An anti-discrimination statement on a school lunch flier prompted discussion about transgender students at a Tamaqua School Board meeting Tuesday night.

A parent and a resident said they’re concerned about the federal government using the lunch program to dictate policy on gender identity.

“As we’ve seen with the mask stuff, the government puts pressure on you, people start getting scared, they’re afraid they’re going to get sued,” said Thomas Williams III, the father of a high school student.

Williams questioned the statement, which he read on a form the school sent out to see which families qualify for free and reduced lunch. School lunches are funded in part by federal subsidies from the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service. One of the conditions for districts who receive the funds is that they must follow federal anti-discrimination policies.

“That is the static language from the federal government regarding our non-discriminatory practices,” said Ray J. Kinder, Superintendent of Tamaqua Area School District.

Earlier this year, the Food and Nutrition Service updated its anti-discrimination statement to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The change followed an executive order from the Biden Administration stating that Title IX’s protection against sex discrimination also protects people who are gay and transgender.

Twenty-two state attorneys general have sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the policy, arguing it puts their states’ school lunch funding at risk.

Tamaqua resident Fay Montgomery said she doesn’t believe schools should lose funding over their policies on gender identity.

“If the school complies all the time because we’re going to lose lunch, that’s going to keep going - whatever they want,” she said.

Williams said he is concerned that the anti-discrimination policy will force schools to allow transgender females to use girls’ bathrooms, and that Tamaqua will comply out of fear of losing federal funding.

Board President Larry Wittig said he believes that the Tamaqua board would oppose any mandates regarding bathrooms. He cited the district’s approach to masks during the pandemic. The district was the last in the state to ignore masking orders. Board members eventually voted to comply with the mandate, but immediately gave parents a chance to opt out.

“Many times districts react in a way that is egregious to the health and welfare of the students, in fear of the federal government. I think we take things a lot more pragmatic than that,” he said.