The teenage years are a confusing, awkward mess for most of us as we figure out who we are and who we want to be, with the future of college and careers rapidly approaching and relationships maybe budding or…not. I know for me there was some experimentation with hair, which it turns out I’m glad I did while I still had it.
Still, I feel fortunate that things weren’t quite so complicated for me as they have been for others. And unfortunately, as this story out of Alaska makes clear, high school is still a confusing time, for many, many reasons.
It’s not often that Alaska finds itself in the national conversation, but here it is after a troubling incident at a high school in the town of North Pole.
According to The Washington Post , it all started when a group of boys decided they were going to protest a student transitioning from female to male who used the boy’s bathroom, and had posted a selfie from the boy’s bathroom.
The boys’ so-called “protest” involved them going into the girl’s bathroom to take their own selfie for Snapchat.
However, a girl not involved in any way with this drama happened to be in the girl’s bathroom at the time.
The boys apparently blocked her from leaving the bathroom, so she responded with a knee to the groin.
At first it was reported that the girl had been suspended for using “excessive force.”
However, the girl’s sister tweeted a correction to that, saying she had actually been expelled.
In an interview with the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner , State Rep. Tammie Wilson, who has talked with the girl’s family, provided her full support to the girl.
“I said, ‘Good for her.’ I would have taught my daughter to do the same.”
Wilson had some pretty strong words for the school administrators.
“Was she not supposed to protect herself?” she said. “She was where she belonged. They were not.”
“I don’t care why the boys were in the bathroom. I just wanted to make sure I had this opportunity to tell those young ladies at North Pole High School…if you ever feel threatened for your safety, whatever force you think you have to give, I will stand behind you.”
The school district made sure to remind everybody of its policy about the use of force, however.
“Students or staff who use force against another person on school grounds could be subject to disciplinary action, depending on the facts and circumstances of the incident,” the district said in a statement.
Instead, the district encourages students and staff concerned about their safety to contact a building administrator, a safety assistant, or call 911.
It’s unclear how severely the boy was injured, but health aides at the school did suggest he see a doctor.
The discipline he and the other boys faced was also unclear, but a district spokeswoman said that seven boys had indeed been disciplined over the incident, but no other details were released.
The girl and her family still have the option to appeal the administrators’ decision, which they have said they intend to do.
Meanwhile, the school district is also reminding everybody about its official policies regarding bathrooms. “School administrators are obligated to provide access to students to restroom facilities that correspond to the gender identity that the students ‘consistently assert’ at school,” said Heather Rauenhorst, the district’s executive director of communications, development, and engagement.
“Students are not permitted to determine which restroom facility is appropriate for other students.”
The girl’s expulsion did not find much support online.
Most sided with Rep. Wilson, saying that she was perfectly within her rights to defend herself when feeling threatened, and called out the hypocrisy of punishing her for it.
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