Maryland school district expects teachers to use preferred pronouns for 'almost 200 students' each

A Maryland school district about an hour northwest of D.C. approved policy changes related to gender identity last week, letting students use private facilities and participate in sports for the opposite sex and directing teachers to use their students' preferred pronouns, WYPR reported.

The amendments to Policy 443, approved 5-2 by Frederick County's Board of Education, "call for the ‘expectation’ that teachers use the preferred pronouns of students," the Baltimore NPR affiliate reported. 

They must "keep up to date on a list of the preferred pronouns for all of the students in their school," which means the average teacher at Frederick and Tuscarora High Schools will have to memorize pronouns for "almost 200 students per day" across five classes with 30-40 students each.

Teachers can get exemptions for sincerely held religious beliefs but students cannot, under the amendments. "For both teachers and students, persistent use of non-preffered [sic] pronouns can be deemed as bullying if targeted," WYPR reported.

While the board also approved an amendment to "notify parents of their right to access school records on their children’s officially recorded gender identity at any time," the wording gives students veto power over that disclosure to their own parents, which board member Jaime Brennan cited in opposition to the amendment.

Board member Colt Black feared the policy changes could cost the school its federal funding of about $40 million, or 4% of its overall budget, for violating the Trump administration's executive order elevating sex over gender identity.