Public commenters urge Bristol Warren to remove gender-identity references from district policy

Two members of the public used the committee’s public comment period on Monday to urge the Bristol Warren Regional School Committee to remove references to gender identity from district policies, saying recent federal guidance and judicial rulings require a return to biological sex-based definitions under Title IX.

At the outset of public comment, Mr. Caradeo told Superintendent Riley and the committee he had emailed the committee in January and urged the district to “immediately strike any references to gender identity” from its Title IX policy and to remove the district’s transgender protocol from publicly accessible pages, calling those documents “invalid” in light of federal action he described. He said students uncomfortable using facilities that correspond to their biological sex should be allowed to use single-stall lockable facilities and repeated that ‘‘no boys in girls bathrooms or locker rooms or vice versa’’ should be permitted.

A second public commenter, Mr. Hewitt, echoed those remarks and argued the Obama-era Department of Education “Dear Colleague” guidance is guidance rather than law and that Rhode Island Department of Education policy had been promulgated as guidance. Hewitt said that districts often complied because of financial pressure tied to federal funding and urged the committee to delete the district’s transgender policy statement.

Committee members responded that the administration is monitoring legal developments. Superintendent Riley said the district is mindful of legal impacts and funding considerations; members added they are following state and federal developments.

The committee did not take action on policy language at this meeting; public comment was recorded and members said they would continue to assess legal guidance and funding implications before pursuing policy changes.