Aug. 26 on a dispute over a middle‑school student’s use of a girls’ locker room, with members of the public urging both protections for girls’ privacy and protections for transgender students. The board did not take action on the matter during the meeting.
The discussion arose during the public‑comment portion of the meeting and drew more than a dozen speakers. Mike Stowers, who said his daughter attends Jacobson Middle School, told the board he found it “unacceptable” that “a boy dressing out in the girls locker room for PE” and asked trustees to place the issue on a future agenda. “Boys should be in the boys locker room. Girls should be in the girls locker room,” Stowers said.
Other speakers urged the board to protect transgender and LGBTQ students from harassment. Reverend Dawn Wilder, pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Bakersfield and a Tehachapi resident, said excluding a student from facilities harms that child and can increase bullying: “Discomfort is not danger. There is no evidence that inclusion increases harm,” Wilder said. Jesse Aguilar, introduced as a Tehachapi High School graduate, said California law protects transgender and nonbinary students’ access to facilities that align with their gender identity and advised trustees to follow state law.
Laurie Cisneros, who said she serves on the Kern County Board of Education but spoke “as an individual,” urged the Tehachapi board to draft a resolution “in support of Title IX,” and said the Kern County board voted unanimously two weeks earlier on a similar resolution. Several speakers pressed for protections of female privacy in locker rooms; Gail Purdy said the issue is “about safety” and “personal spaces.”
Speakers who described personal experience with being LGBTQ warned trustees the consequences of exclusion can be severe. Lauren Gazzakanian, a communications professional and parent in the district, said adults’ acceptance can lower suicide risk for LGBTQ youth: “Looking a child in their eyes and saying, I see you. I accept you. I will call you by the pronouns that you want. I will call you by the name you want. … That can save a life,” she said.
Board President Kaminski and Superintendent Bell did not announce any immediate change in district policy at the meeting. The board’s public‑comment rules were read aloud: speakers were allotted three minutes each and the board generally will not take action on non‑agenda items that night, though trustees may refer matters to the superintendent for future consideration.
Why this matters: The comments put competing community concerns — privacy for female students, legal obligations under federal and state law, and student safety — before the trustees and requested the board either to adopt a resolution or to place a policy item on a future agenda. The board did not adopt a resolution or change district policy at the Aug. 26 meeting.
The district’s next regular board meeting is scheduled for Sept. 9 at 5 p.m. at the district office.
