USCA11 Case: 18-13592 Document: 304-1 Date Filed: 12/30/2022 Page: 16 of 150
welfare, we should pay attention. Just so here. In this case, the School Board has gone to great lengths—as the district court itself acknowledged—to accommodate LGBTQ students:
Beginning in 2012, the (now retired) Director of Student Services worked with LGBTQ students, attended and sent staff to LGBTQ conferences, and researched school policies in other school districts in Florida and elsewhere to educate herself and the School District about emerging LGBTQ issues. She formed a task force which consulted with district administrators, principals, attorneys, guidance counselors, mental health professionals, parents, students, members of the public, and LGBTQ groups in St. Johns County and elsewhere. The result was a set of Best Practices Guidelines adopted by the School Superintendent’s Executive Cabinet and introduced to school administrators in September 2015. …
Under the Best Practices Guidelines, upon request by a student or parent, students should be addressed with the name and gender pronouns corresponding with the student’s consistently asserted gender identity; school records will be updated upon receipt of a court order to reflect a transgender student’s name and gender; unofficial school records will use a transgender student’s chosen name even without a court order; transgender students are allowed to dress in accordance with their gender identity; students are permitted to publicly express their gender identity; and the school will not unnecessarily disclose a
