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The Gloversville Enlarged School District School Board votes 8-0 to adopt the school’s new Student Code of Conduct.

GLOVERSVILLE – After a public hearing in which only three people spoke, the Gloversville Enlarged School District voted 8-0 to approve the school’s updated Student Code of Conduct.

GESD Superintendent David Halloran said that, although he noticed that there appeared to be a lot of social media comments and misinformation about the new student code leading up to Tuesday’s meeting, the general public besides the three speakers at the hearing provided surprisingly very little feedback, and there were no phone calls from district residents to his office regarding the new student code.

“For a 56-page document, I was kind of surprised that the only questions that came up were in regards to the language regarding protected classes and people’s gender identity issues,” he said of Tuesday night’s public hearing. “Obviously, there’s a lot of misinformation out there.”

Halloran said some people appear to have fallen prey to an internet hoax that has led them to believe that some students have begun indentifying themselves as somehow transmogrifying into household pets and requiring school districts to treat them as such. The “trans-furry” hoax has been promoted by some popular rightwing social media accounts and appears to have fooled some local residents.

“You read about cat litter boxes and what not, there is not a school in our country that I’m aware of — and certainly not in the state of New York, I’m sure — that has dealt with any issue like that,” he said. “People take a little bit of information and blow it way out of proportion.”

GESD’s new Student Code of Conduct does contain a new gender-neutral dress code, which means all of the rules governing different clothing items apply to all students who might wear them irrespective of gender. The code also updates the district’s policies regarding prohibitions against tobacco products and newer nicotine-dispensing items, such as vape pens.

The code also includes these new gender-related definitions:

• Gender: Actual or perceived sex and shall include a person’s gender identity or expression.

• Gender Expression: The manner in which a person represents or expresses gender to others, often through behavior, clothing, hairstyles, activities, voice or mannerisms,

• Gender Identity: A person’s gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person’s physiology or assigned sex at birth.

• Gender Non-Conforming (GNC): Used to describe people whose gender expression differs from stereotypic expectation. GNC terms include but are not limited to: “gender variant” or “gender atypical” or “gender fluid.” GNC individuals may identify as male, female, some combination of both, or neither

• Transgender: An adjective describing persons whose gender identity, expression or behavior does not correspond to their assigned sex at birth.

Halloran said it is the responsibility of the administration and school board of GESD to support the laws of New York state, including the Dignity for All Students Act. The new code addresses that issue by requiring each of the school’s buildings to have a DASA coordinator, which will typically be a school administrator who was already performing the duties of that role.

“If people aren’t happy about the laws schools are required to comply with, they need to take it up with their [state] legislators,” Halloran said. “I’m really proud of the work that we’ve done to try to improve the culture and students’ acceptance of other students. I think we’ve made a lot of gains in that regard, but there’s work to be done, unfortunately.”

Tuesday night’s board meeting was held on the evening of the first day of the new school year, which administrators at the meeting said went well, with many students appearing to enjoy a relative return to normalcy without the social distancing guidelines and other restrictions present over the past two years of the coronavirus pandemic. No members of the public attended or spoke during the regular school board meeting after the public hearing.

Gloversville High School senior Abigail Seltzer was sworn-in as the student representative on the GESD School Board Tuesday night. Seltzer said she was unaware of any controversy or discussion among students regarding the new code of conduct.

“I have not read it,” she said. “I didn’t even know there was a new one. They don’t really keep us super-informed here.”

Halloran said some political issues that adults may be sensitive to regarding changing attitudes in society and new state mandates that influenced the writing of the new student code of conduct are rarely as controversial among students as they are among some adults.

“My experience is that students are far more accepting of others with different lifestyles than adults are,” the superintendent said. “Why that is the case, I’m not sure, but that has been my experience. The safety of all students, and the rights of all students to feel welcomed and have a sense of belonging in our schools, that’s our highest priority as long as it’s not at anyone else’s expense. It’s about being tolerant of others. There are no hidden agendas in this school.

“Our job is to educate and inspire all students and to give them an opportunity to thrive in a safe environment, and I think we’re doing our best to live out that creed. We serve a difficult population. We have attendance issues, we have students who have a lot of challenges due to socio-economics in their lives, and our job is to try to help paint a better picture tomorrow.”

All of the school board members in attendance Tuesday night expressed support for the new conduct code, with only one member, Thomas Canty, absent from the meeting.

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53 Church Street Gloversville, NY 12078 518-725-8616 Contact Circulation 518-773-8272

Gloversville WeatherGloversville, US 7:42 am, September 10, 2022 57°F clear sky Wind: 0 mph Sunrise: 6:31 am Sunset: 7:17 pm