1. In ensuring a safe learning environment for LGBTQ+ students, what resources have you used so far to inform your policy? What organizations would you ask for help? Who are the experts you will call on to help in emergency situations relating to LGBTQ+ students, staff, teachers, and parents? What District 65's policies address LGBTQ+ youth, staff/employees, and educational topics? Do you have suggestions for board policy to alter, enhance, or amend current policies?

In ensuring a safe learning environment for LGBTQ+ students, what resources have you used so far to inform your policy? 

First: I’m committed to LGBTQ+ students and to their success. This is a really hard time for trans parents and/or trans/nb/ngc kids.

Everything is through that reality. My main resource in engaging district policy as it intersects with sex, gender, or sexuality is relationships with queer persons in the community who are directly impacted by these policies. I have also sought to listen and learn about queer experiences of D65 guardians, students, and former students. My awareness is also shaped by following the work of national and local organizations such as GLAAD, National Education Association, The Illinois Safe Schools Alliance, the Illinois Inclusive Curriculum Law, and the Human Rights Campaign. 

On a personal level, I have learned more about my own sexual and gender formations and identities. I have also enrolled in equity trainings to make sure I am growing in my awareness of those who have a different sexuality, sex, or gender identity than myself. I am and have been a part of a number of community organizations that seek to grow in their awareness and inclusiveness toward LGBTQ+ persons. Each of these communities and actions has made me see the necessity of creating safe learning environments for LGBTQ+ students.

On a professional level, in my own graduate-level teaching, I am careful to ensure that the contributions of queer theory and queer scholars are clearly and honestly represented and centered in the courses I teach. This requires me to seek out queer scholars and activists and to allow them to shape my own thinking. I am also proud to be professionally connected to a number of institutions and organizations with explicit commitments to LGBTQ+ flourishing. 

What organizations would you ask for help? Who are the experts you will call on to help in emergency situations relating to LGBTQ+ students, staff, teachers, and parents? 

I have a wide array of relationships of support and accountability with queer individuals. I’m honored to be able to ask those folks for resources for me and D65 when faced with urgent situations impacting LGBTQ+ persons. I also hope to continue to develop relationships with local organizations that hold expertise on LGBTQ+ experience in the Evanston and Skokie communities. Organizations such as Evanston Pride, PFLAG Evanston, and Gender Affirming Evanston can be crucial resources in emergency situations and in developing policies that promote district-wide belonging for LGBTQ+ persons. The Illinois Safe Schools Alliance also offers free consultation, education, and resources to IL schools in creating a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment. All kids deserve to have what they need to thrive at school.

What District 65's policies address LGBTQ+ youth, staff/employees, and educational topics? 

All of D65’s policies impact LGBTQ+ students, whether implicitly or explicitly, intentionally or unintentionally, or in positive or negative ways.  The D65 board needs to look at every single policy through an equity lens that accounts for respecting diversity as it relates to sex, gender, and sexuality. I am committed to bringing this lens to bear on everything that comes before me as a board member. One of the unique attributes of D65 that I will fight to maintain and improve upon is our commitment to including all queer children in our curriculum in developmentally appropriate ways. I will continue to advocate for every students’ civil right to utilize the bathroom where they feel most safe and reflective of their true and authentic identities. All of our children benefit from being encouraged to have an inclusive mindset, to be aware of those that may or may not be different from us. It is important to foster a spirit of kindness and respect in our children, and that is the backbone of D65’s mission and values.  

Do you have suggestions for board policy to alter, enhance, or amend current policies?

First, let’s change the language of the Board Policies document to move beyond gender binaries (he/her). Right now there’s an overriding policy (see Board Policies 2:240 Board Policy Development) that asks the reader to do the work of inferring a broader understanding of gender. Let’s just change the language. This matters, and, to my knowledge, it can be a simple fix that honors gender diversity. And then let’s keep looking for ways to ensure our policies serve and reflect our LGBTQ+ community.

Second, in the face of what may be severe backlash from the federal administration, we need a board that remains committed to ensuring that we do not move backwards on existing policies. I am committed to doing everything I can to ensure that we do not bow to potential federal pressure to erase LGBTQ+ commitments from our policies and procedures. I am committed to the wellbeing of all queer students at D65, and I will fight for them.

I am especially aware at this moment in our national life that trans children are being targeted in hateful ways. I will bring to the board an absolute insistence that: 

a) we recognize that trans children are already an important part of our community; 

b) that we normalize the presence of trans children in our community and see gender diversity as healthy; and 

c) that we support and celebrate trans children in our community amidst a devastatingly hateful national environment. 

D65 will remain committed to protecting and serving trans children.

2. How familiar are you with the district’s policy around LGBTQ+ youth? What questions or further learning do you have? How familiar are you with the district’s policy around LGBTQ+ staff members and employees? What questions or further learning do you have?

How familiar are you with the district’s policy around LGBTQ+ youth? 

Two years ago, friends of our family shared with us how their nonbinary child was facing challenges with the district. This child and their family led to me educating myself at a basic level to understand district policies protecting LGBTQ+ students. I have since worked to become more familiar by learning about Gender and Sexuality Alliance clubs (GSA), gender support plans, the LGBTQIA+ Family Group and making it as accessible and meaningful as possible for families and students, student belonging, and how broader district policies impact students and families. I understand that queer students are disproportionately subjected to mico-aggressions about their identity, and I will advocate for proper use of affirmed names  and pronoun use in PowerSchool. I have heard that too often substitute teachers unintentionally deadname or use the wrong pronouns, which has a cumulative effect on students.  I will advocate for a more streamlined approach to ameliorate these issues. As mentioned previously, I will also continue to advocate for queer student’s civil right to use the bathroom that affirms their identity and follow IL law.  

I will always keep learning and listening. 

What questions or further learning do you have? 

I am interested in data on experiences of LGBTQ+ students. Data helps us ensure equitable outcomes for LGBTQ+ students. So the board needs to see disaggregated data on student belonging for LGBTQ+ students in our reporting on equity. (Disaggregated meaning data that focuses on this community of students.)

We should be regularly gathering data from each school’s gender support teams, gender support coordinators, and social workers to better understand how queer students are doing as it relates to mental health, wellness, safety, sense of  belonging,  and academic achievement. It also may be possible at the middle school level for students to fill out regular surveys checking in on how they are doing. These surveys mean we could learn from students themselves. 

The 2020-2025 strategic plan uses language that engages “equity” quite broadly but the limited reporting that is available on the district website (see for instance 2/5/2024 RAD report on Equity Progress Indicators and Strategic Plan Data Analysis Report) only accounts for race. The 2025-2030 strategic plan needs to once again prioritize equity, including race. We also need to gather data that can help us better support LGBTQ+ students.  

How familiar are you with the district’s policy around LGBTQ+ staff members and employees? 

I am always aware as a board candidate that we may not have access to internal district documents. However, there is an array of employee documents available deep within the D65 website, and I have taken the time to review those as extensively as possible. Like any place of accommodation, I am familiar with D65’s obligation and commitment to following the Illinois Human Rights Act. Discrimination will not be tolerated, and it will be taken seriously.  

What questions or further learning do you have?

I’m a cisgender, heterosexual white man. With that identity it is important to me to be curious and open as a board member, especially in support of LGBTQ+ and non-white communities.  

For instance, Board Policy outlines recruitment of minoritized employees (see 5:10) which would include LGBTQ+ persons, but I do not get a strong sense of what this looks like in practice. As a board member, I would like to engage HR in order to get a stronger sense of how we bring our policies to life. In the case of targeted recruitment, I have heard about what a big difference it can make to have a queer employee work with queer students. Representation matters. I want to know what more we can do to ensure that D65 employees reflect or magnify the diversity of our community. I welcome, seek out, and want to include the voices of the lived experiences within the queer community.

3. LGBTQ+ identities and the concept of inclusion have been under attack in public discourse. How will you remain committed to supporting these students and families and not just in a statement or stand alone policy? What are three specific actions you will take as a board member to support LGBTQ+ identities and principles of inclusion?

LGBTQ+ identities and the concept of inclusion have been under attack in public discourse. How will you remain committed to supporting these students and families and not just in a statement or stand alone policy? 

I support LGBTQ+ students and families. I am running with an explicit commitment in my platform to pursuing measurable, equitable outcomes for queer students. I live this out to the best of my ability in my personal and professional life, and I will bring this to bear on everything that I do as a board member. Everything we do as a board needs to be done through an anti-oppression equity lens that takes into account sex, gender, and sexuality among many other minoritized categories. 

I have found that many parents have raised concerns about the “developmental appropriateness”  of educating D65 students about queer identities. Gender identity and sexual identity are all immutable human characteristics that deserve to be respected and supported within any IL public school or place of public accommodation. D65’s policy on inclusion and equity for D65 students: 1) follows IL antidiscrimination laws; 2) supports queer students in meaningful ways that decreases rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality, and improves academic achievement and sense of belonging; and 3) benefits all children by fostering an inclusive mindset for life.

What are three specific actions you will take as a board member to support LGBTQ+ identities and principles of inclusion?

1. I will work to make sure we have measurable equity commitments that include attention to gender and sexuality that are included in the 2025-2030 strategic plan. I will also make sure we gather data to help us understand the progress we are making on those commitments.

2. I will speak out on the board, meaning I will unapologetically support LGBTQ+ students and families. I will hold myself and my fellow board members accountable to the district’s commitments to being an inclusive and equitable community. 

3. I will work to make sure that we include gender-neutral bathrooms  in our comprehensive building plans and continue to follow IL law. 

4. How will you respond to the problem that the schools do not have sufficient gender neutral bathrooms to serve the gender non-conforming and trans student population? Currently, teachers actively tell their gnc and trans students to use bathrooms which do not align with their gender, even though we know this directly exacerbates body dysphoria and leads to increased suicidal thoughts in the student body. Where will inclusive facilities be placed in an infrastructure priority list by you as an incoming board member? What is more important to address? What can wait?

How will you respond to the problem that the schools do not have sufficient gender neutral bathrooms to serve the gender non-conforming and trans student population? 

Equal access to restrooms is a civil right protected by Illinois state law. If this happens, it should be immediately reported to the school social worker or principal. 

This theme of insufficient gender neutral bathrooms has come up each and every time I have talked to guardians of nonbinary or trans children in D65. We must start planning now to prioritize this in our Master Facilities Plan. This is the long term document that guides building plans and expenditures, and ensuring that gender-neutral bathrooms are part of that plan will help institutionalize and cement a commitment to addressing this. We must do better! 

Currently, teachers actively tell their gnc and trans students to use bathrooms which do not align with their gender, even though we know this directly exacerbates body dysphoria and leads to increased suicidal thoughts in the student body. Where will inclusive facilities be placed in an infrastructure priority list by you as an incoming board member? 

This must be directly explored building by building and planned for in our Master Facilities Plan. We need to plan now so we identify costs and develop a clear timeline to address this in each building. This is a high priority to me! All children deserve to utilize and have safe access to a bathroom that affirms their identity. 

What is more important to address? What can wait?

We first need to ensure that we avoid a state takeover of the district. A state takeover will hurt the entire community and especially impact students with marginalized social identities. However, while we are forced to triage the structural deficits right now, we need to begin planning right now for a more inclusive and equitable future. The Master Facilities Plan will shape our district spending for decades, so we need to ensure that it reflects our equity commitments even as we address the fiscal crisis. In the meantime, we need to ensure that administration, teachers, and staff are provided with the tools necessary to be as inclusive, equitable, and sensitive as possible to the immediate needs of LGBTQ+ students. 

5. The use of pronouns has been co-opted and politicized of late. What can you, and D65, do to educate our community in the importance of pronoun respect and introductions? What can you do to educate the community on the reality that pronouns are a part of speech and despite being politicized and weaponized, are not political?

The use of pronouns has been co-opted and politicized of late. What can you, and D65, do to educate our community in the importance of pronoun respect and introductions? 

I use he/him pronouns. I can assume that people will know and use my pronouns. Everyone should have that same respect given to them, no matter the pronouns. It is just decency. I can ensure that the board holds itself and the administration of the district to the highest level of expectations regarding respect and support of persons’ identities. We need to model this and hold ourselves accountable. We can do this by encouraging staff to list their pronouns on their email signatures. We can also as a community normalize and teach the skill of naming one’s pronouns in classroom introductions. When students misgender someone, they can be given a gentle reminder and move on. Everyone is growing in their capacity to utilize proper and respectful pronouns. 

What can you do to educate the community on the reality that pronouns are a part of speech and despite being politicized and weaponized, are not political?

It is so sad that respecting someone’s identity has become a red versus blue issue. This should not be politicized. We have politicians who are literally willing to put LGBTQ+ youth’s lives at risk to win elections and who have run campaigns of hate. 

This is absolutely a civil rights issue for D65 students. 

This is political in the broader sense that it is an issue of power. I am interested in supporting queer, LGBTQ+ power. Claiming one’s identity is an act of agency and power! I want to celebrate that power and to work toward creating a district-wide culture in which individuals are free to claim their own identities and sense of self in community. Let’s work together to create a D65 community in which LGBTQ+ proudly claim their power and agency! 

6. D65 students encounter many adults throughout their day in addition to their teachers. How can you as a board member ensure queer students feel safe and supported in their identity throughout these interactions? How will you ensure that school staff abides by LGBTQ+ inclusive policies?

D65 students encounter many adults throughout their day in addition to their teachers. How can you as a board member ensure queer students feel safe and supported in their identity throughout these interactions? How will you ensure that school staff abides by LGBTQ+ inclusive policies?

We will only know that queer students feel safe when they tell us they feel safe. One way I will work to help them feel safe is to make policies and district-wide messaging  consistent across the district. This starts with the board and the superintendent. I will support the superintendent in this work. I have heard several times that D65 can improve upon their work in making PowerSchool inclusive to queer kids at D65. Namely, affirmed names should always be updated and pronouns should always be listed correctly. Including symbols of LGBTQ+ pride among our buildings can also foster an ever persistent awareness of an inclusive mindset. 

7. Will you commit to creating a board policy to demand inclusivity training for staffers and volunteers beyond teachers? What accountability measures will you use if your administration doesn't meet your inclusivity training goals?

Will you commit to creating a board policy to demand inclusivity training for staffers and volunteers beyond teachers? 

Yes. I will wholeheartedly support a board policy to demand inclusivity training for staffers and volunteers beyond teachers. I will strongly encourage us to include all members of the district including school board members and the superintendent to school administrators, teachers, and support staff. I would also be open to possibilities for how this could be offered to guardians and families of students in the community. 

What accountability measures will you use if your administration doesn't meet your inclusivity training goals?

We need to include this in the 2025-2030 strategic plan that will be complete with transparent, measurable benchmarks. As a district, when we miss a goal of any kind, we need to critically reflect on why the goal was missed and then take proactive steps to find a solution. Not all missed goals are equal. The board needs to be able to identify whether growth is possible and to take steps to adjust policies in order to achieve those outcomes. 

When this is included in the strategic plan, the assessment of the superintendent and entire district’s performance is based on whether or not they achieve the benchmarks. Repeated failure to meet the goals and benchmarks of a strategic plan could lead to the board reevaluating personnel, and repeated failures to meet the goals and benchmarks of the strategic plan should lead to the public reevaluating the board. 

8. Do you agree with the district decision to eliminate focused equity weeks? In the past, the district devoted a week to LGBTQ+ visibility. A wonderful curriculum still exists. Would you encourage the administration to bring back that week of instruction and celebration? Do you feel the current plan of integrating lessons into the whole year has been done with fidelity across grade levels and schools? Do you feel that the current curriculum is inclusive and represents people in this community? 

Do you agree with the district decision to eliminate focused equity weeks? In the past, the district devoted a week to LGBTQ+ visibility. A wonderful curriculum still exists. Would you encourage the administration to bring back that week of instruction and celebration? 

I was not engaged in this decision-making process, but I have heard a variety of perspectives on it. My sense is that this requires a broader equity lens with holistic attention to how the district celebrates marginalized persons and communities. For instance, Black History month (February) and Hispanic Heritage month (mid-September – mid-October) fall at ideal times to celebrate the Black and Hispanic communities in D65. Pride Month (June) is not at an ideal time for celebration by the district, and Trans Day of Remembrance (November 20) also usually falls very close to the Fall Break. I would wholeheartedly embrace conversation about how to celebrate our LGBTQ+ community in an intentional and equitable way. across the board I would like to strengthen our programming of seasons and holidays celebrating marginalized communities to ensure that this is a consistent theme across the district. For instance, Oakton Elementary School hosts a Black History Month read-a-thon organized by the NAACP branch of which I am a part. I would love to hear how that could be broadened across all schools in the district to ensure that all children get a chance to learn about and celebrate marginalized folk in our communities. Let’s ensure that we celebrate pride and LGBTQ+ contributions to our community!

Do you feel the current plan of integrating lessons into the whole year has been done with fidelity across grade levels and schools? 

I do not have sufficient data to evaluate this. However, a challenge is that whenever we leave celebrating marginalized communities up to individual classrooms there will be a broad range of levels of engagement. In general, I believe our equity commitments require that we ensure consistent messaging across the district, and I would look to our superintendent for leadership in developing and implementing this. We must hold ourselves and all D65 employees accountable to integrating LGBTQ+ lessons into curriculum, while creating support for teachers to do this. D65 can and should be doing more education and creating more awareness, given the cultural backlash we are currently in. 

Do you feel that the current curriculum is inclusive and represents people in this community? 

This is challenging to assess, because the curriculum is so broad. The Wit and Wisdom portion of the curriculum has received legal challenges from conservative groups (in other districts) for its positive inclusion of LGBTQ+ topics. This raises for me the importance of ensuring diverse representation of voices and community input when the Curriculum and Policies Committee of the school board considers current and new curriculum. We need every child in D65 to encounter honest and equitable portrayals of LGBTQ+ persons and communities in our curriculum. We can do more by including representations of queer parents, including non-binary pronouns or representations in course materials. We need more visibility within all D65 schools so I would be open to the creation of murals, artwork, or permanent fixtures that celebrate queer pioneers and activists. 

9. Given the current financial situation, how will you make sure that training on this topic is still a priority for the district? How would you instruct the superintendent to ensure all schools are equally supporting LGBTQ+ kids, staff and families? What sort of trainings would you recommend? 

Given the current financial situation, how will you make sure that training on this topic is still a priority for the district? 

This has to be a top priority for our district, and I will do everything I can to ensure it is. I grew up in a family that had to “make do” when times were tough.  If during the current fiscal crisis, the cost of hiring an outside consultant to conduct these trainings is impossible, then at the bare minimum, we need to insure that we have the highest level of internal capacity to conduct trainings utilizing internal resources. We must continue to address implicit and explicit anti-LGBTQ+ bias at all levels. 

How would you instruct the superintendent to ensure all schools are equally supporting LGBTQ+ kids, staff and families? 

We need to have consistent policies and programming across every school in the district. If, as I hope, this is included in the 2025-2030 strategic plan, I would want the superintendent to report on specific strategic plan benchmarks on a quarterly basis. This way the board can support and hold accountable the superintendent as well as ourselves to ensuring consistent support of LGBTQ+ students, employees, and families. 

What sort of trainings would you recommend? 

General anti-bias training should be required for all D65 personnel including board members. We also need more specialized training opportunities for specific roles. I hope that as the fiscal crisis is addressed that we can continue to provide high level professional educational development to administrators and teachers that can include LGBTQ+ training. 

10. This comment/question was submitted in the community wide call for questions for this forum-

“In what ways is this topic important in the education of my children? I believe parents at home should take care of that topic not in schools.”

When addressed by a community member who wants to keep LGBTQ+ topics out of the classroom, what would the first three sentences of your reply email be?

Dear parent, 

Thank you for writing to me about the importance of LGBTQ+ education in our schools. Part of my role as as D65 board member is to ensure that we have a healthy, equitable school environment that celebrates queer presence and belonging in our district.  We need our public schools to collaborate with parents in education of our students on queer experiences and issues, because we are all better together as we discover and claim our full identities and sense of self in community. Part of the beauty of attending a public school is that your child gets to engage both socially and intellectually with students that are different from them.  I welcome these differences and believe that these kids should be met with respect, kindness, and dignity.  Including all kids, not just some of our kids, creates a kinder, more just world.