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hi folks my name is Carlos Bermudez I am the manager of online programming and community development here at gender spectrum today I'm talking with my colleague Joel we're going to be discussing the gender support plan that gener spectrum has created for your resource Joel you want to go ahead and introduce yourself and then we can talk about what the plan is hi Carlos yeah my name is Joel Baum and I'm the senior director for professional development and family support services at gender spectrum so Joel what is the purpose and the design of the gender support plan the gender support plan is designed to create a shared understanding between parents students and school staff about the students gender related needs at school it's typically Co constructed by a team of individuals who are committed to the students overall well-being and is broken into a number of different components that will comprise the students day-to-day life at the school so in creating the plan there's some critical principles to keep in mind the first is the team's commitment to the well-being of the student and therefore the importance of working together in trusting one another in the planned development if that trust is not in place it becomes very difficult to come up with the very best solutions possible the design of the plan anticipates possible scenarios of the students going to encounter as they navigate their day and then once those scenarios are identified it breaks things down into different pieces and not proposes various solutions to respond to each of those sections there will always be trade-offs in those approaches and what's important is the team honestly looks at all of those as it makes a decision we also have to of course keep in mind student safety at the end of the day there may be needs that the student is asking to have filled but they may not be safe for the student that said we also have to make sure that when we're talking about the student safety we're thinking about all aspects of their safety including their emotional well-being and the ability for them to put themselves in situations that are going to affirm who they are even if there might be concerns that the team expresses about their choices it also is designed to anticipate what might happen if things don't go according to plan and by having a team working together it establishes an expectation that if things aren't going the way anyone on the team expects you simply get back together and refine the plan the other thing that's really important to recognize is that this process is unique for every student so really the plan will be different for every child but one thing that is in common is that it's designed to create conditions that will be positive for the child but we can't guarantee those but by having a plan that anticipates different situations it really accounts for most of what a student will encounter and then lastly you know many people assume that that thing might be terrible and they hope for things to be okay and what the plan can often be helpful in establishing is not just things being okay but in fact being transformative the fact that the student sees how the school is supporting them the fact that the community is supportive of the student can be really affirming for the student and go a long way towards helping them not only feel okay but to be successful at school so Joel you mentioned the gender support team can you talk about that in more detail what exactly is the gender support team the gender support team is the group of individuals who are essentially taking responsibility for the students experience at school so of course that's going to involve the student in most cases although for younger students it would be the parents acting in their best interest it will be members of the school staff typically the principal or someone who has authority on campus it might include the school counselors who work with the student it might include key staff members like a teacher the student works with it might include any other adult on campus who the student is particularly close with it also might include outside providers like a mental health person or even in some cases pastoral care person who has a really close relationship and can talk about the students needs an important part of the creation of the team is the degree to which the parents will be involved because of course ideally parents are right there advocating for their child and supporting them but we know in some cases that's not how it works and that kids are asserting their authentic gender even in the face of lack of support in those cases the team will have to be very careful about the degree to which they protect the students privacy in relationship to the students caregivers because in some cases if the student doesn't have an open relationship with the family with their parents it can be unsafe for them to have that support that's being provided revealed and so the team does need to determine the extent to which the parents are involved in supportive of the student as I'm listening to you talk about the gender support plan I'm wondering how exactly do issues like privacy disclosure and confidentiality come into play so it turns out that the degree of privacy that the student wishes to maintain at school it's the number one factor that will determine the plans development and implementation there of course varying degrees of privacy the student might assert it may be that literally only one person at school or in the school system will be aware somewhat at a district office or perhaps the head of school or principal it may be that they're going to have the various adults on campus who will work with the student be knowledgeable about their gender but no one else will be or perhaps all the adults will be as a general way for supporting the student the student may have some peers who are aware of their gender and that they're open with but are not interested in having everyone know and it also may be that the student is completely out about their gender and is open with everyone about their status and perhaps even insistence upon asserting their transgender status with peers it's also important to recognize that absolute privacy may not even be option if the student is attending school in the community in which they've grown up others will have known them previously and therefore will have knowledge of their gender from when they were younger that said if there is an option for privacy what are some of the advantages for maintaining privacy well one is the student often just wants to be known as another student and not the student with a particular gender it's also important to recognize that for many kids it's no one else's business and they wish to just keep this private one of the advantages of maintaining privacy is there no need to endure a public sharing of this very personal information and lastly maintaining privacy if it is an option can lead to a reduced levels of harassment or mistreatment if no one is aware of the students gender then they can't become a target so what then are some of the advantages of being more public well first of all in asserting one's identity in a public way it's an affirmation of who they are and an opportunity for them to take pride in that knowledge of self it's also a positive experience because they don't have to worry about their privacy being compromised and constantly thinking about when will the other shoe drop and finally once an individual is public about their gender we frequently see those around them adults and peers alike being powerfully affirming of the experience and the student is often celebrated for their courage either way their trade-offs that need to be considered so then how is a family and a student to decide what level of privacy they wish to have well as we said earlier it may not even be a choice but if privacy is an option then it's important to recognize that you can't unshare information you share so if you're not sure about what you want to share we encourage you to err on the side of not disclosing information until you're absolutely ready it's also helpful to work with organizations like gender spectrum or other parents to get insights into various pros and cons for the decision around privacy that you wish to make the school role in all of this is also critical because regardless of the level of privacy there will be implications for the school if the student is asserting privacy the school will be responsible to help maintain it and to avoid compromising it if the student is more public about their gender than the school is responsible to ensure the students safety and respect is maintained they do not abdicate their responsibility for the student safety and well-being if they choose to be completely open about their gender and the school's role is to be prepared with contingency plan should whatever level of privacy that is being asserted be compromised the school needs to have a plan for how they will support the student moving forward perhaps most importantly the school's role in supporting the student family is to help them understand and weigh the various options and what we've seen is that when schools take that responsibility seriously it's a tremendous opportunity to establish trust that the school is truly concerned about the students well-being and supporting the family to come to the best decision it's also important to recognize at the end of the day it is the students and the families right to determine what level of privacy they wish to assert you mentioned protecting privacy and looking at disclosure and confidentiality and a lot of that really kind of brought the idea of student safety up to mind can you talk about there's a section of the support plan that speak specifically to to student safety can you can you talk about what that is yeah absolutely I mean the fact of the matter is the student safety is front and center in the development of this plan first and foremost kids need to be safe at school physically emotionally educationally psychologically one of the things we encourage if there is anything but absolute privacy in place is the identification of the go to adult who will be the adult on campus that that student knows they can approach regardless of the situation as a safe person whether they're experiencing some form of harassment whether they're having feelings on their own if something is making that student feel unsafe at school they need to know there's an adult that they can go to this might be their teacher it might be a counselor it might be an administrator it's an adult on campus that the student feels trusting of them and approachable the other thing we encourage is to identify a backup for that person because of course that person may not be available and so we also have to account for that then we have to determine how the student will access that individual if in different situations the student is feeling unsafe they need to know that they can go straight to that adult without any questions being asked and that means in some cases setting up signals with your classroom teacher that if something's going on and you don't want to raise your hand and say I feel and say that that signal means you can get up and leave and go find your adult some students are given passes that are used only in the situations where they're feeling unsafe and on campus adults know that anyone with those passes is allowed to go find their safe persons that may happen to do nothing with gender for some students but for a student on a gender support plan it can be their ticket to find someone who can support them and then the last part of this is that the parents need to know what they're supposed to do if they're concerned about the student safety and really it comes down to informing the gender support team whether it's the head of school or another staff member charged with kind of monitoring this plan they need to know how to reach them as I'm looking over the support plan I'm wondering how exactly does the plan really account for the students name in in regards to school and official records that may be may be available yeah this is another place where privacy is so important because the degree of privacy will really impact how this issue is approached and it really comes down to whether or not that students name will be changed in the student information system if it is changed this will eliminate a bunch of steps that the school will need to take in order to protect that students privacy because even if the student is public about their gender in that other people are aware of it they still want their name and pronoun to be used correctly by the adults and students so when it comes to names and records there's really two ways the easy way is to change it in the student information system meaning that any lists that get published any cards identity cards library card lunch line information anything about the students will be using their name that they like to use in the pronoun that they use if you can't change or won't change the student information system it does not eliminate the school's responsibility to protect the students privacy which means that they now need to anticipate every possible way that the child's name will be revealed this could be in any number of different situations a substitute teacher who has a roll sheet with the student birth certificate name listed will often call out the child's name their privacy has been violated in the lunch line when they go to turn in their lunch card to get their lunch that day the person at the computer will often pull up the child's name and it will be what's in the student information system again violating the students privacy we cannot emphasize enough how important it is for the school to consider using the student information system to account for the student's name and pronouns if they don't then there's almost no way for them to anticipate every situation in which the child name and birth certificate the gender marker will somehow be revealed and that can be devastating for a child now schools do have a burden that they have to meet around maintaining a permanent pupil record and the best practice that certainly evolving in the field is for someone in the system to simply keep a hard copy of the student's birth certificate in a file that is kept under lock and key they're in the principal's office or at the district office and that meets the burden of the student information being kept in a permanent pupil record the last thing I'll say is that schools do have to interface with state data systems and again what we're seeing many schools do is either change those for reporting and then change them back or simply be prepared for an audit finding that says there's a mismatch there and then explaining exactly why that mismatch is in place we asked schools who would you rather apologize to a bureaucrat who is counting numbers or a student who's having the lived experience of their privacy being compromised and for us it's an easy choice we have to maintain the students privacy and that means using their name the proper gender marker and pronouns that they use in their day-to-day life so in regards into the names pronouns and student records what do you recommend is done in the event that maybe a student's guardian or parents aren't aware or they're not really supportive I see that there's a specific area for that in the support plan can you talk about that yeah sure I mean again it gets complicated when the parents are not supportive of the student if the student is having a name used at school and gender marker pronouns use that is not consistent with the parents understanding based on when they were born then it becomes challenging for the school but nonetheless important for them to protect that students privacy that means at school they need to use the name and pronoun the child wants but when contact being home or sending any materials home that includes the name as indicated in the birth certificate this can be challenging because you're switching back and forth in most of those cases they won't change the name in the student information system for fear that the students privacy will be violated this idea of parent involvement is something that has to be accounted for not as a absolute binary thing of are they or are they not supportive but instead how are we going to work with the family to help them understand the student's gender needs because even if the school does everything to protect that students privacy it's very possible and even likely that parents will find out that the school is supporting their gender all it takes is another student or even another student's family to mention that the child is being referred to in a particular way for those parents to find out and we encourage the school to think about different strategies for helping parents understand their child's gender needs and why they are supporting it in the way that they are but again that's ultimately the students call and if they want that to be strictly kept confidential from their parents then it does limit what can happen in the student information system the other question that comes up is so what happens when people make mistakes either with pronouns or names and really these fall into a couple of categories on the one hand people make honest mistakes they might say she I mean he in which case they slipped up they've known the student previously and they use the wrong gender and they quickly protect correct themselves the other situation is when someone is intentionally using a student's incorrect name or pronoun and that's a very different thing altogether that's then about harassment and discrimination if someone is refusing to use a student's name or pronoun we believe that creates a hostile learning environment for that student and even if a student uses the proper one but does it in a cruel way so for instance saying oh well he is over there or yes that named Johnny but they're doing it in a mocking way that also is violating that students sense of safety and right to access their education so what we're really talking about here is intent if someone intends to use the right name or pronoun and flips up that's okay and they correct themselves and move on and hopefully work on that if someone is in their communication with or about the student not doing it in a way that's kind then that's not okay and they might even use the right name but do it in a mean way so let's talk about facilities this is something that you see a lot in the daily news and newspapers headlines on you know whatever News Channel Ages you're watching in legislation it's something that everyone's talking about how how does that claim to the gender support plan so first of all remember the gender support plan is designed to establish shared agreement about what will happen and understanding about why that's important ideally the child will be allowed to say where they wish to go and what facilities they wish to access and that will be granted this will either be the space consistent with their gender identity or a private space but it's their choice however what if the school is unwilling or unable to meet that request well to us this is why the gender support team is so critical in the spirit of trust and support for that students well-being our hope is that the parents and student will be able to convey to the school just how important this is why is so important and the impact of not allowing the student to use the spaces they request will cause problems for them the difficulties that it will create we also hope that in that spirit the school might be willing to investigate options for in fact allowing the student to use the spaces they wish such as talking to other schools or working with gender spectrum about how they might communicate and come to the decision it may also be that the response will be that it's beyond their control that while the school will also support the child they don't have permission to do so then as a team you can decide together how might we impact and change that idea how might we work together and and push on the limitations that are being placed on the use of facilities if the answer is still no if the school is just unwilling then it really becomes up to the family to decide how they wish to proceed in asserting their students rights around this subject in some cases parents and students are willing to just forget it and use a private space unfortunately that creates a pretty unhappy situation for the student but in some cases that's what they'll accept in others they'll choose to take actions such as approaching an attorney or going above the school's head to the larger system to see if they can in fact have their right honoured this is one of those areas where the total understanding of the student is critical and where if that isn't in place the trust established in the team can be damaged if not destroyed all right so what about extracurricular activities how does that play into the overall gender support plan many students don't just go to school they also participate in after-school activities like sports teams or theater programs or social clubs or something else the school is sponsoring really the same issues apply and hopefully the practice is being used during the day will continue to be used in that school sponsored activity what could be more challenging as if the students involved in an after-school program in which case it's often being run by a separate organization really either a separate gender support team meeting needs to take place with that organization or someone on the site needs to communicate with that after-school program the need to honor the support plan that's already in place but it's definitely something that has to be considered in trying to create an overall successful day for the student and is there any other considerations then with with the gender support part yeah there are a number of other things that need to be considered as the plan is being completed one is are there any specific social dynamics in place with this particular student and other students or with this family and other families how are those going to be accounted for so that we are not having the plans goals undermined by those social dynamics if the student has siblings at the school we have to make sure we're accounting for the siblings needs as the students gender is being supported does the school have a dress code and how will that be handled are there specific lessons or activities such as sex ed units or swim units in which the students gender needs to be anticipated and situations might arrive the last thing to decide is how is this plan going to live in other words how will it be monitored how will be altered if necessary what will be the profit for the team to continually be in communication about what's unfolding for the child gender support plans are a wonderful way to establish that shared understanding of how a school is going to support a student around their gender needs and their use has proven to make a huge difference in the lives of students families and schools throughout the country alright folks that was my conversation with the Jol our senior director regarding the gender support plan here at gender spectrum if you have any comments or questions please feel free to reach out to us keep an eye out for future programming and different discussions that we'll be having in the future