Page:Adams ex rel. Kasper v. School Board of St. Johns County, Florida (2018).pdf/14

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Case 3:17-cv-00739-TJC-JBT Document 192 Filed 07/26/18 Page 14 of 70 PageID 10692

170, Def. Ex. 145 (under seal). The School District uses these documents to record a student’s gender in its files. Doc. 161 at Tr. 205. If a student later presents a document, such as a birth certificate or driver’s license, which lists a different gender, the original enrollment documents control. The School District will not change the official school records. Doc. 162 at Tr. 12–13. But, if a transgender student initially enrolls with documents listing the gender that matches the student’s gender identity, the School District will accept the student as being of that gender. Id. at Tr. 35. The School Board is aware of approximately sixteen transgender students in its schools, some of whom would like to use restrooms which match their gender identity. Id. at Tr. 106–07. The principal at Nease is aware of five transgender students at Nease, including Adams. Id. at Tr. 136.

According to the School Board Attorney, and as affirmed by the School Board Chair, for as long as anyone can remember, the unwritten School District bathroom policy was that boys will use the boys’ restrooms at school and girls will use the girls’ restrooms at school, using those terms as traditionally defined based on biological traits. Id. at Tr. 45–46; Doc. 184 at Tr. 11–12. As a long-time school official explained, students of one “biological sex” have never been permitted to use the restroom of the opposite “biological sex.” Doc. 161 at Tr. 149–50. The school bathroom policy has been enforced through the student code of conduct, and a student could be subject to discipline for failing to abide by the bathroom policy. Id. at Tr. 227–28; Doc. 162 at

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