PRJUSD votes down motion to discuss transgender locker room policy

By Camille DeVaul · Thu Oct 30 2025

Trustee’s motion sparks debate over student safety, federal law, and district policy

PASO ROBLES — Parents, students, and community members came to the Tuesday, Oct. 28, Paso Robles Joint Unified School District Board meeting to express their concerns regarding transgender students using the girls' locker rooms at Paso Robles High School.

Parent of a transgender athlete, Trevor Mike Norcross, accused Trustee Kenney Enney of discriminating against LGBTQIA students within the district, "To the students in the LGBTQ+ community that hear this message, please know that people like Trustee Enney do not speak for the majority."

Paso Robles High School freshman Chloe Breese spoke to trustees of her concerns about allowing boys in girls' private spaces and sports teams and vice versa, and her disappointment in the district for not addressing her and other students' concerns.

"It feels as though our concerns as students are being brushed aside. We are simply being given the run around," Breese explained. "The majority of female students are uncomfortable knowing that we cannot enter our restrooms or locker rooms without the possibility of a boy being inside."

Towards the end of the meeting, during the agenda item request, Enney requested the district bring forward a resolution for discussion on banning boys from private spaces, supporting the current federal interpretation of Title 9 (a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal funding) on a future agenda.

"We as a board do not have shared values and morals anymore. I cannot sit back and say nothing when girls are afraid to go into their private spaces," Enney explained. "We have it within our power to do things, but we have chosen not to."

His request was met with some disagreement from other board members.

Trustee Nathan Williams stated his stance, "I would no more pass a resolution if the laws did change for the opposite, because for me, it's that standard right there that we should be setting. We are a non-political school board. We are supposed to be apolitical in our stance, and that's where I am coming from."

This is not the first time that Enney has requested the board to discuss the district's policy on transgender students in girls' sports, locker rooms, and bathrooms, etc. Each time, though, his request failed after not receiving enough votes from the dais to move forward.

Trustee Jim Cogan added, "We don't actually have to continue to vote on this ... nothing has changed in the law. At this point, it's performative and it's unnecessary for actually getting anything done for the school district. It's a waste of time at this point."

Enney stated that at least seven female students and parents at Paso Robles High School have reached out to him, saying they did not feel safe and had concerns.

Trustee Laurene McCoy asked the trustees, "Law aside, if our students are coming to us and saying they don't feel safe and they're at risk in the locker room, isn't our first priority to make sure that they are safe?"

Cogan responded, "I think there is a distinction there between whether or not someone is at risk or whether or not they feel safe ... our LGBTQIA students have stated over and over and over again that they don't feel safe."

To which McCoy rebuttled, "Right, and you stand up for them, so what's the difference? ... One class is wholly protected, and then a class that has been around since the beginning of time is not protected, and expressing how they want to be protected and feel safe, and it doesn't hold the same weight? That to me doesn't make any sense."

Enney's motion failed again, with trustees Joel Peterson, Nathan Williams, Sondra Williams, and Jim Cogan voting no.

The next Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 6 p.m.