Rating: Transsupportive, Erin in the Morning, November 16, 2023 (PDF archive) (HTML archive) (Video archive) (Take Action)
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Content Summary
After Election Loss, Central Bucks School Board Passes Trans Sports Ban, Gives Superintendent $700K
Parents were outraged as the final school board meeting of the outgoing school board was called to order in Central Bucks County School District. The district’s Republican majority had just taken a beating in elections, losing 5-0 in a race that heavily featured anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-transgender policies. Constituents present at the meeting, having just decisively voted against targeted discrimination towards queer and trans people, were now faced with two last parting shots from the outgoing Republican majority in a lame duck session: banning transgender people from sports, and giving the Superintendent, Abram Lucabaugh, a huge paycheck after resigning.
Central Bucks County School District was notoriously difficult for LGBTQ+ people between 2021-2023. In one move, the school district mandated the removal of pride flags from classrooms. In another, it mandated the misgendering of trans students. The election featured book banning initiatives in flyers sent out to local households. Through it all, students stood and spoke about the impact the policies were having on them, all of reportedly supported by Lucabaugh.
The meeting was called to order, and immediately, the school board announced that the Lucabaugh would be paid roughly $700,000 from the school district’s coffers as “thanks” for his service. This comes after just a few months prior, he had been given a 40% pay raise. They then announced that the severance as well as the trans sports ban, which was a contentious issue in the 2023 election, would go for a vote regardless of having lost the election on those issues.
Parents and students were outraged. One after another, they went to the microphone, and the vast majority of those in attendance spoke against the policy. Kate Nazemi, founder of Advocates for Inclusive Education in Central Bucks County said that passing a large payout for Lucabaugh while banning trans youth from sports in their final act was tantamount to the “reckless use of taxpayer dollars for the unsuccessful consolidation of political power.”
Evan, a student at the high school, spoke about their own experiences and how suggestions LGBTQ+ students made to the superintendent were never acted upon. Speaking of the ridicule and exclusion they have faced, they told the board, “We have protested, but you have shown that it is not in your interest to protect us. It doesn’t give you money.”
Closing their remarks, Evan stated, “I am so happy that this disgrace will be left behind, and we can move forward undoing the damage you had done.”
Perhaps the most powerful moment of the night was when a trans girl by the name of Lily stood and spoke. Lily, who previously had advocated at several other board meetings against other anti-LGBTQ+ policies, took this moment to tell the administration about the effects of their policies and how hard those policies were for her and all trans students:
“How can anyone in administration see the hurt that me and many other students have brought to these meetings and just say, “Well, we need to move past it.” Well, Dr. Luka, I can’t move past it. It is my life. It is my day-to-day; it is my truth. With each day you have sat as the superintendent, my life has been stripped away from me.
I hope that every day you think about my face, and how you have utterly failed me. And I hope that all of you on the current board majority take all of this away too. But hey, at least you make an amazing college essay and first AP art piece. Thank you.”
Watch her speech:
Ultimately, the board did vote 6-3 to pass a trans sports ban as well as give Lucabaugh his $700,000 severance package, despite vocal uproar against the decisions. Both of these deals will likely come under scrutiny. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports there are some legal questions around such a high payout. Meanwhile, Karen Smith, a Democratic incumbent who will return next year, said of the trans sports ban, “I look forward to revising this policy soon” to the approval of those in the audience.
Meetings like the one in Central Bucks County School District are likely happening nationwide. Moms For Liberty and 1776 Project candidates lost around 70% of their races, and both of these organizations back candidates who run heavily on anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-trans policies. For so many of those school districts, the very first tasks for incoming candidates will be the reversal of those policies and perhaps, even, the reversal of the anti-trans fever that swept school boards up until this year.
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