Emphasis on Inclusivity at Novato High
By: Rishi Nachnani
Students in the past few years have witnessed one of the most significant transformations in Novato High history. The topic of inclusivity has been a main point of emphasis for our community. With more students feeling comfortable to come out and reveal their true gender or identity, the school has adapted to fit these changes. More discussions about adjusting school policies have recently emerged.
The topic of Homecoming royalty was discussed by the leadership class. The idea of altering the final winners to the two people with the most votes, regardless of their gender was voted on. The homecoming court consists of six guys and six girls, with a king and queen announced at halftime of the homecoming football game. If the leadership class vote for a more progressive outcome was passed, two guys or two girls could have been crowned as homecoming royalty, with the gender-specific terms king and queen being thrown out the window.
This year, Carlos Garcia and Sophia Scafani were crowned homecoming king and queen.
Junior leadership student Jack Griffin had his own thoughts on this topic.
“I support ideas that make homecoming more progressive, I just don’t think it’s fair for a gender to not get representation during homecoming,” said junior Jack Griffin. “In the event that two people of the same gender win, I don’t think the homecoming king and queen are supposed to be a couple, so having two of the same gender only serves to exclude half of the senior population from feeling represented in court.”
ASB president Rhett Martino discussed the recent homecoming idea on campus.
“At Novato High school we have students who are non-gender conforming and we also have students that fall into other parts of the LGBT community, so something like this would just be inclusive of all students at Novato High school and I just think it’s a necessity at this point,” Martino said.
Although the outcome remained the same and a traditional homecoming king and queen (boy and girl) were crowned, this could potentially be changed in future years.
Other schools in Marin County, such as Tam High, have already put this new rule into place. In fact, the last two homecoming’s have selected two guys as homecoming royalty winners at Tam.
Tam High senior Sam Carlson stated, “For us, whoever gets the most votes wins, regardless of gender. I think it’s okay; I don’t have a problem with it.”
In addition to the homecoming debate, Novato High has become more progressive by transforming the bathrooms, changing both the boys and girls bathrooms between the english and history wings into the gender neutral bathrooms. The implementation of the gender neutral bathrooms have made Novato High more inclusive to people who don’t identify as male or female.
Senior Nicole Malliaras expressed her thoughts on the implementation of gender neutral bathrooms.
“I feel like it doesn’t really make much of a difference because even though any gender could technically go on either side of the bathrooms, the girls still tend go on the left side and the boys on the right.”
The annual Powder Puff football game could also see some changes. Junior class president Kiara Vasquez described why the idea of male cheerleaders might be a thing of the past.
“People have decided that the boys won’t dress up as cheerleaders anymore, with the skirts and the crop tops or anything, because we feel like men dressing up in women’s clothing makes fun of men who do like to dress up in women’s clothing,” Vazquez said. “It makes it this big joke and everybody likes to laugh at all the guys wearing the female cheerleading uniforms. It’s just making fun of the progression that we're trying to make to eliminate gender-specific clothing and why gender roles shouldn't be as prominent.”
The idea of a co-ed game and name change has also been discussed. Additionally, the Novato High campus even had a transgender flag displayed in front of the office one day to be more inclusive.
Regardless of the these changes being implemented and going into effect, Novato High is taking major steps towards becoming a more progressive community.
Students in the past few years have witnessed one of the most significant transformations in Novato High history. The topic of inclusivity has been a main point of emphasis for our community. With more students feeling comfortable to come out and reveal their true gender or identity, the school has adapted to fit these changes. More discussions about adjusting school policies have recently emerged.
The topic of Homecoming royalty was discussed by the leadership class. The idea of altering the final winners to the two people with the most votes, regardless of their gender was voted on. The homecoming court consists of six guys and six girls, with a king and queen announced at halftime of the homecoming football game. If the leadership class vote for a more progressive outcome was passed, two guys or two girls could have been crowned as homecoming royalty, with the gender-specific terms king and queen being thrown out the window.
This year, Carlos Garcia and Sophia Scafani were crowned homecoming king and queen.
Junior leadership student Jack Griffin had his own thoughts on this topic.
“I support ideas that make homecoming more progressive, I just don’t think it’s fair for a gender to not get representation during homecoming,” said junior Jack Griffin. “In the event that two people of the same gender win, I don’t think the homecoming king and queen are supposed to be a couple, so having two of the same gender only serves to exclude half of the senior population from feeling represented in court.”
ASB president Rhett Martino discussed the recent homecoming idea on campus.
“At Novato High school we have students who are non-gender conforming and we also have students that fall into other parts of the LGBT community, so something like this would just be inclusive of all students at Novato High school and I just think it’s a necessity at this point,” Martino said.
Although the outcome remained the same and a traditional homecoming king and queen (boy and girl) were crowned, this could potentially be changed in future years.
Other schools in Marin County, such as Tam High, have already put this new rule into place. In fact, the last two homecoming’s have selected two guys as homecoming royalty winners at Tam.
Tam High senior Sam Carlson stated, “For us, whoever gets the most votes wins, regardless of gender. I think it’s okay; I don’t have a problem with it.”
In addition to the homecoming debate, Novato High has become more progressive by transforming the bathrooms, changing both the boys and girls bathrooms between the english and history wings into the gender neutral bathrooms. The implementation of the gender neutral bathrooms have made Novato High more inclusive to people who don’t identify as male or female.
Senior Nicole Malliaras expressed her thoughts on the implementation of gender neutral bathrooms.
“I feel like it doesn’t really make much of a difference because even though any gender could technically go on either side of the bathrooms, the girls still tend go on the left side and the boys on the right.”
The annual Powder Puff football game could also see some changes. Junior class president Kiara Vasquez described why the idea of male cheerleaders might be a thing of the past.
“People have decided that the boys won’t dress up as cheerleaders anymore, with the skirts and the crop tops or anything, because we feel like men dressing up in women’s clothing makes fun of men who do like to dress up in women’s clothing,” Vazquez said. “It makes it this big joke and everybody likes to laugh at all the guys wearing the female cheerleading uniforms. It’s just making fun of the progression that we're trying to make to eliminate gender-specific clothing and why gender roles shouldn't be as prominent.”
The idea of a co-ed game and name change has also been discussed. Additionally, the Novato High campus even had a transgender flag displayed in front of the office one day to be more inclusive.
Regardless of the these changes being implemented and going into effect, Novato High is taking major steps towards becoming a more progressive community.