The Locust Valley Central School District Board of Education meeting Monday night drew a large crowd, and numerous attendees pressed the board to reject Gov. Kathy Hochul’s requirements regarding transgender students under Title IX. The emotionally charged meeting also marked the board’s first since a perceived shooting threat forced its Sept. 10 session to be abruptly canceled.
Board President George Vasiliou opened the meeting by addressing the events of last week, when two voicemails prompted concerns about a possible threat to the district. The messages, which referenced the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, came hours after a school shooting in Colorado and on the eve of the Sept. 11 anniversary.
Vasiliou explained that he had informed his colleagues about the threat, and that additional information about the voicemails surfaced as the meeting was about to begin, leading the board to cancel it and evacuate the building.
“As a father myself of two children in this district, and all of us with children in the district — we had an athletic event going on up in the gymnasium, and we had a building with families and parents and students,” Vasiliou recounted. “That will always be this board’s absolute number one priority, the safety and well-being of our students and our families. We stand by that decision.”
He added that law enforcement had investigated, and deemed it safe to reopen schools the next day, and that security was increased. He rejected claims circulating online that the board had canceled the meeting to avoid public discussion of Title IX.
“It’s a sad day in democracy if we cannot have civil, respectful discourse,” Vasiliou said. “It does not matter what side of the discussion point you sit on. If we are incapable of having a discussion here as adults and hearing each other out, and we devolve to voicemails like were left on our voice fellowship, that is a terrible example for our students.”
Once public comment began, several residents turned their attention to the district’s policies for transgender students, saying they opposed following the state’s interpretation of Title IX and urging the board to adopt the federal definition backed by the Trump administration.
Locust Valley does not track the number of transgender students in the district, although there is at least one. Last year the district built a new girls’ locker room at the high school, which has a separate, gender-neutral space for non-binary and gender-nonconforming student athletes.
Bayville resident Lisa McLaughlin was among the first to speak, and criticized Vasiliou and Superintendent Kristen Turnow for their handling of the perceived threat on Sept. 10 and accusing them, without evidence, of using it to avoid public discussion of transgender policy.
“Locust Valley has made all of the major newspapers, but for all the wrong reasons,” McLoughlin said. “You exploited the pain and fear of the LVCSD community so you wouldn’t have to face comments from the public about the district’s policy on trans students.”
She argued that the district should have discussed the issue publicly, and focused on overnight arrangements for an upcoming eighth-grade trip as a cause for concern. McLoughlin also called for Vasiliou’s and Turnow’s resignations. She had previously called for the resignations of unspecified board members at the board’s August meeting, when she claimed that the district’s capital project to build a new artificial-turf field at Bayville Intermediate was illegal.
Several other speakers said the district should join the Massapequa school district’s lawsuit opposing Hochul’s order requiring schools to allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. Some parents cited safety and privacy concerns, but provided no data to support their arguments.
“Having boys in girls locker rooms and bathrooms, in my opinion, I’m sorry, is disgusting,” Barbara Vivona, of Bayville, said, mentioning to a 2021 case in Virginia in which a female student was assaulted by a transgender classmate. “One incident like this is too much. Where I come from, this would be beyond the pale. You would have 100, 200 fathers up here raising almighty hell.”
Board trustee Lauren Themis, who chairs the district’s Policy Committee, reviewed the history of the district’s policy on gender identity. It was adopted in 2019, she said, based on guidance from the New York State School Boards Association, and was reviewed in 2023, with the aim of aligning it with federal Title IX guidelines.
Themis explained that the district had hired an attorney to draft policy changes, but the effort stalled late last year, and was halted in April, after administrators advised the board to follow the state’s guidelines.
“It was the board’s position at that time, unanimously, that we were looking to move to the federal version of Title IX,” Themis said. “We have been told that the state will come after us and take the (grant) money, and they will kick us off the board, and the federal government has also made it very clear that they will remove our federal funding.”
The Policy Committee, she said, will consider whether to abolish, amend or replace the district’s current policy. For now, Themis confirmed, the district allows transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms aligned with their gender identity.
Trustee Matthew Barnes said he empathized with parents’ concerns, but cautioned that any policy change could provoke severe financial penalties from the state.
“Something that really concerns me is how punitive and draconian the state can be if they catch wind of us trying to do something that upsets them,” Barnes said. “At the same time, I have to be fiscally responsible to this entire community, and just tell you the truth about the hurdles that we face.”
Carrie Lamb, the mother of a transgender student in the district, called on her fellow residents to show empathy for her child and for other transgender children.
“I think one of the most important things is that the parents and people here should know these students,” Lamb said. “They should know my student. I’m just showing you who I am. You’re speaking to me. When you say these things, you’re speaking to my child, and as far as students, he’s one of the best that you have.”
No votes were taken Monday on the Title IX policy.
