Hopkins 270 Blog

I have spoken at the last two meetings of the Hopkins School Board about the horrific assault on a transgender student at Hopkins High School that occurred near the end of the 2023-24 school year. As I noted in my last appearance, for years now parents, caregivers, allies and students have begged the District Administration and School Board to address their concerns about the safety of gender expansive and LGBTQ+ students within our schools — particularly when it comes to the need for safe, readily accessible, gender-neutral bathrooms in our school buildings, particularly the high school and middle schools.

Below is the full text of an open letter that was delivered to the Hopkins School Board and Superintendent on July 26, 2024. Not only has there been no written response, but the school board chair and superintendent chose to not put this issue on the open Board Meeting Agenda, thus limiting the ability for public comment and interaction.

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From the parents, caregivers, and allies of Hopkins gender expansive and LGBTQ+ students

June 27, 2024

Please click here if you would like to add your name to support this letter → Signature Page

Initial statement:

We represent many families and allies of gender expansive and LGBTQ+ students who attend Hopkins Schools. We are terrified, angry, and heartbroken about the violent physical assault on “C.S.” – a student who self-identifies as a transgender female – at Hopkins High School (HHS) on May 30th and Hopkins School District’s response, or lack thereof, to that incident (the “Assault”). We want to emphasize what we have gathered from media reports and public statements about the incident: 

• C.S., along with numerous other students, have repeatedly reported that HHS bathrooms specifically identified for gender inclusive use are limited, often locked, and generally inconvenient.

• On the day of the Assault, C.S. reportedly chose to use a gendered bathroom designed for “Boys” because of her repeated difficulty in accessing one of the limited gender inclusive bathrooms at HHS. C.S. has publicly stated that she chose to use the gendered bathroom designated for “Boys” rather than the gendered bathroom designated for “Girls” because she would rather be uncomfortable herself in a “Boys” bathroom than make other students uncomfortable in a “Girls” bathroom.

• Immediately prior to the Assault, C.S. reports to have been repeatedly called the slur “f*****t” by other students.

• As a result of the Assault, C.S. sustained a broken jaw, a concussion, and multiple teeth were knocked out.

• C.S. required emergency surgery and had three titanium plates placed in her jaw.

• Following the Assault, HHS administration did not call the police or EMS, and C.S. was not evaluated by a school nurse. Instead, the administration called the parents of C.S. and requested that they pick C.S. up from school.

• It was left to the parents of C.S. to contact the Minnetonka Police Department to report the Assault.

• It has been reported that the administration at HHS did not promptly cooperate with the police investigation and instead required the police to obtain and serve a search warrant to obtain physical evidence, including the video tape of the Assault.

The Hopkins School Board, the Superintendent, and school Administrators have an affirmative duty to provide a safe and secure learning environment (see, e.g., Minnesota Safe and Supportive Minnesota Schools Act (2014), Hopkins Public Schools Policy 413: Anti-Harassment, Safe Learning Environment), and you are failing to fulfill that obligation. Like many parents and caregivers, we have witnessed the establishment of broader culture at Hopkins High School which demonstrates an absence of proper monitoring and safety in the halls, bathrooms, and other non-classroom spaces, along with a lack of action to meaningfully prevent or reduce student-on-student violence. Moreover, we are alarmed at what our students report is a worsening climate of gender and sexual expansive acceptance and support at their schools, particularly when coupled with the increase in incidents of hate and violence within the school environment.

We request these specific action items from Hopkins Schools administration:

1. Immediate communication to ALL families of students enrolled in the Hopkins Public Schools District 270 addressing the following issues stemming from the May 30th Assault:
   1. Detailed explanation of how Hopkins policy guides student medical assessment after an injury.
      1. How do district administrators and staff determine if a student needs an ambulance or EMS assessment?
   2. Detailed explanation of current guidance and procedures for school staff following incidents of violence at school.
      1. Under what circumstances will police be notified and where is that in written policy?
      2. What triggers a request for immediate police response?
   3. Communication to parents and caregivers on how the district will provide mental health support for those processing the incident. The school year ending does not negate impact to students, and the return to school in the fall may bring anxiety.

2. Tangible signs of support and affirmation for LGBTQ+ students, staff, and families from Hopkins Public Schools including, but not limited to:
   1. Development of culturally competent (i.e.,Welcoming Schools, etc.) district-wide training to support gender expansive and LGBTQ+ students, to be provided at HHS and the Hopkins Middle Schools during the first semester of the 2024-2025 school year, and Elementary Schools by the end of the 2024-2025 school year.
      1. Timeline for who, when, where, and how – developed in coordination with OutFront MN or another LGBTQ+ culturally competent organization.
      2. Inclusion of educators in pre-k-12th grade settings.
      3. Specific instruction for educators on responding to bias-based bullying and repairing harm once it has occurred.
      4. Specific guidance for addressing dehumanizing language in the halls and other non-classroom spaces.
   2. Financial and staffing support for individual school’s GSAs.

3. Report on district-wide access to facilities for LGBTQ+ and gender expansive students.
   1. Publish a list and map of all currently designated gender inclusive bathrooms at each Hopkins Schools facility.  Ensure the locations are marked on posted or shared facility maps, just as any other bathroom.
   2. Actions to ensure that gender inclusive bathrooms at all Hopkins Schools facilities remain open, safe, and regularly maintained for use when facilities are open to public access.
   3. Current assessment, completed in coordination with the district LGBTQ+ liaison, summarizing the number of accessible gender-neutral restrooms and locker rooms at each school, including assessment of their “downtime” or unavailability to gender expansive, LGBTQ+ students, and taking into account the total number or students in the school.
   4. Plans and a timeline for expanding access to gender inclusive restrooms and locker rooms that are already underway or scheduled.
   5. Procedures that will provide equitable access for students who rely on gender inclusive facilities for safety to those facilities ahead of the 2024/2025 school year for the health and safety of students.

4. Implementation guidance, before the start of the 2024/2025 school year, on the handling of suspected hate-crimes and violent incidents in Hopkins Schools:
   1. School policy and staff training must include summoning EMS to assess any student injured when the severity of the injury is known to, or is reasonably expected to, exceed staff professional scope of practice (e.g., lay staff are not trained to assess severity of a head injury).
   2. School policy and staff training must include reporting violent, potentially criminal activity immediately to the Minnetonka Police Department, without regard to the intersectional identity of the alleged offender.
   3. The Hopkins School District must inform the community of potential hate-crimes within 24 hours of the incident being reported or discovered. Included in that communication must be resources for trauma-informed mental health support.

Our families have taken numerous actions to improve the situation since spring of 2020, particularly at HHS, but little has been done by the School Board and Administration to date. Our actions include:

• Emails and phone calls to Principal Ballard of HHS, expressing concerns about limited access to, and complete lack of communication about, gender inclusive bathrooms.

• Members of our group spoke to the school board at the December 2022 meeting.

• Members of our group, along with the Hopkins LGBTQ+ liaison, conducted site visits to all Hopkins schools, including pre-K, to evaluate access to gender inclusive bathrooms. A report and recommendations were subsequently shared with district leadership.

• We invited Principal Ballard and other members of her leadership team to attend a meeting of our group in November of 2022 to hear concerns about access to gender inclusive bathrooms.

• Our group spoke with staff from Hopkins Facilities Management to share concerns about gender inclusive bathrooms and actionable examples of gender inclusive bathroom design from St. Paul Public Schools, among others.

• Members of our group spoke with the City of Minnetonka and State of Minnesota building inspection staff to identify best practices and shared this information with the Hopkins School District, including Facilities Management staff.