Equity in the Upper Grand District School Board
Student Gender Affirming Support Process
As an educational community we have a responsibility to identify and describe racism and oppression and then work to dismantle it. The Upper Grand District School Board is committed to disrupting systemic racism and oppression in all of its forms. We will implement ongoing mandatory anti-racism and anti-oppression training for all staff, review our protocols and policies, including our hiring practices, and be fully transparent and accountable to all Upper Grand students, staff, families, and stakeholders in an ongoing manner.
As such, UGDSB is working to affirm the gender identities of students and staff and work towards creating safe environments for gender variant and transgender people.
A UGDSB Gender Affirming Support Process, which is informed by the Ontario Human Right Code, has been created for students as part of Policy 504 Equity and Inclusive Education, Appendix A Guildelines for Accommodating Gender Expansive and Transgender Students. This process and accompanying resources are a student-centered approach to creating inclusive and safe spaces for all students who identify as gender variant, gender diverse and transgender. There are no specific age restrictions for a student to complete this process.
This process will be initiated and reviewed/revised when:
- A student and/or their family have shared with any staff of the UGDSB that they would like a change to their name (due to gender), pronouns, and/or gender accommodations
- A student who has already completed a gender affirming support plan wishes to make changes
- In preparation for a significant transition taking place such as a change of schools or transition from grade 8 to grade 9. In this instance, this is the responsibility of the Administrator.
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