School districts and boards across the fruited plain are wrestling with a problem. The previous commander in chief, or whoever was running his auto-pen, signed proclamations about rules that the current president has since changed. The new rules are like the old rules (as in for decades before President Auto-pen). Boys can’t be girls and cannot play on girls’ teams. Sex is biological and not a social construct.
If you disagree, your district will lose federal funding.
Schools and districts with contradictory policies must decide how to proceed, and the White Mountains Regional School District (WMRSD) in New Hampshire is no exception. The school board’s agenda for their Thursday, March 13th meeting included reviewing policies for amendment, including JJIC Eligibility for School Athletics.
Boys playing as girls with and against girls.
You can watch the meeting here (discussion starts at 1:03).
Board member Kristin Van Bergen refused to support a change that would bring school policy in line with Federal law as clarified via Presidential Executive Order. Another board member, Robert “Bob” Loiacono, expressed a desire to retain the previous policies, given the possibility that they might change in 4 years.
This is the same school board that voted last October to ignore New Hampshire state law regarding the exclusion of boys from girls’ sports. HB1205 prohibits males from competing on girls’ Middle and High School sports teams, and a lawsuit challenging it only covers two students at two schools in the Granite State. WMRSD chose to ignore that state law, deferring to the Biden Administration’s reimagining of Title IX.
When asked by a parent if their decision to ignore HB1205 (in 2024) was based on the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, “which says that federal law takes precedence over state law when there is a conflict. School officials said yes. … That was the advice that we got,” said Assistant Superintendent Rob Scott.“
Advice from the district legal counsel, no doubt; who has changed their mind, or were they not consulted before the most recent meeting of the WMRSD Board?
Whatever the reason the district is bending genders and its credibility (if you ever had any).
If the Supremacy Clause requires the district to follow Federal Executive branch rules or orders from President Biden (when there is a conflict), it must apply under President Trump. Or, you are making it up as you go?
Put another way, you look like lying, partisan hacks.
The vote was tabled until the March 27th School board meeting so there is still time for constituents to suggest consistency is a problem if they refuse to change the policy.
The state isn’t going to punish them, but the Federal Government will, and based on past board “policy,” they only have themselves to blame.
Residents in the WMRSD area of effect might want to contact their board members and remind them that this hypocrisy could get expensive, and taxpayers are on the hook for the difference.
