Tahoe student athletes caught up in a dispute over transgender policies

"A Lake Tahoe school district is caught between California and Nevada's different policies on transgender student athletes, a dispute that's poised to reorder where the district's students compete. High schools in California's Tahoe-Truckee Unified School District, near the border with Nevada, have for decades competed in the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association, or NIAA. That has allowed sports teams to avoid making frequent and potentially hazardous trips in poor winter weather to competitions farther to the west, district officials say."

"Now, California's Department of Education is requiring the district to join the California Interscholastic Federation, or CIF, by the start of next school year. District Superintendent Kerstin Kramer said at a school board meeting this week the demand puts the district in a difficult position. No matter which authority we're complying with, we are leaving students behind, she said. So we have been stuck."

"There are currently no known transgender student athletes competing in high school sports in Tahoe-Truckee Unified, district officials told the education department in a letter. But a former student filed a complaint with the state in June after the board decided to stick with Nevada athletics, Kramer said. A national debate The dispute comes amid a nationwide battle over the rights of transgender youth in which states have restricted transgender girls from participating on girls sports teams,"

Tahoe-Truckee Unified schools have long competed in Nevada's NIAA to limit hazardous winter travel. Nevada's association voted to require students in sex-segregated sports to play on teams aligned with their sex assigned at birth. California law allows students to participate on teams consistent with their gender identity. The California Department of Education ordered the district to join the California Interscholastic Federation by the start of next school year. Superintendent Kerstin Kramer said complying with either authority would leave students behind. District officials reported no known transgender high school athletes, and a former student filed a complaint after the board's decision.

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