Transgender Students in Elementary Schools: How Supportive Principals Lead

Abstract

Purpose: Increased awareness and acceptance of transgender people in the United States is reflected in our nation’s schools. Unfortunately, educational leaders do not typically receive training related to transgender youth and educators express fear about working with transgender students. The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of school leaders whom parents characterize as supporting their transgender children. Method: Qualitative interviews were conducted with supportive principals from 20 elementary schools across six states. Findings: The findings indicate that supportive principals (a) employed a child-centered approach to decision making, (b) leveraged learning and knowledge to create a positive elementary school experience for transgender children, and (c) characterized their experience as professionally and personally beneficial. Implications: These findings indicate that, in the context of a supportive principal, both the school community and the transgender student can have positive experiences. At the same time, the findings demonstrate that disrupting binary gender norms and shifting the larger school culture to be more gender inclusive is a formidable task. Results from this study may be helpful to elementary principals who hope to create accepting school environments for transgender students or for preparation programs that want to develop supportive principals.

Beyond Bathroom Bills and the Gender Identity Debate: Complicating the Policy Conversation About Supporting Trans Students in Schools

“…This has been most often driven by highly publicized and politicized “bathroom bills” 3 that seek to limit bathroom access for trans individuals. While the courts have largely ruled to “reinforce federal civil rights protections for transgender students” (Mangin, 2020, p. 260), 4 bathroom bills provide some light into the growing public consciousness about supporting trans youth in schools, and how the public conceptualizes the needs and identities of this diverse group of students.…”

“… 4. The debate over bathroom policies moved to a national stage in 2017, when the Supreme Court was set to review the case of Gavin Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board , which would have determined the legality of requiring transgender students to use the bathroom that aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth (Keenan, 2017). Grimm’s case alleged that the school violated Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972 (ACLU, 2019; Mangin, 2020). However, before hearing the case, they instead sent it back to the Fourth Circuit Court for reconsideration.…”

“…In 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that the school did in fact violate Gavin’s rights under Title IX and the 14th Amendment, effectively ruling for the illegality of bathroom bills (ACLU, 2019). Across the U.S., the courts have ruled similarly in 10 cases across eight states, including Florida, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin, all of which upheld protections for transgender students (Mangin, 2020).…”

Forced Back into the Closet: A (Queer) Principal’s Attempt to Maintain Queer Erasure

“…Thus, it is time for school administrators “to position themselves as queer activists” (Rottmann, 2006, p. 4). For example, Mangin (2020) found that, although it is challenging work, supportive school principals can mediate positive experiences for transgender students and the school community. As other have argued, sexual orientation and gender identity is part of the responsibility of a social justice leader and reflection on one’s personal location within cis/heteronormativity and heterosexism may be a useful tool for school leaders to address the needs of LGBTQ+ individuals (Capper et al, 2006; Marshall & Hernandez, 2013).…”

Childhood transgenderity under the perspective of elementary school teachers

“…The processes of maintaining institutional invisibility and the supposedly unnatural nature of childhood transgenderity have actively contributed to the unpreparedness, fear and inability of educators to deal with this demand ( 18 ) . Without preparation and clarification, the learning space does not welcome, recognize or encourage trans and/or non-binary children, leaving them with stigmatization and discrimination ( 19 ) .…”