The bathroom battle across the country has now hit Texoma.
This comes after the WFISD board had an item added to the agenda Friday in regards to gender assignments to restrooms. The district has decided to keep their current guidelines in place.
There was no action on the agenda Monday night for this item, however, board members got to voice their opinions on it, leading to four of the seven against a new policy. Stephen Garner, a local Wichita Falls citizen, expressed his opinion to the board.
“I ask you to stand firm and tell the government that it is not a directive that we follow,” Garner said. “I feel that this community will stand behind you and the additional tax that we need to come to the table with if that is what comes of it.”
Garner was just one of many local citizens voicing their concerns in regards to a potential new policy for gender assignments to restrooms.
Trey Sralla, Board of Trustees President, said that deciding to not act on a policy does not mean the district will miss out on federal funding. Sralla also said their current guidelines have worked in the past.
“We have dealt with this before in the past,” Sralla said. “We have students that are currently in our district that identify themselves as transgender. So this is not anything new. Our administration has dealt with it administratively. Successfully I should say.”
Sralla said that things could change in November because many of the board members are not running for re-election, meaning a new board may want to act differently once in place.
Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor of Texas, has accused the Obama administration of blackmail and called the directive social engineering. Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, announced the state would fight the issue. He continued on to say Obama cannot rewrite the Civil Rights Act.
– Newschannel 6
