Trans student barred from locker room shelter during school safety drill
Teachers at the Virginia school couldn't work out which locker room would be appropriate for her.
A transgender student was forced to sit alone while teachers debated which gender-segregated locker room she should be assigned to during a school safety drill.
The incident occurred while Stafford County Public School in Virginia ran through its safety precautions to prepare students for an attack.
The unnamed student was at a physical education class at the time. Her classmates were escorted to gender-assigned locker rooms while she was forced to sit alone on the bleachers as teachers couldn’t decide where to place her.
LGBT advocacy group Equality Stafford shared a post detailing what had happened on their Facebook page, writing: “The student was forced to watch the adults charged with her care debate the safest place (for the other students) to have her shelter.
“During this debate, she was instructed to sit in the gym with a teacher until the drill was complete, away from her peers and identified as different.”
The group’s post revealed that the teachers eventually made the student sit in the locker room hallway.
They wrote: “During an event that prepares children to survive an attack by actual assailants, she was treated as if she was so much of a danger to peers that she was left exposed and vulnerable. These events occur across our country right now but this one happened here.”
According to Gay Star News, Sherrie Johnson, a spokesperson for the school, issued a statement addressing the incident.
She said: “The new superintendent has requested a review of all protocols and procedures to ensure that all children are treated with dignity and respect. We take such matters very seriously and they will be addressed. The welfare of all students is of the utmost importance for SCPS.”