For the third time in two months the case of a transgender student at Flagler County’s two high schools became the focus at the monthly School Board meeting of impassioned solidarity by students, faculty and parents, and of their calls for more explicit protections for the district’s LGBTQ students.
For the second time in two months, the only dissenting voice heard–through actual screams, at one point–was that of Charlene Cothran, the Zion Baptist Church pastor who last month and again Tuesday evening insulted the FPC student at the center of the issue by ridiculing his decision to identify as a boy. But for the second time in those two months, the school board, with one exception, was again entirely silent either with support or assurances that the sort of procedures and faculty training requested for regarding LGBTQ awareness would be forthcoming.
The exception was School Board member Colleen Conklin, who said a new policy was not necessary, but procedures within that policy are.
“Personally I think the policy that we have covers all students,” Conklin said. “We shouldn’t be creating a policy to protect African-American students, another policy to protect Hispanic students, another policy to protect ESE students. We should have a policy which we have right now, that protects all students. But we obviously need to look at the way we handle training and the way we handle some of our procedures. Then at the end of the day, aside from all of the loudness of the noise, it should be about student safety. Period. End of story I don’t care what your political philosophy, what your religious beliefs are.”
In an inescapable irony, School Board member Maria Barbosa awarded one of her five monthly “gold star” recognitions to faculty or district employees to Jens Oliva, the Matanzas High School chorus teacher who was at the center of the controversy that started the district’s investigation about the alleged inappropriate treatment of a transgender student in his class, and that led to the student leaving Matanzas for Flagler Palm Coast High School at the winter break. Barbosa awarded Oliva the star, and said nothing about the problem.
“The problem isn’t necessarily that a teacher, that my old choir teacher did that,” Elliot Bertrand, the former Matanzas High School student, told the school board in his first public statement on the issue Tuesday. “It’s that he was allowed to do that without repercussions. There wasn’t an investigation, nothing came of it. And I believe that’s because there’s really nothing in place to stop him from doing that, and there’s nothing that can cause repercussions, and I think that should be in place.” Oliva, who is not known for his modesty, is also the brother of former Superintendent Jacob Oliva, currently the chancellor of K-12 education in the state, perhaps hallowing Jens with a sheen of untouchability.
There were three allegations pertaining to Oliva’s insensitivity or mishandling of transgender issues at Matanzas (and a fourth allegation involving his wife, who is not an employee, though that allegation was somehow included in the investigation of Jens Oliva.)
First, Oliva, Bertrand contended, refused to refer to Bertrand by his chosen name, Elliot, once he had decided to identify as a male in the 2018-19 school year, according to the investigation (conducted not by the district but by a Matanzas assistant principal, in effect a supervisor of Oliva’s.) Oliva said he might have a difficult time with the name “Elliot” since it was his father’s and nephew’s name. He did not explain in the investigation why it would be difficult, though teachers routinely have students whose names echo a close family member’s, and did not respond to an email today asking about that difficulty. Oliva opted to call him “Bertie” or “Bertrand,” to Elliot’s discomfort, even though it had been agreed that he would call him “Eli” or “Lee.” This fall Oliva started calling him “Eli” or “Lee.”
Third, Bertrand, who wears hearing aids, had an anxiety attack when, having trouble with his device, Oliva singled him out to sing on the spot and pushed him to do so even after Bertrand declined. The student felt compelled to leave the class. The next day, Oliva asked Bertrand: “Are we going to have another incident today?” And to the whole class, said: “We’re not going to have another moment today, are we?”–statements Oliva acknowledged making. He told the investigator he didn’t mean to upset Bertrand. (See the investigation in full below.)
The investigation was not conducted until Bertrand’s father, Randall Bertrand, raised the issue before the school board in November. No action resulted from the investigation, which filled more than five typewritten pages on Matanzas stationery whose motto’s first lines are “Make Good Choices” and “Hold Yourself Accountable.”
Bertrand transferred.
“At Matanzas there really was only one teacher I felt I could go to to talk to them about anything,” he told the board Tuesday. “And now I feel that way with every single one of my teachers and more administrators. I feel like I could talk to my principal, my guidance counselor, people from the library because they have explicitly shown that they support me in multiple ways. Like my English teacher for example. She double checked what my pronouns were. I greatly appreciated that and told her my correct pronouns. All of my teachers have respected my pronouns, my name, and accepted me. That speaks volumes because not accepting does a great detriment to a child.” He continued: “I cannot change who I am, but I have accepted who I am, and I have multiple people in my life who accepted who I am. And there will be people who don’t accept who I am and I understand that. But that’s their problem and not mine, it’s my life, I’ll live it to the fullest that I can, and the start of that is in childhood with school.”
Public comments had begun almost an hour into the meeting, and several parents, students and faculty members, including Bertrand’s mother, had addressed the board by the time he spoke.
So had Cothran, the dissenting pastor who had sat in her row with a sign that said that she, a former lesbian, had stopped lying to herself–an implication that Bertrand was lying to himself.
“I am not a homophobe,”Cothran told the board. “I am not afraid or have any hatred in my heart towards homosexuals at all. Why? I was one.” (It is as inaccurate to conflate transgender people with homosexuals as it is to conflate gays with heterosexuals, or men with women.) “I want this beautiful young lady—and I refuse to use those pronouns—why, because I know she’s going to change her mind,” Cothran said.
At that point Conklin stopped her, not wanting a repeat of the December meeting when Cothran targeted Bertrand and his family directly. “I’d like a bit of control here, Madam chair,” Conklin asked Janet McDonald. “I’d like to ask that we are not addressing a person.” McDonald asked Cothran to address the board and not refer to any single individual.
So Cothran then referred to “a beautiful young lady who thinks she’s a boy, whoever she is, wherever she is.” More than a dozen people who were sitting with the Bertrands, over three rows, stood up and turned their back on Cothran, who continued to confuse the issue and reduce it to inapplicable comparisons: “I’m saying that I was you, same hair cut, same hoodie, same thoughts. I know and statistics prove that you will, she will, change her mind. She will change her mind. The stats show it, 98% of the time they’re going to change their mind. There is an entire community of young people who have had full transgender surgeries who regret their decision. They become patients for the rest of their lives. Is this what you want in our district, when we begin by changing our policies?”
Cothran, who did not cite a source, was not just inaccurate, It’s the exact opposite. According to a peer-reviewed study published in 2018, conducted in the Netherlands and based on clinical histories of 6,793 transgender people between 1972 and 2015, just 0.6 percent of transwomen and 0.3 percent of transmen who underwent surgery were identified as experiencing regret.
Cothran also objected to comparisons of gays to blacks (as she is). “You can’t tell a gay person by looking at them, they do not suffer the same condition as a black person,” she said. “And therefore having the equality–quote unquote equality act attaching themselves to the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 is a sham and a shame, and it will not go through, and they know it’s not going to go through.” She admonished the board: “Don’t you school board allow this.”
The statement about the Civil Rights Act rankled a district faculty member. It “almost made me come out of my seat and up to the podium,” the teacher told the board. “To say that if you can’t tell across the street that someone should be protected is absolutely and totally false. I am Jewish. You can’t tell across the street I’m Jewish but I’m protected under the Civil Rights Act. So to say that it’s a visual thing is literally absolutely ludicrous. My people have been slaves for thousands of years. My great-grandparents were in concentration camps and have numbers tattooed on their arms, so don’t dare proselytize to me about who and who should not be be covered under the Civil Rights Act.”
At the end of the meeting Cothran again spoke, claiming parents have “revolted” at school board meetings in New Jersey because they’re allowing “transgender ideologies to be taught as a curriculum in public schools.” Parents will wake up and will be at the voting booth.” She then started screaming—Howard Dean style— “and I’m here to awaken Flagler County parents, where are you, why am I the only one here, where are the churches at? Wake up and come down and speak to this fine board to let them know that these ideologies will not be added to our school board policies.”
“I don’t do well when people yell and scream at me in a meeting,” Conklin said not long afterward, in her own closing comments to the board. “It’s not appropriate. And at the end of the day, as school board members – I said this of the last school board meeting, I’ll say it again – we should not allow ourselves to get sucked into a political debate on this issue, the religious debate on this issue. The only thing we should be focused on is to the safety, that’s it.”
The students or recent graduates who had spoken that evening had addressed that very issue.
Sarah Young, a recent graduate told the board that more than half male transgender adolescents attempt suicide. “Which is pretty scary considering my best friend is actually a trans guy,” the graduate said. Young’s numbers were accurately based on a peer-reviewed study published in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in October 2018. The study’s findings, based on surveys of over 120,000 adolescents ages 11-19 collected over 36 months up to May 2015, were disturbing from every angle: Nearly 14 percent of adolescents reported a previous suicide attempt, but female to male adolescents had a 50.8 percent rate of attempted suicide. (Adolescents who identified as not exclusively male or female had a rate of 41.8 percent; male to female adolescents had a rate of 29.9 percent.)
“I’m a recent graduate of the FPC,” Young said, “and I always had really good experiences with the teachers there. But it really shocked and sickens me to hear that a student at the school that my little sister goes to now was treated in such a disrespectful way, because I feel like teachers should want to nurture and love students in the district should of course support that need to nurture and respect students. It was very upsetting to read that article, [that a] teacher is allowed to do that and the fact that teachers are allowed to just decide they don’t have to respect a student’s pronouns or name or gender or whatever reason. It could have been as simple as they didn’t feel like it or they have a political belief or religious belief. It’s very much part of a larger issue of students not being respected in schools when they are identified as LGBTQ. So I just really believe that there needs to be policies in place to protect those students whether they’re gay, lesbian, bi, trans, or any other form of identity in the community.”
Procedures do seem to be changing in the schools. When Jennifer Betrand, Elliot’s mother, spoke to the board about her son’s recent weeks, she described a much brighter atmosphere. Last week, Elliot was issued a new school ID despite the fact that he’d been issued one the previous week. But that one has his name on it: “Elliot Bertrand.”
“In doing so,” his mother said, “he was referred to as a trendsetter since he is the only student so far who has received this. This also gives us hope that in the future of the chosen name of the transgender student could be administered to their Schoology and Skyward.”
The family, she said, “have made many, many new friends,” but the ultimate goal is still to adopt better procedures, Jennifer Elliot said. “We know there’s a policy in place. We want the procedures and the guidelines to be implemented to the teachers and the staff so that they receive training on how to assist our LGBTQ youths. And in closing remember this. Only 26 percent of LGBTQ youths say they always feel safe in their school classrooms and only 5 percent say that all of their teachers and school staff are supportive of LGBTQ people. I think we can do better.” (Those numbers are drawn from the 2018 LGBTQ Youth Report, a survey of some 12,000 youths ages 13 to 17, conducted by the Human Rights Campaign and the University of Connecticut.)
Savanna Dacosta, a student at FPC who described to the board what it’s like to be shunned at school, cautioned the board about the larger consequences of what message it intends to send: “I grew up in Flagler schools all the way from year one, and I have been proud to say that I’m from Flagler County,” Dacosta said. “I go to conferences all over the state, I actually just attended one at FSU last summer, and they’re like, where is [Flagler] at? I’m so excited to tell them. Now please allow me to continue wanting to say that.” And referring to Cothran’s placard, she said: “Very commonly we might see some slogans along ‘not lying to ourselves.’ But the reason that we are here is because a very dear friend of mine decided to stop lying to himself.”
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Andy says
Charlene Cothran should look deep into her heart, and also The Good Book, for guidance. Take Numbers 31:17-18 for example. Ooops, wait, not that one. Um, take Deuteronomy 20:13-14 and study it. Wait! That was a bad one too… uh, she should focus on 2 Kings 9:33-35. Ah, shoot – I did it again, stumbled on another biblical atrocity. I think I found one: Hosea 13:16. No? Maybe she should try and keep her filthy “religious beliefs” out of the school system and let adults take care of kids according to the law.
Rose says
I can’t believe students can be that cruel in today’s society. We are all the same we all have a right to live as we please without being discriminated against. I wish parents, teachers and schools would instill loving others and accepting people for who they are more than it’s addressed. I feel sad for this child having to be bullied and attacked for nothing and that person should have been expelled not the victim feeling they have to leave their school because of ignorance and disgraceful behavior which should never be tolerated by any school or ignorant people wanting to hurt someone for no reason. When will society grow and learn acceptance and compassion toward anyone regardless of what they assume is different no matter what that may be. God bless all of the children who are bullied for indifferences which shouldn’t be an issue for anyone to abuse others. It happens to adults who are disabled and many other people being judged instead of asking questions and getting to know the real person struggling for any reason just because their trying to live their lives as normal as they can.
Mike Cocchiola says
Why is there only one school board member speaking up – Colleen Conklin – and where are the others? Why is the chairperson so silent? Where’s Andy Dance and Maria Barbossa? Are they afraid to anger conservatives or evangelicals in this county? Are not the students more important?
We need more good people on that school board. Ones that will speak up when this community needs to hear from them. And that pastor? Aren’t there rules against hate speech? Does she have an open forum at board meetings to spew her hate and ignorance?
Percy's mother says
I attended the meeting.
Ms. Cothran was not “screaming”. She was in the middle of an impassioned plea, albeit perhaps misguided. You, FlaglerLive, and Dr. Conklin can spin that any way you want, but the woman did not “scream” and was not “screaming”. Perhaps Ms. Conklin’s interpretation was that Ms. Cothran was “screaming”, but from my chair in the chambers, the woman was not screaming, and she obviously feels very strongly about her point of view, which by the way, she is perfectly entitled to.
NOW, getting to the behavior of the group of parents and students while Ms. Cothran was speaking . . .
Ms. Cothran afforded everyone the ability to speak without standing up with her back to them, and in that, she allowed them respect for the public comments they chose to make.
HOWEVER, when Ms. Cothran stood to make her public comments, a group of parents and students were EXTREMELY RUDE and stood with their backs turned to Ms. Cothran and the school board. WHERE’S THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH HERE?
So, to those parents and students who stood with turned backs while Ms. Cothran was speaking, I suppose it’s okay to make public comments ONLY when in agreement with your views and values, but heaven forbid should any person have a different or opposing view.
I found the whole rude display quite sickening by both parents and teachers who are supposed to be role models, and as well, the students who mimicked the very rude behavior of the adults, and I’m sorry order wasn’t called by the Chair, Janet McDonald, for some decorum.
And for you, FlaglerLive, why don’t you call Ms. Cothran and make arrangements to meet her for coffee and have a heart-to-heart conversation with her such that someone in this community can actually try to understand what message she is trying to convey? It’s easy to write inflammatory articles, but not so easy to get to the truth and clarity of what lies behind every story. How about it? Then you can write an article with some clarity on this touchy subject.
I found the public display by the parents and students at the meeting quite sickening, especially when they claim to want inclusion for every HUMAN (but not to the degree that they want inclusion for those who may disagree).
I’ll be waiting for nasty comments.
Charlene Cothran says
Thank you for your correct analysis of my comments on Tuesday night. I wish this editor, posing as ‘news’ outlet would STOP LYING about what was said and how it was said. His attempt to insult me by incorrectly quoting me with improper grammar (…Where the church at?…) shows his propensity to racism. Check the video of the meeting. He also added many words the Jewish teacher did not say. I guess those were words he thought she should have said. Again, Flagler Live should STOP LYING. One of the things we have lost in America is respect for one another’s position. This is what makes the proposed “Equality” Act so dangerous. If you think they’re acting ugly now, how do you think they will act if they were ‘misgendered’ at school or work by anyone for any reason. I hope that parents like you become bold enough to step up to the mic at the next School Board meeting. Simply share what you shared here. It matters. Let them turn their backs. That’s OK. The definition of a pathological LIAR is one who has turned his back on the TRUTH.
Pierre Tristam says
Ms. Cothran is of course using this much larger platform than a school board meeting to spread yet more falsehoods. There was no improper quoting or invention of words. You can hear Cothran’s relevant clip here. It’s loud, but there was nothing wrong with its grammar. (“Where are the churches at” may not be grammatical according to the most dogmatic English teachers, but FlaglerLive has always been a safe space for dangling prepositions, whatever their author’s background). And of course aside from a very slight difference in one clause, since corrected (from “don’t sit there and proselytize to me” to “don’t dare proselytize to me”) there were no invented words in the long quote by the Jewish teacher, which can be heard at even greater length here (including the part, not included in the article, about when it’s proper to shut down a speaker filled with hate.) We are, however, still waiting on documented substantiation of any of Cothran’s stats. The website she provides in these comments is unfortunately no more reliable than any “facts” she presented at the last two board meetings.
PIerre Tristam says
PM, Cothran’s screaming is documented in the recording of the meeting, as it is here. You may not call that screaming. I disagree. Of course any sort of individual is never journalistically beyond the pale of an interview, including criminals, terrorists, bullies, bigots, fanatics and so on, so Cochran might equally make for an interesting interview (though I wouldn’t go so far as to place my heart next to hers). But first, Cothran has made her positions fairly and loudly clear at these meetings, she doesn’t say anything more searching on her electronic platforms, and she does demonstrably and recklessly spread falsehoods with complete disregard for the truth, even after documented facts prove her information to be militantly wrong. There comes a point where giving such a person an even larger platform trends more toward irresponsibility than journalism: I believe in fairness, but not balance, which can so often be a false flag of objectivity. (I’m reminded of a line from Pynchon’s introduction to, aptly enough, “1984”: “Our nominally free news media are required to present ‘balanced’ coverage, in which every ‘truth’ is immediately neutered by an equal and opposite one.” I’m not about to play that game in FlaglerLive’s coverage anymore than if I were covering a soldier’s funeral unfortunately picketed by the likes of Cothran–I have in mind the nut cases from Wesboro Baptist Church and their “Fag Troops”-type placards–I would give anything more than contemptuous attention, let alone equal time, to them.) So given FlaglerLive’s very limited resources, I’m surprised you did not suggest the more relevant profile, say, of the Bertrand family, which seems to me the far more interesting and necessary story. I’m sure FlaglerLive and the Observer will now race each other to get that one done (certain writers at the Observer are more talented than anyone on our staff of 600 to pull that off, so I hope they do). Since you are a writer yourself, you can certainly give Cothran a crack at a heart to heart and I’ll consider publishing it, if it meets standards. But with perhaps an errant exception or two I don’t think we’re lacking clarity here at all.
Dave says
Kudos to everyone who stood against this tyrant pastors hate speech.
Edith Campins says
Yes, she was screaming. As for those turning their backs, they are entitled to their response. They did so politely.
She is the antithesis of what a religious representative should be. The parents, teachers ans students in the audience have a stake in the situation. She does not and is being allowed to spew her misguided beliefs for the sake of getting publicity. Watch for her to run for office.
Outsider says
I wish the board gave this much attention to all the kids who were threatened by roving gangs of students blocking hallways, daring anyone to bump them, or not get out of the way so they could start a fight with them when my kid was at BTMS. I guess it’s true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Dave says
I say we all go to her house of worship for service this sunday dressed in our most fabulous to speak in thier house about how we feel!
Sydney says
You would think someone that was possibly subjected to intolerance and prejudice at some point in her life would be a bit more, oh I don’t know, compassionate. I’ll never understand the need for such hate. How is what this person does hurting anyone? It’s not. It’s their life. Their one life. People and their judgement behind the guise of Christianity amazes me. Glass houses break. Be careful who you throw your stones at, ‘cause they will hurtle back at you like a boomerang.
Dennis says
In my option, there trans kids need to seek mental help. This is a mental illness and society should not accept their decision to transgender.
Charlene Cothran says
Sir, statistics show that you are correct. Please review man y reports at our website. Click RESOURCES. Also, please consider coming to the next School Board meeting to say what you’ve said here siting the resources you’ll find to support your beliefs. Third Tuesday of the month is the School Board meeting. Hope to hear YOUR comments there.
http://www.TheEvidenceMinistry.org
Concerned Parent says
No one should bully another person. That’s really what all of this is about. The bully should face disciplinary action, period. Supporters of LGBTQ should not bully others, either. The adults need to act like adults. The kids need much better role models for good behavior!
John Brady says
I am very concerned about the general unkindness that has been introduced into our daily existence. It is a shame that people are so bullied that they see suicide as an answer. Back in the day, we use to say “Sticks and stones may break your bones may break your bones but names can never hurt you”. Unfortunately, that statement does not work anymore and bullies in all forms continue to torment their prey.
We can debate the cause of this sad state of affairs but what can be done. I never was a big hat wearer but I have taken to wearing a baseball cap with the statement, “Make America Kind Again”
My belief is we have lost kindness and need to bring back being kind.
Bill says
How about everyone being NICE to each other if you agree with there choices or opinions or not. IMO if one thinks they are someone/something they are not fine for them but all other do not need to go along with that. If you are a guy and want to be called a girl and by a girls name other then you real name fine. Some will go along with that some will not. For those that do good for them those that dont good for them. If one chooses to call themselves something they are not and you dont like or go along with it that does NOT give you the option of being mean and or cruel towards them. On the same point if you choose to call yourself something you are not and some choose not to go along with that choice you that does not give you the option of being offended and or saying others must think as you do. IMO its all live and let live.
Bill says
To all those who stood and turned their backs on the speaker. YOU are every bit the BIGOT you think that speaker is/was.
If you cant hear a different point of view then your own without being so rude it says way more about your bigotry then the one you are offended by.
Dave says
Point of view is not what this pastor spoke. Instead she spoke hatred, and aimed that hatred at a child.
If this pastor hates herself for who she really is, she should not pass that judgement onto others but instead look for peace within herself.
wpw says
What a hateful woman. Shame!
SteveWard says
The EPITOMY of a Hypocrite right here in River City. The mere fact she has a platform is unbelievable. Not once but a second time. Boycott this head case in every aspect of her miserable life. May the Karma Gods become familiar with her
Pogo says
@Religious fundamentalist fanatics, hate radio and podcasting demagogues, et al, etc, etc, and all manner of Republican party crooks, crackpots and kooks are with us always. They’re the wind beneath resident rump’s butt.
And still – progress continues…
https://www.google.com/search?-b-1-d&ei=8eQpXpqzPOaO5wKIhr6IAg&q=utah+bans+conversion+therapy&oq=utah+bans+conversion&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0i324.25530.37286..41415…1.0..0.146.1751.4j12……0….1..gws-wiz…….0i13.OZTV2fTAvd4
Current Student of Oliva says
Mr. Oliva is NOT in the wrong here – The name changing of the choir was important and was not meant to hurt anyone. There are more trans students in Treble Choir than just Elliott, and he was trying to make sure everyone felt included. Oliva never meant any harm, and often times he would make sure Elliott was okay. Oliva makes us sing out so that we can learn how we sound, and to make us improve. We are an awfully quiet choir that needs help so I understand why he makes us sing out. He gets angry with us so we improve. The day he asked Elliott for the note, no one was having a good day. Both sides of the story are confusing, but Oliva isn’t a disrespectful man.