Concerns expressed on summer camp transgender inclusion

Visitor input about the Teton Science School summer camp that Ten Sleep sixth graders will attend in Jackson this summer began the April 10 meeting of the Washakie County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees.

Dan Hampton, who is signed up to drive the bus for the trip, raised concerns over the sign-up form for the summer camp. He said “When you sign up to go to Teton now it asks you your gender preference. It’s just disturbing.” He continued, saying that his grievances with the situation were making him think twice about taking the bus to Jackson, because he “doesn’t want to subject the kids to this.”

Ruthann Carter spoke next, echoing his concerns and adding to them. She brought with her a paper that was sent home to parents to explain what the Teton Science School summer camp is about, including a segment on ‘inclusivity practices’ which she read aloud to the board.

The portion she shared dealt with recognition of marginalized groups, and explained that the camp would offer “Trans and gender non-conforming individuals an opportunity to share their gender pronouns in settings where they are introducing themselves.”

She said, “They don’t care about the kids that have to try to figure out the pronoun.” Carter reinforced her position by saying “I’m not against transgenders, I don’t care what you do, just don’t preach it to my grandkids or any of the kids.”

Upon initially reading this handout, Carter said she found out more about the camp by calling and speaking to a representative of the Teton Science School. She reported to the school board that she found out that there was indeed a full-time transgender employee, and was told that there were likely to be transgender summer workers as well as students participating in the trip.

She went on to ask this representative “how transgenderism would be incorporated into the curriculum of the camp.” Carter relayed to the board that the representative gave her an example of how inclusivity of marginalized groups would be practiced at the camp.

Having shared all of this, Carter asked the board to consider cancelling the trip. She then voiced a call to action for other parents that shared her sentiment to contact the school about it, saying “This is why society is where it is; we let these little things inch by and nobody takes a stand. It would be easy now to let this go on, let the kids go and continue associating with this place, but it’s time to take a stand.”

School Superintendent Annie Griffin assured these visitors that all parents of sixth graders going to the camp have been made aware by a phone call from teacher Wade Moore of the language used to describe inclusion at the camp. She added that Moore made a statement to these parents that the students Ten Sleep sends to the camp will not participate in any activities at the camp that fall outside of approved material for their curriculum.

Administrative assistant Neysha Lyman added, “As a mom of a sixth grader, it is concerning.” She then asked Hampton, who had previously stated that this ordeal had made him question driving the bus to the event, to think about his decision some more. She said, “One of the comforts I have in sending our students there is knowing that you (Hampton) will be there.”

Wrestling Club

Talena Dehmel, a mother of a Ten Sleep School student athlete and representative of Ten Sleep’s Wrestling Club, presented an issue she and other parents face with taking their children to and from activities in Worland. Worland schools offer some activities that are either not offered or limited in Ten Sleep, and many Ten Sleep students opt to travel to Worland to participate in activities that they would not have the same opportunities at in Ten Sleep.

Dehmel said that all the traveling required for participation in these activities is a huge responsibility for the parents, and pushes them to consider transferring their students to Worland schools because it would be easier to deal with. She said, “We are here to ask the board to take some action to help all of our students pursuing extracurricular activities in Worland with transportation options.”

Several student athletes involved in wrestling then took their turn to describe how having travel options to participate in extracurricular activities in Worland would benefit them.

School Counselor Chawna Wiechmann said that as a parent of wrestlers who are currently attending wrestling practice in Worland, in her experience the biggest issue is the availability of drivers. She suggested that parents of students in these circumstances should come together and share responsibility for driving their students. She did agree that other transportation options would be nice to have, but said that her previous suggestion is what they can do presently to make things easier.

Wiechmann ended by saying that she wants to encourage kids to engage in healthy activities regardless of who’s team they are on.