One of a series
While the newly minted notion of transgender restrooms, ordered by the Obama administration, has triggered nuclear outbursts in communities across the country, Culver City appears to be a sterling exception.
Peace prevails here on all sides, likely a credit to the process that involved heavily vetted input from every party with a stake.
Two and a half years after incorporating a policy of The Student May Choose for Himself/Herself, the School District and parent supporters can stand quietly on the sidelines and watch others feud.
The question of who deserves credit for the School District’s smooth transition across a rock-strewn path was put to Drew Sotelo. As director of School and Family Support Services, the modest Mr. Sotelo was point man for the District in helping to figure out and formulate a broadly acceptable policy.
“I would say no one gets the credit,” Mr. Sotelo said. “My responsibility is to see that School Board policies with regard to students are up to date.”
He realized that a new state-mandated Student May Choose restroom policy was going into effect in January 2014.
“To prepare, I attended conferences and worked with an attorney to develop the Board policy,” Mr. Sotelo said. “Then I presented that for the Board’s input and approval.”
What did the Culver City administrator learn at the conferences?
“The Los Angeles County Office of Education has three meetings a year that cover child welfare and attendance issues,” Mr. Sotelo said.
“These conferences provide us with ongoing training. They always update us on new legislation that is coming in, and they inform us of best-practices.
“We also hear presentations from vendors who might bring a service to us.
“A couple years ago, we heard how student records are being scanned and uploaded to the Cloud to preserve them forever. This cleared an storage space in district offices. We did that. We also have updated our policy on District residency and address verification.”
(To be continued)
