Central Valley School Board to reconsider stance on trans athletes at special meeting Monday

After a well-attended school board meeting Tuesday with over an hour’s worth of public comment decrying transgender athletes’ participation in school sports, Central Valley School Board members will again bring forward the issue at a special meeting Monday.

The school board came to a consensus Tuesday not to send a vaguely written draft letter to lawmakers and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, as members stood on different ends of the issue.

On Monday, the board will consider a new letter and resolution, urging recipients to “create dialogue and move forward legislation within your purview to uphold this practice and protect sports for biological females,” the letter reads.

The letter states trans girls and nonbinary students who were assigned male at birth should be restricted to boys teams, while trans boys and nonbinary students assigned female at birth should play on girls teams.

In the letter, the board suggests a third “open category” for nongendered sports.

WIAA policy allows for students to compete with the team that is consistent with their gender identity, empowered by Washington state law and Title IX protections that list transgender identity as a protected class.

Proposed amendments to the WIAA policy would bar trans girls from competing on girls sports teams and create a separate nongendered league for some sports.

The board will discuss their new drafts at a special meeting Monday at 6 p.m. at the district office, 2218 N. Molter Road, in Liberty Lake.

Editor’s note: This article has been changed to correct the WIAA acronym.