By Sam Borsato - @BorsatoSam on Twitter

School District 51 Finalizes Sexual Orientation Policy

Apr 27, 2016 | 1:17 PM

LETHBRIDGE – After another month of discussions, Lethbridge School District 51’s Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression policy passed third reading on April 26.

Policy 502.2 was created after a recommendation from parents following a review of the district’s Welcoming, Caring, Respectful and Safe Learning Environments policy 502.1.

The draft went out for public feedback on January 19 at a parent session. Nearly 130 people were involved in that roundtable discussion.

Online feedback was also gathered, and a special six person advisory committee, which consisted of representatives from the district school council, Alberta Teachers Association, CUPE union, board members, district principal and superintendent, was formed March 23. That committee made their recommendations to the board on April 19, and resulted in a few changes.

Board Chair, Mich Forster, is pleased that the extra time allowed for a greater understanding from all parties involved in the process.

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However, he says changes from the feedback and advisory committee aren’t as significant as he was expecting.

“It’s interesting how words and phrases can mean so much in terms of interpretation from the different parties. If you looked at the original draft, I think you would see that it’s not so different from what we ended up with. There are some subtle changes, and maybe some that aren’t quite so subtle. It’s when you get into the procedures and so on that the ideas become part of the actions we follow.”

Forster noted that the main goal was to focus on students, especially those most vulnerable, but says parent concerns have been adequately taken into consideration, as well. He made it clear that students will still have confidentiality while discussing related topics with school staff.

As far as physical changes to schools, District 51 is already moving in the direction of gender neutral bathrooms. Anything further than that would then be up to the Alberta Government.

The school district must now wait on final approval from the province.