Residents urge Berwick Area SD to rethink name/pronoun and multi-user facility policies, citing safety and legal risk

Public commenters at a Berwick Area School District meeting urged the board to pause or reconsider two proposed policies—Policy 2-16 on student records and Policy 7-19 on multi-user privacy facilities—arguing the rules would harm transgender and gender-diverse students and expose the district to legal and financial risk.

Christina Culver, a resident of Salem Township, told the board that she traced similar language to outside law firms and warned that districts that adopted comparable rules have paid large legal fees, citing Central Bucks School District as an example. "Protect our children. Their lives are depending on it," Culver said, urging the board to use "common sense."

Several other residents described the personal and public-health consequences they say the policies would cause. Heather Schrader, a Berwick resident, said exclusion increases the risk of suicide and…