Lehighton Area School District’s board of directors held initial discussion at Monday night’s workshop about developing new policies addressing transgender students’ use of locker rooms and restrooms, as well as the management of cellphone usage within the school district.

Board Member Sean Gleaves said the discussion was initiated with the aim of “protecting all students and ensuring that facilities are used appropriately.”

Directors presented a policy implemented by the Hempfield School District, which defines an individual’s sex for athletic purposes as being “based on biological and genetic makeup.”

“I think protecting our daughters is a great idea,” said Board President Jeremy Glaush.

Lehighton administrators cautioned that any new policy must comply with federal regulations, particularly Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs.

Legal implications of the proposed policy were also a focal point of Monday’s discussion.

“I think our attorney would be the best way to go about this,” Athletic Director Kyle Spotts told the board. “They represent a lot of school districts and know what is on the up and up.”

Gleaves said the board, should it adopt a locker room and restroom policy, could set a precedent in the state.

“From what we’ve researched, there’s no other policies in Pennsylvania like this,” he said. “We could be pioneers.”

While it may be the first time such a policy has been discussed in depth in Pennsylvania, the issue is not foreign to schools in other parts of the country.

The Loudoun County School Board in Virginia adopted a policy in 2021 that allows transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice despite their sex at birth.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling allowing transgender students in Indiana to access school restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.

Spotts said Lehighton has had transgender athletes in the past.

“I don’t think the issues that have been identified tonight have been an issue in the past,” he added.

Gleaves asked if individuals who are boys by birth go into girls’ locker rooms at any point?

“If there is a situation like that, we work with the students, the parents of that individual to come to a point where everyone is comfortable,” Spotts said.

Cellphone usage policy

Following the transgender athlete discussion, directors shifted their debate to the use of cellphones in schools and potential stricter regulations to curb the disruptive impact of cellphones on the learning environment.

“If we inform parents this is coming, they may start to police their children in the same way some of us do and they may take an active role in their student’s life to make sure they aren’t walking around with it all the time,” Glaush said.

High School Principal Sue Howland said each classroom does have pockets where students can put their phones for that particular period, but enforcement of that is up to individual staff members.

“I’m not saying I’m against the policy, but I think it will lead to more disciplinary issues and you have to be prepared at the administrative and board level to back the enforcement of it,” Mike Lusch, high school teacher, said. “You need to have a policy that we’re willing to follow and adhere to, without bending to a parent’s sob story when they can’t get in contact with their child for whatever reason.”

According to a survey conducted by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in 2020, 95% of high school students in the state own a cellphone, and 77% of them use their phones during school hours.

A 2019 report by the National Center for Education Statistics showed about 65% of public schools in Pennsylvania reported that they had policies in place to restrict student use of cellphones during school hours.

Gleaves, meanwhile, said he sees a clear link between student cellphone use, the transgender movement and suicide due to bullying.

“Social media pushes the transgender movement a lot,” Gleaves said. “By limiting children’s access to that content while they are at school, then we’re not bending a knee to that ideology. While we can’t control what happens outside of school, you can definitely limit access to that stuff while you’re in school.”

Lehighton’s board said Monday they would continue discussing and gathering input for both policies.

“This isn’t something that’s going to be on the next agenda,” Glaush said. “It’s going to take some discussion and some work.”