Dear Safe Schools Coalition members and friends,

Sex change a school issue

Some seek ouster of transgendered Wilmette educator
By Lisa Black, Tribune staff reporter
Chicago Tribune, September 13, 2001
435 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60611
(Fax:312-222-2598 ) (E-Mail:ctc-tribletter@tribune.com )
( http://www.chicagotribune.com )
http://chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0109130021sep13.story

Parents disturbed about the sex change of a Wilmette school principal met Wednesday night to organize a petition drive to ask the Avoca School District 37 board to reconsider its decision to retain the administrator.

About 35 people, most parents of pupils at Marie Murphy Middle School, gathered at the Northfield Community Center. The petitions are to be presented to the school board Sept. 20.

The parents said they are concerned about the effect Principal Deanna Reed is having on their children during the pupils' stage of puberty.

Reed, who ended the last school year as a man, Donald Reed, is a tenured employee who has been principal of the middle school for 12 years.

Parent John Regan organized the meeting and said he has been researching the topic since the district learned of Reed's gender change two weeks before the start of school.

Regan said he believes the Wilmette school is the first nationally to have a transgendered principal.
Board members could not be reached for comment.
The protesting parents said they have written a letter to be sent to all district residents.
The letter states, in part: "While acknowledging Dr. Reed's right to control her own body, we believe that the welfare of the district's children has not been adequately balanced against this employee's preference to remain as school principal, a public position within our community and an authority figure of importance in our children's lives. Parent Doug Schaffer said Reed is "doing something that is very much against many people's beliefs and feelings. Is that the sort of person you want as a leader for our children?"

The letter also questions the school board's decision to hire an administrator, paid $80,000 annually, to serve as a buffer between pupils and Reed.

Mimi Kravitz Omilinsky, a private clinical social worker in Northfield who works with adolescents, said children may be harmed more by the negative attitudes, however.

"This is really a sexual identity situation where someone really felt they were in the wrong body," said Omilinsky, who said the principal has come up in discussions she has had with pupils at the school.

"Kids can be helped to understand that this is a huge decision. For someone to undergo a gender reassignment, it's something they have to live. They have to go through counseling. It's not just a decision they can make and have it done.

"The danger is that there's a lot of hidden and not-so-hidden prejudice and phobia of what this is. That is something to be very aware of," Omilinsky said.

Parents at the meeting said their children were uncomfortable with Reed. One pupil wanted to know if the principal would use the girls restroom, a parent said.

"Our children are afraid," said Ellen Greenwald. "They're told if they laugh or make any comments, they will be disciplined. I said [to administrators] that if my child is disciplined, I will sue the school district."

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