Newport County school districts respond to conservative policy group. Here's how

News that a representative from the Rhode Island chapter of the conservative political group Moms For Liberty would make an appearance at a Newport School Committee drew a small crowd to the cafeteria of Pell Elementary the evening of Aug. 13.

There, the group’s arguments against protections for transgender and gender non-conforming students and the broader organization’s advocacy for removing certain books from school libraries were met with overwhelming opposition from Newport residents at a ratio of 2-1.

There is not a chapter of Moms for Liberty in Newport Country, however, a member of the Washington County branch, Bob Chiaradio of Westerly, has been taking a “tour” of the state’s school committees, dropping into their public forums to argue against school districts implementing new Title IX protections against sex-based harassment.

The meeting was not bereft of supporters for Moms of Liberty. There was both audible disagreement and applause that followed the comments of Chiaradio and the four other speakers who voiced support for his message. However, the 10 members of the public who spoke against Moms for Liberty at the meeting received applause for their comments as well.

Former Mayor Jamie Bova said she was proud to see how many Newport residents attended the meeting.

“There’s a lot of groups like Moms for Liberty that use the guise of parental rights to stoke hatred and bigotry, and they use the false concern for women and girls as a smokescreen for hatred and bigotry and I think it’s important to say that plainly because that's what is behind a lot of these types of conversations and that's the goal from these organizations,” Bova said at the Newport meeting. “It’s important that we continuously and clearly state our love and desire for our LGBTQ brothers and sisters and siblings and I also think it's important to continually call out and push back against hatred whenever it comes, and I think that’s true regardless of where its coming from, whether or not they are from Newport or elsewhere.”

Why is Moms For Liberty opposing recent Title IX changes?

Arguably the most well-known amendment to the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and the Higher Education Act of 1965, Title IX prohibits schools and education programs that receive federal funding from discriminating against people on the basis of sex and has also been used to protect people from sexual harassment in those programs. The legislation had a big impact on the increase in women’s sports at academic institutions across the nation.

The U.S. Department of Education released a final rule on Title IX in April, which went into effect on Aug. 1, updating the protections afforded to students by prohibiting schools and education programs from excluding people from participating in programs or activities based on “sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.” This rule came as a result of two executive orders President Joe Biden issued in 2021, which ordered all government agencies, and the Department of Education specifically, to update policies and regulations related to discrimination and harassment to extend protections to transgender individuals and people who don’t conform to expected forms of gender expression or identity.

The Rhode Island Department of Education released guidance for school districts on recommended policies regarding transgender and gender non-conforming students in 2016, which was adopted by 21 of Rhode Island’s 33 school districts and more followed suit after the state’s American Civil Liberties Union chapter published a report on the topic.

Chiaradio and the broader Moms For Liberty organization oppose these protections, believing that allowing transgender students to use the same facilities as their peers has the potential to make some students feel uncomfortable. They also believe transgender students should be barred from participating in certain student athletics out of concern that some students may outperform their peers or be injured and support forcibly outing students who are socially transitioning among their peers or exploring aspects of gender expression to their parents. The guidance provided by RIDE on the latter topic suggests informing parents of elementary-age children if the signs of the desire to transition are present and creating difficulties for the student at school. However, it suggests working closely with middle school and high school students who may show interest in transitioning to better understand the degree to which involving the family would impact the student’s health, well-being and safety.

How has Newport County responded?

Chiaradio had already been before a majority of Newport County’s school committees before he made his case before Newport School Committee. He first visited Little Compton School Committee on May 8, where members questioned whether his comments were appropriate under the organization’s civility policy, but the group agreed to have the policy subcommittee take a look at the district's Title IX policies. The subcommittee has yet to release any recommendations regarding the policies since its meeting on June 12.

On June 25, Portsmouth School Committee heard from both Chiaradio and Jean Lehane, who co-chairs the Newport Country branch of the conservative policy organization Independent Women’s Network. Like in Little Compton, their comments have yet to impact district policy.

When he brought his arguments to Middletown School Committee on July 18, Moms For Liberty’s activities were more widely known and committee member Gregory Huet focused the conversation on Chiaradio’s implication of legal action, noting the injunction the organization was able to get in Kansas earlier that month barring schools with students whose parents are members of Moms For Liberty in Kansas, Alaska, Utah and Wyoming from enforcing the new Title IX protections. Just two days after the Middletown meeting, an effort by the organization to expand this injunction to all 50 states was rejected by a federal judge.

Chiaradio’s last stop in Newport County will be in Tiverton at the School Committee meeting on Aug. 27.

At each meeting he attended, including Newport’s, Chiaradio implied several lawsuits would be filed by the parents of local children should the committees not comply with the organization’s request to change its policy within 30 days. Newport County League of Women Voters President Christine Keyser Stenning concluded her comments in support of the current Title IX policy and against book bans by addressing that point in particular.

“If one of my students had stood up to talk to me and yelled at me, called people liars, threatened me with a lawsuit, I would have sent him to the Dean’s office,” Stenning said.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Newport County school districts respond to conservative policy group. Here's how