In an effort to assist schools in dealing with two challenging legal issues, the CIAC hosted “Transgender Students and Individuals with Disabilities in Activities - What Every School Needs to Know” on Monday, March 25 at the CAS-CIAC office.

Attorneys Thomas Mooney and Julie Fay of the law firm of Shipman and Goodman directed the presentation to help schools understand guidelines dealing with rights of transgender students and recent guidelines from OCR regarding opportunities for students with disabilities. Principals, athletics directors and other administrators were all invited to the workshop with 40 in attendance.

The two-hour workshop emphasized that opportunities for participation in activities need to be provided to students with disabilities either within interscholastic competition with modifications or in other venues if interscholastic competition is not appropriate. The discussion on transgender students emphasized the difficulty of interpreting policy that is evolving quickly but emphasized that schools should be proactive in preparing plans and policies to accommodate transgender students in a meaningful and thoughtful way.

A video of the presentation is available, along with workshop handouts, at the links below.

COMPLETE WORKSHOP VIDEO
Click here to view

WORKSHOP MATERIALS
• Powerpoint Presentation
• Powerpoint slides for notes
• Letter from Office for Civil Rights
• Guidelines for Schools on Gender Identity and Expression
• Guidance for Massachusetts Public Schools - Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity