Columbus parents, leaders express frustration over student name changes
After the meeting, district leaders spoke about apparent confusion in the decision. Students, teachers and parents were given no warning when names were suddenly changed on March 19, a move that mainly impacted transgender and gender variant students.
Many people attended the meeting Tuesday night and gave public comments to the board, sharing their disappointment with this decision.
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'It was embarrassment. I was angry,' said Stephen Hardwick, the father of two transgender district students. 'We get dozens and dozens of notices a week from CCS, but they couldn't tell us this in advance? This I get a letter on a Saturday when they already made the change Tuesday or Wednesday.'
Columbus Schools Superintendent Dr. Angela Chapman said there is an investigation into what exactly happened.
'There are more questions than answers and so at this point, we have to accept non closure and so once we learn more, we'll be able to provide more of an update,' Chapman said.
In a letter to students, staff and parents on Friday, Chapman cited Ohio laws like the bathroom bill and the Parents' Bill of Rights as reasons why preferred names were changed back to birth names in the district's system. After Tuesday's meeting, the superintendent said the policy over students' gender identities had to be changed because of the bathroom bill, but it's still unclear why names were changed as well.
Chapman said she, too, has questions.
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'We are still looking into a better understanding to figure out how the decisions were made, why they were made, when they were made, and so forth,' Chapman said. 'So, there are lots of questions that we have and we're continuing to work on those details.'
But for Hardwick's two children, he said all they want is to be able to go by their preferred names at school.
'That's what I want them to do, is to allow the preferred name in the same way that Governor Michael DeWine signs his orders Mike and Attorney General David Yost signs his pleadings Dave,' Hardwick said.
Parents have questions about the name changes and it seems district leaders have them as well. Chapman said once they have answers, they will update the CCS community.
The district has not yet cited any laws that require them to change students' names back to what is on their birth certificates, nor did they acknowledge whether or not this was a mistake.
Hardwick and other parents and teachers said they are hopeful CCS will bring the preferred name option back to students.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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