Kenosha School Board To Seek SCOTUS Decision On Bathroom Rule

The Kenosha School Board will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether it can legally bar transgender students from using the bathrooms of their gender identities.

The board plans to appeal rulings in a case that had been filed by a transgender student, Ash Whitaker.

The Tremper High School student graduated earlier this month. But the legal issues that sparked his successful lawsuit remain.

Without referring to the suit itself, board member Gary Kunich said at a school board meeting Tuesday night that he’s looking for definitive guidance.

“I really do think it’s important to let this get settled finally once and for all,” he said in response to a retired school counselor who spoke during citizens’ comments.

Gayle Clark-Taylor, a retired school counselor in the district, urged the board Tuesday night to drop the case and form a committee to come up with ways to make life easier for transgender students.

“I think we will end up with a lot of blood on our hands because we are creating a hostile learning environment for students,” she said.

Attorneys for Whitaker won favorable rulings in part by detailing the depression, anxiety and other problems that Whitaker allegedly suffered as the result of the district’s transgender bathroom policy.

The nation’s highest court has yet to rule on the constitutional issues that have been raised in Whitaker versus Kenosha Unified.

It’s unclear just when the school board decided to appeal. When asked about the case at Tuesday’s school board meeting, a district spokesperson produced a one-line statement from the district’s attorney indicating that the appeal process would begin in the near future.