How a North Carolina School District Extended Employment Protections to Transgender Educators

• In Event: 75.060 - Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: 75.060-4 - What Makes a School/Campus Climate Queer-Friendly?

Abstract

This case study seeks to identify the social and political contexts of a rural North Carolina school district’s addition of gender identity and gender expression to its employee nondiscrimination policy. This school district is the first, of 115 total school districts in NC, to extend workplace protections to transgender employees. The research team conducted eleven one-hour semi-structured interviews. Interview participants included members of the school board and district leaders. The research team triangulated the interview data with analyses of public documents. Preliminary findings, framed by Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith’s Advocacy Coalition Framework, suggest a superintendent committed to social justice can build the necessary coalitions overtime that lead to district policies that create a safe school environment for students and employees.

Author

• Clyde Harrelson, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill