Mount Saint Charles Academy is a catholic junior/senior high school in Woonsocket, Rhode Island run by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.

A week ago concerned alumni noticed that since October of last year, the parent-student handbook included the following, without any explanation:

Mount Saint Charles Academy is unable to make accommodations for transgender students. Therefore, MSC does not accept transgender students nor is MSC able to continue to enroll students who identify as transgender.

Transgender status was, in fact, the only stated exclusion listed in the handbook.

The discovery of the exclusion sparked an outcry by alumni on social media, forming a group called The Concerned Alumni of Mount Saint Charles Academy. At the time it was unclear if any trans students had been asked to leave the school.

Young alumni are absolutely appalled by the administration's discriminitory actions are organizing a response. This is not the Mount St. Charles I know and love. They should be ashamed of themselves.

--Julie McBrien, alumna

We, the alum who have expressed concerned about the policy regarding transgender students at Mount Saint Charles, have received word from the President, Herve Richer. He has been apologetic about the impact of the policy and appreciative of our efforts as alum to find a positive solution to the accommodation problem. He has invited us to a meeting to discuss possibilities of how to do this, and we are grateful that Mount is moving forward in this direction.

--The Concerned Alumni of Mount Saint Charles Academy

On March 4, MSC published the following statement:

Mount Saint Charles Academy deeply regrets the unintended hurt feelings at and seeming insensitivity of our policy regarding the acceptance of transgendered young people. The policy that currently appears in the Mount Saint Charles Student Handbook is not intended to be discriminatory toward transgendered students nor is Mount Saint Charles Academy’s intent or desire to exclude transgender students. The policy was put in place for the simple reason that Mount Saint Charles feels that its facilities do not presently provide the school with the ability to accommodate transgender students.

As a Catholic school, Mount Saint Charles recognizes its call to serve all children who desire a Catholic education, but it also recognizes that it is not a comprehensive high school with the ability to serve all students. Some students may not be academically qualified. Others may have learning plans which the school cannot accommodate. And in some cases, our facilities may not be adequate to service some students.

Although the school has not been approached with any requests to admit transgender students, Mount Saint Charles Academy’s administration has been exploring ways in which it might provide reasonable accommodations for transgender students and fulfill its mission.

On Wednesday, the ban was removed (this link includes a timeline of events).

Brendan DeBeasi started a GoFundMe campaign on March 5 entitled MSC Transgender Accommodations. In 53 hours, $5135 were raised.

[A] big thank you to everybody who donated and encouraged others to donate. This shows the world that Mounties are people who not only advocate for equality, but also take action when people are not treated fairly.

--DeBeasi

Those hurtful – and completely unnecessary – lines have now been removed [from the handbook], and I’m glad they have. That’s simply not the Mount I know, the school I now serve as a new member of its board of directors.

--Thomas Ward, publisher of the Valley Breeze newspaper

In its now 92-year history, Mount has “evolved” before. Born a boarding school that also taught the sons of French-Canadian mill workers, the boarders (including the late CBS-TV and “60 MInutes” reporter Ed Bradley) are long gone. Boarding students were phased out in the early 1970s. I think it’s interesting that many people think that providing a safe and loving school for a transgender child is about providing them a bathroom, but it’s so much more.

Mount’s been here before! As boarders left, the girls arrived, and the all-boys school had to accommodate young women they had never welcomed before. Yes, bathrooms can change!

Mount has also “evolved” by accepting non-Catholic students, overseas students and kids of color...the whole rainbow. I’ve seen them accept and embrace the awkward kids as well as the hockey players, the challenged kids and the Merit Scholars, the geeks and the beauties. It has always been this way. Now, there is more evolving to do.

As to the anti-Catholic rhetoric, there stands Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, N.H. A sister school to Mount, also founded and run by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, it currently serves a transgender student, and accommodates them. Mount has never been asked to. No doubt, in time, that will change. We should learn a lot before that day comes.

--The Valley Breeze

Despite what you may read or hear, The Transgender Mafia^TM had nothing to do with this decision.