Waterloo transgender bathroom policy leads to demonstrations, school harassment probe

A Waterloo District 5 policy that allows transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity recently led to controversy at the high school.

Waterloo High School students who reported to the school that they were uncomfortable sharing a bathroom with transgender students were told they could use the nurse’s office restroom.

On Friday, a group of high school boys planned to go to the nurse’s office at the same time as a form of protest. Others joined in, resulting in a long line of 135 students that filled the hallway and made some late for class, according to students and district officials.

The school district is investigating the incident as potentially being planned harassment of transgender students. In an interview Monday, District 5 Superintendent Brian Charron said officials were still looking into students’ motives for participating in the protest, as well as investigating new accusations about harassment from over the weekend.

Parents and community members joined the demonstrations when the school board met Monday night. A group of about 75 people gathered at the high school for prayer and a rally to send the message that they oppose the bathroom policy and they do not think students should be disciplined for protesting it.

District officials say they are following the law with their policy.

Officials moved Monday’s school board meeting from the high school library to the auditorium to accommodate a large crowd. Attendees shared their opinions with the board for more than an hour during the meeting. Twenty-six people spoke.

Most speakers were opposed to the policy, supported the student protest or had a complaint about communication from the district on the bathroom issue. Four spoke about protecting and supporting transgender students, and two more encouraged attendees to meet and learn from people who are different from them.

Parents, students address school board

Parents Jonathan Elder and Justin Demers were among those who spoke out against the bathroom policy. During the meeting, they accused transgender boys of using school urinals, which they said made other students in the bathroom uncomfortable.

Elder, the youth ministry director at Life Church X in Columbia, said he heard about it from students through the church. Demers, a local pastor, said he heard about it from his son, who told Demers he witnessed it.

Waterloo High School junior Brayden Mazdra said in an interview after the meeting that the allegations about the urinals are not true. Charron also said Monday night that school officials had so far been unable to substantiate those allegations.

Mazdra said he knows most of the transgender students at the high school through his involvement with Diversity Club, a high school group for LGBTQ students and allies.

“I think that a lot of them honestly already don’t feel comfortable in the restroom, and so they like to just go in, go right to the stall and that’s that, behind the closed door where they’re safe and not looking at anybody else,” Mazdra said.

Elder cited other concerns during the meeting, including that high school boys feel they have less privacy and that they feel unsafe because of a fear they could face false accusations about inappropriate behavior. Elder said he was speaking on behalf of several parents who shared their thoughts with him prior to the meeting.