Case 3:17-cv-00739-TJC-JBT Document 192 Filed 07/26/18 Page 15 of 70 PageID 10693
Tr. 17–18; Doc. 152, Def. Ex. 65 (St. Johns County School District student codes of conduct, 2015–2018).[1]
Beginning in 2012, the (now retired) Director of Student Services worked with LGBTQ students, attended and sent staff to LGBTQ conferences, and researched school policies in other school districts in Florida and else where to educate herself and the School District about emerging LGBTQ issues. Doc. 161 at Tr. 146–47. She formed a task force which consulted with district administrators, principals, attorneys, guidance counselors, mental health professionals, parents, students, members of the public, and LGBTQ groups in St. Johns County and elsewhere. Id. at Tr. 150–52, 158–59, 161–62, 174–80. The result was a set of Best Practices Guidelines adopted by the School Superintendent’s Executive Cabinet and introduced to school administrators in September 2015. Id. at Tr. 242–45.
The Best Practices Guidelines were formed with the community’s values in mind (described by the School Board Attorney as trending conservative), and they provide guidance to faculty and staff to address numerous issues related to LGBTQ students. Doc. 162 at Tr. 32–33, 86. Under the Best Practices Guidelines, upon request by a student or parent, students should be addressed with the name and gender pronouns corresponding with the student’s consistently asserted gender
- ↑ Historically, the School District accommodated the occasional student who needed additional privacy because of a physical disability or for other reasons by making a gender-neutral single-stall bathroom available. Doc. 161 at Tr. 149.
15
