Powell schools can now enforce same sex bathroom use

POWELL (WNE)  — In November, community concerns led the Park County School District 1 board to ask the state to craft a law requiring restroom use to match a student’s sex at birth.

With an enforceable law now in place, policy is underway for Powell schools.

“What we have now is a good common sense bill that gives us exactly what we need, exactly what we asked for last November when we as a board came together and said, ‘This is what we’re asking for,’” Superintendent Jay Curtis told the board during a Tuesday meeting. “That’s what we got.”

He added that he appreciates the work of Sen. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, on SF-62, which is one of two bills on the issue that combined to create the new law.

“I think the best version of that bill is what passed,” Curtis said.

The law specifies that in preK through 12th grade, students must use restrooms, changing facilities and sleeping quarters that match their sex at birth.

Students who don’t want to use sex assigned restrooms must be provided reasonable single occupancy accommodations.

The law removed what Curtis called the worst part of SF-62, the loss of accreditation for noncompliant districts.

“I have been very clear from the beginning that the idea of punishing children for the actions of adults just doesn’t sit well with me,” Curtis said.

Powell restrooms are already designated by sex, board chair Kim Dillivan clarified.

“My understanding is, technically speaking, the only thing that we have to have policy on is noncompliance,” Curtis said. “That’s not going to be the only thing we have in the policy, but that’s the only thing that by the statute we have to have.”

This story was published on March 27, 2025.