By T. Keung Hui
North Carolina’s transgender students are worried that their privacy and safety are being put at risk as schools switch to teaching students online during the coronavirus pandemic.
North Carolina’s public schools use a version of the PowerSchool student information system that lists the student’s legal name and gender instead of the preferred name and gender identity. LGBTQ advocates say the PowerSchool data is now being used for online learning programs, resulting in some transgender students being outed to their classmates without their consent.
On Thursday, more than 300 students educators, administrators, parents and students sent a letter to State Superintendent Mark Johnson urging him to direct the N.C. Department of Public Instruction to update PowerSchool. They want changes that would allow transgender students to list their preferred name and gender identity.
“Part of our request for Superintendent Johnson is that with all the difficult problems facing DPI, this is an easy fix,” Craig White, supportive schools coordinator at the Asheville-based Campaign for Southern Equality, said in an interview Friday. “This is a five-minute call to PowerSchool to get the updated name and gender fields.”
White said North Carolina needs to join states such as Massachusetts that have updated PowerSchool to accommodate transgender students. Change might be coming in North Carolina. Read more via News and Observer