Arkansas school board requires students to use bathroom consistent with sex assigned at birth


The school board for the Conway School District in Arkansas on October 11, 2022, unanimously approved policies regarding gender identity in public schools. 

One of the policies requires that students use the restroom that matches their sex assigned at birth, though each district school must provide an accommodation to any individual who does not want to comply with the policy. The other policy passed mandates that students traveling on overnight trips for extracurricular activities, field trips, interscholastic activities, or intrascholastic activities be assigned to hotel rooms based on their sex assigned at birth. 

In support of the policy, state Senator Jason Rapert (R) attended the school board meeting and said, “For the first time in my entire representation in the Arkansas Senate have I ever felt led to come and speak at a school board meeting. I am proud of the school board members.”

Linda Tyler, a parent in the school district, opposed the board members’ decision. “It makes me feel sad because I personally know many transgender young women and young men, and I know the difficulty of their journey,” according to local news outlet THV11.

Additional links:

https://ballotpedia.org/Conway_School_District,_Arkansas

https://ballotpedia.org/Jason_Rapert

Reference links:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eEEX9tiCF6lsg6lsySy7SExArku5JE7v/view

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eHiEn9cPJ7q1zK3wz6hIiP-ZMm1BbFmV/view

https://www.thv11.com/article/news/education/conway-school-board-transgender-bathroom-use/91-8846f49c-4607-4718-8861-b6a9830582f7

https://katv.com/news/local/conway-school-board-approve-policies-limits-bathroom-access-and-overnight-trips-on-gender