SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash – The Central Valley School District in Spokane could be the next district in our region to urge the governing body of high school sports in Washington to reconsider policies about transgender athletes participating in sports.
An item on Tuesday’s agenda is a letter from the school board and superintendent to the WIAA.
It urges the WIAA and state legislators to “have serious and ongoing conversations to find legal, well-researched and equitable solutions to ensure all athletes have fair competition, while also prioritizing safety for each and every competitor,” it reads.
It specifically urges the WIAA to listen to the voices of student-athletes.
WIAA policy, which the organization says follows state and federal law, allows students to compete in sports based on the gender with which they identify.
The Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction also lays out the policies, citing Title IX and Washington law.
While the policy has been in place for years, it has recently become the subject of scrutiny as transgender athletes have become a political matter nationwide.
Also, several transgender athletes competing in Washington sports has drawn the attention and criticism of some fans and participants.
CVSD’s letter recognizes the value of students participating in sports.
It also urges the WIAA to “consider reasonable competitive safeguards to maintain fair competition.”
“There may be inherent biological and physiological differences that exist between athletes, and we defer to and encourage those with the requisite medical and legal expertise to pursue further research to arrive at clearly outlined guidance for the schools and athletes under the authority of WIAA,” it says.
It also says that “one option may be having an open category in certain sports that is not specific to gender or sex.”
In recent months, the Mead School District has written a similar letter to the WIAA, along with school districts in Moses Lake and the Wenatchee area.
In the agenda for Tuesday’s school board meeting are several letters in which people are urging the district to take some action on this.
One of the letters is from former University High School Football Coach Dalton Puyear, who is currently U-High’s assistant pole vault coach.
“It’s time to stand up to radical ideology that masks its self [sic] as ‘equity’ and ‘acceptance’ and prevent biological males from competing is [sic] girls sports,” Puyear wrote.
Citizen Darlene Sizer also wrote in, saying in part, “I doubt the school district will want to payout on a lawsuit when a young DNA female student athlete is seriously injured by a transgender female.”
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