COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Students at Columbus City Schools with preferred names in the district’s system have had their names reverted back to the one listed on their birth certificates, including transgender and nonbinary students, who were not notified that this was happening.
Students and teachers were caught off guard on March 19 when attendance was called and they realized preferred names were changed in the district’s system, which is called Infinite Campus.
“He found out about the rescinded name change policy at school,” said a parent with a transgender son. “His fourth-period teacher advised him to go to the office because his preferred name was not listed in Infinite Campus. My son started to go to the office and in a panic ran to the bathroom to call me at work.”
Izetta Thomas, the lead organizer with the Columbus Education Justice Coalition, said she has been talking to parents and students since the day of the change.
“To have that happen on such a grand scale and to not even see it coming, I don’t think that there are any words to describe the feelings that folks had when that happened,” she said.
Thomas added, “Those names that were in the system were actually there with parent consent and permission because there was a form that parents had to fill out for that change to even be in the system at all.”
She also said she feels uncomfortable sending her son back to class.
“My son has not physically been back to school since March 19,” the parent said. “For his safety, we unenrolled from his previous school. Now, his educational opportunities have been taken from him.”
Columbus Schools Superintendent Angela Chapman sent out a letter to students, parents and staff on Friday acknowledging that no warning was given. In the letter, Chapman said in part, “We did not provide prior notice this was occurring, nor did we ensure support was in place to prioritize the emotional well-being of everyone impacted.”
Chapman also apologized for how the district handled this situation.
The letter cited recent Ohio laws — including a school bathroom bill and the Parents’ Bill of Rights — as reasons for the change, but Thomas said that none of those laws require school districts to revert trans students’ names.
“A lot of the information that we’ve been getting from folks at the district is that it was anticipatory,” Thomas said. “An apology is not enough. An apology is not accountability, and that’s what we’re looking for, is accountability.”
The parent did say Chapman called them personally to apologize, but they said she offered little in the way of a solution.
Thomas said a number of people from the Columbus Education Justice Coalition planned to be at the next Columbus Board of Education meeting to show their support for impacted students and families.
