CASPER — A Wyoming state legislator and at least one parent say it’s inappropriate to allow a male custodian at a local elementary school to cross-dress on the job and be called by she/her pronouns.
House District 38 Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper, lobbied the Natrona County School District board last week to ask if the district is “willfully helping” school district employees to neglect state laws that went into effect July 1 around compelled speech, defining what men and women are, and the restrooms they are using in public schools.
“You have an elementary school where you have a custodian that is dressing as a woman,” Lien said. “There is not a law against that, but my question is what restroom is this individual using? Is it what he is dressing as or is it what he is as a male?”
Lien told the board members that she “knew” they couldn’t discuss personnel matters, but wanted to let them know that if they are going to “willfully neglect” the laws passed by the Wyoming Legislature regarding restrooms and compelled speech “there are consequences for that.”
“I’m not afraid to come before you and say, ‘Hey, what is going on?’” she said.
A Natrona County School District spokesperson responded to Lien’s concerns that the custodian isn’t breaking any school or district rules.
What Is Going On?
Lien told Cowboy State Daily that she was at the meeting after hearing from parents at Crest Hill Elementary School who reported that a custodian, who had been at the school in past years, showed up dressed as a woman when the new school year began.
She declined to reveal how many parents she had heard from.
Lien said her purpose was to ask the school board what is happening with the staff member and if they are willfully neglecting state law.
Cowboy State Daily reached out to all the Natrona County School District board members and received one response from Trustee Mary Schmidt.
“I am sorry, but this issue is dealing with an employee of the school district and cannot be discussed publicly,” she wrote in an email.
District ‘Follows The Law’
Calls to the Crest Hill Elementary principal and Natrona County School District Superintendent Angela Hensley’s office also were not returned.
School District spokesperson Tanya Southerland said in response to Rep. Lien’s questions that the school district “follows the law.”
A parent at Crest Hill Elementary, Chelsea Horner posted about the cross-dressing custodian to a local Facebook group that her 10-year-old son came home from school “very uncomfortable when a custodian he has formerly known as a male over the past few years showed up to school in a pink blouse with fake boobs."
The man "disguised his voice as a woman and offered to help his friends at lunch,” she added. “When they called him by his actual name, he corrected them and told him his new name and that his pronouns are she/her.”
Horner wrote she “didn’t care” how he wanted to live his life, but there is “never an instance when someone who is living a mental delusion should impose his delusion on a developing mind, let alone my child.”
The custodian is now disturbing the learning at the school and he has no place working with minors, Horner said.
“Whether you choose to wear a dress or a tail, I don’t care,” Horner said. “But you have no place working with minors.”
Horner told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that she has spoken with district Safe Schools Director Christopher Dresang, who gave her some insight on protecting her own child. But she feels a responsibility for other children in the elementary as well.
“I take advocacy very seriously when it comes to minors,” she said. “I don’t know how many other parents are aware and are willing to stand up, because I did take quite a bit of heat from the community for speaking out.
"My heart is just to advocate just the safety and well-being of the students.”
Principal ‘Responsive’
Horner said she reached out to school’s principal, who has been “responsive.” She said the principal told her the district’s No. 1 concern is the safety of students.
After questioning the principal about which bathrooms at the school the custodian uses, Horner said she was told there is a staff-only bathroom and that another custodian cleans the restrooms used by students.
Horner said her child tells her the male custodian continues to dress in female attire and boots.
Horner said she still believes the school district is not looking at the “mental safety of these kids.”
“Kids of developing ages should not have to question their identity,” she said. "They shouldn’t have to question whether they are a boy and girl.
"They certainly shouldn’t have to question whether God made them wrong. That’s where my root concern truly lies.”
Horner wonders if the custodian can be reassigned to a different building or clean at night. She also challenges the custodian wanting to be called by female pronouns.
“It is just inappropriate,” she said. “And technically, for him to tell them he has different pronouns is now actually illegal based on some new laws that passed.”
Lien agreed that if the custodian told students to refer to him with female pronouns that it may be illegal.
“I know there is some confusion happening for the students when he is saying that he is forced to be called a ‘she’ versus his proper name,” Lien said.
The state Legislature passed Senate File 77 in its last session, titled “Compelled Speech is Not Free Speech.” The law prohibits the state and all its political subdivisions from “compelling or requiring and employee” to refer to another employee with that employee’s preferred pronouns.
The Law On Bathrooms
The Legislature also passed SF62, which requires public school children to use restrooms and sex-designated changing facilities such as locker rooms that align with their sex at birth.
The law states that in schools, “every multiple occupancy restroom” is to be designated for “exclusive use” or either the male or female sex.
Lien also sponsored the “What is a Woman Act” that became law in March that specifies that any facility where there are distinctions between the sexes, including schools with locker rooms and restrooms, males and females are defined by their sex at birth.
Horner, in her Facebook post, challenged the community about the school district.
“If they tried to slip this by us parents at this school, how many other schools have they allowed it at?” she asked. “What does the future hold for NCSD?”
Horner’s post drew 430 responses with many supporting her stand and others challenging her for calling out the custodian and raising the issue.
One of those challenging her was school board Vice Chair Dana Howie, who posted her opposition to Horner’s stance.
“I can’t believe all the people I know that agreed with her,” Howie said. “The superintendent and the district did step in to make a plan to help protect this custodian. God help Chelsea (or me) the next time I see her.”
Horner said since the post, she has received several more calls of support from Crest Hill parents.
“I have had more and more parents reaching out to me and asking what the resolution has been standing in support, standing in support, standing in solidarity,” Horner said. “This is not OK, this is unacceptable. This should be happening in California and not in Casper, Wyoming.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
