In Massachusetts, some school districts allow parents to register their children for school as a gender other than male and female.
The forms have three options: male, female, and nonbinary. “Nonbinary” is an umbrella term that describes someone who identifies as something other than male or female.
NewBostonPost reviewed the student registration forms in various school districts in the Commonwealth and found that several school districts provide these three gender options.
The Cambridge Public Schools form asks parents to check one of three boxes for their child’s gender: “Male”, “Female”, or “Non-binary.”
A neighboring city of Cambridge also provides parents with this nonbinary option for their children: Somerville, Massachusetts.
Adjacent to Boston, Somerville is located north of Cambridge. It has a population of about 80,000 people.
Somerville’s option on its student registration form further explains how the district classifies nonbinary. That option on the digital form says: “Non-binary (any gender identity which does not fit within the binary).”
Hingham is another school district that offers this nonbinary gender option on its student registration forms. It’s a town of about 24,000 people on the South Shore of Boston. Two cities separate Hingham from Boston: Weymouth and Quincy.
On Hingham’s form, the third gender option says: “Nonbinary (individual does not identify as just female or male).”
Additionally, “Nonbinary” as a gender option appears on student registration forms in two separate school districts in the western Massachusetts town of Hadley.
One of these districts is the Hadley public school district.
Hadley is a small town in the Pioneer Valley region of Massachusetts. It has a population of about 5,300 people. It’s located west of Amherst.
The form asks parents to check a box asking if their student identifies as male, female, or nonbinary; it offers no further explanation of what nonbinary means, unlike the Somerville and Hingham forms.
The Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School (also located in Hadley) also provides the nonbinary gender option on its student registration form.
Here is how the school’s web site describes its academic experience:
PVCICS is a tuition-free regional public charter school located in Hadley, Massachusetts. Entrance is by lottery. PVCICS prepares students for academic and cross-cultural success through rigorous study and instruction aligned with state and federal standards, augmented with Chinese language and culture. PVCICS focuses on graduating students with excellent scholarship, high proficiency in Mandarin Chinese and English, and sensitivity to multiple cultures.
The charter school’s form offers “Male”, “Female,” and “Nonbinary” as gender options on its student registration form; it offers no further explanation of the “Nonbinary” option.
The following superintendents could not be reached for comment on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday this week: Victoria Greer (Cambridge), Jeffrey Curley (Somerville), Margaret Adams (Hingham), Anne McKenzie (Hadley), and Kathleen Wang (Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter).
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