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New York City schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos reaffirmed the public school system’s support for LGBTQ+ students in a letter to families on Monday, stating the Education Department’s policies and guidelines remain in effect, despite a flurry of recent executive orders from President Donald Trump.
“We are committed to maintaining a safe and supportive environment for all students — one that is free from discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying,” Aviles-Ramos said in the letter. “As I recently shared with over 1,000 students and staff attending our seventh annual Gender and Sexuality Alliance Summit, at New York City Public Schools, we see you, we support you, and we value you.”
The statement — which did not directly refer to Trump or his executive orders — comes weeks after parents criticized the Education Department for failing to issue a systemwide response to efforts by the federal government to restrict how schools support gender nonconforming students and teach issues of race in the classroom.
In the letter, the schools chancellor directed families to the city’s guidelines on gender — which include policies instructing staff to address students by their preferred pronouns at school, offering schools some discretion to not inform parents when a student is socially transitioning in cases where a family doesn’t accept their gender identity, and allowing students to join sports teams and use bathrooms consistent with their gender identities.
A spokesperson for the Education Department confirmed no policies had changed in light of Trump’s executive orders.
Last week, the Education Department also republished a series of videos focused on LGBTQ+ history that had been developed with WNET, the local PBS affiliate, after the broadcasting network deleted the videos from its site. Those videos drew on material from part of the city’s “Hidden Voices” curriculum that focused on uplifting the stories of prominent LGBTQ+ people.
Still, some parents were concerned over the lack of specificity in the chancellor’s letter.
Gavin Healy, a Manhattan parent and member of District 2’s Community Education Council, or CEC, said he was disappointed that the letter did not specifically express support for transgender students at a time when their rights have been under attack by the Trump administration.
In recent weeks, Trump has sought to withhold federal funding from schools that allow trans girls to join sports teams consistent with their gender identities. He has also issued executive orders seeking to prevent schools from teaching “gender ideology,” a phrase Trump and his supporters have used to broadly refer to discussions of gender identity or the existence of transgender people.
In other executive orders, Trump has looked to restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender children and teenagers, and to define gender as a male-female binary that cannot be changed.
Efforts to erode protections for trans students have also occurred locally. Last year, District 2’s CEC passed a resolution calling on the city to reconsider its sports policy for transgender students. At the time, then-Chancellor David Banks condemned the proposal as “despicable.”
Healy felt that Aviles-Ramos should have explicitly mentioned transgender students and recent attacks on their rights to participate in sports at school, given the rhetoric of the Trump administration, as well as his own community education council.
“People are trying to question the existence and the rights of students to be their authentic selves through this red herring of an issue,” he said, ”and by not taking a stand, I think she just kind of lets them do that.”
Julian Shen-Berro is a reporter covering New York City. Contact him at jshen-berro@chalkbeat.org.
