Grams raises ruckus over policy pronouns

Board member not willing to accept ‘they’ in replacement of ‘he’ or ‘she’
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

Shawano School Board policy reviews where there are minor changes in wording usually go very smoothly without comment.

However, the review on Dec. 5 got a little heated as one school board member brought the national debate on gender pronouns home when he objected to the recommended wording changes from Neola, an education company based in Ohio that advises on policy structure and wording.

Mart Grams raised the issue of some of the policy changes referring to individual students with the plural pronoun “they.” He called those changes “offensive.”

“There are some very terrible things in here,” Grams said. “First off, grammatically, there’s no such thing as ‘their’ for a single. It’s ‘his’ or ‘her.’”

Grams also raised the issue of the revised non-discrimination policy, which he said would allow boys to play in girls’ sports.

“It’s going to harm every female in this building,” Grams said at the meeting, which was taking place at Shawano Community High School. “The kid who has a 3½-minute mile gets thrown into girls’ sports and sets a world record.”

Interim Superintendent Kurt Krizan pointed out that the pronouns have already been in the policies and that the only change to the non-discrimination policy was a paragraph regarding who will investigate such claims. Previously, the policy said the district administrator would serve in place of the Title IX coordinator if that coordinator is the subject of harassment or discrimination claims. New language would allow the superintendent to designate an investigator, if he or she wishes.

Grams pointed out that there’s a board committee that is supposed to vet changes in policy, but when Krizan pointed out the changes are only technical changes that don’t usually go through the committee process, the board member disagreed on the superintendent’s assessment.

“These are not technical changes,” Grams said. “These are major policy changes.”

Krizan said he disagreed with that claim, to which Grams said: “Well, then you’re wrong, Kurt. You don’t change a ‘he’ to a ‘they.’”

Grams indicated that Neola’s policy recommendations do not have to be accepted, even though the district has purchased the services. The district has worked with Neola since 2010.

Board member Jeana Winslow initially said she had some concerns about the same policy issues Grams brought up, but she discovered that the language falls in alignment with civil rights policies.

“When you don’t follow that, are we opening ourselves up for a lawsuit for discrimination?” Winslow said. “I don’t want that, either.”

Grams wasn’t letting up on the pronouns, however, noting that the concept is taught in English classes.

“You flunk a class if you do that,” he said, “but now it’s OK to say that?”

Winslow said she’d rather have a grammatical faux pas than direct money meant for education and reducing class sizes toward hiring a lawyer if the district runs afoul of the law.

Board member Bobbi Lemerond pointed out that the culture is changing for students, and there are some students who want to be referred to as “they” because they don’t feel they fit fully into a male or female construct.

“I had this conversation with my daughter last year, because one of her very good friends refers to themselves as ‘they,’” Lemerond said. “They are not a he or a she; they are a ‘they.’ That’s what they are comfortable being.”

Lemerond questioned why the district is looking at implementing the optional changes, to which Krizan replied that doing so aligns those policies with other existing school policies.

Student board member Riley Dreier agreed with Lemerond’s statement that there are non-binary students, at least at the high school, who prefer the “they” pronoun. She expressed fear that not conforming could result in society “canceling our school,” claiming that there are already “Cancel Shawano” Instagram pages, although a search by NEW Media found no sign of such a page existing.

“Everything on social media says you get to pick your own pronouns,” Dreier said. “Society today, everything on social media is trying to be more open. I know it’s not grammatically correct, and personally, I don’t agree with it, but I don’t really think it’s an issue.”

Board member Alysia Pillsbury suggested doing away with the pronouns altogether and referring to individuals as students, teachers, staff, etc. on every reference to eliminate the concern.

“You could ‘the student shall be provided’ rather than ‘they shall be provided,’” Pillsbury said.

The policy changes from the Dec. 5 meeting are expected to be voted on at a later date, which was not discussed at the meeting.


lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com