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Source: Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, TexasNov.迷你倉 15--LA FERIA -- School officials today will try to work out a resolution in the case of an 18-year-old transgender student who accused the district of denying his request to wear a tuxedo in his high school yearbook photograph, Superintendent Ray Villarreal said Thursday.School attorney Ivan Perez today is scheduled to discuss Jeydon Loredo's request with his attorney, Villarreal said."The district's legal representative has reached out to the student's counsel to engage in communication with the hope of a resolution," the district said in a press release. "The district will follow the law, district policy and the appropriate procedures as it pertains to the request."Alesdair Ittelson, Jeydon's attorney who works with the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Montgomery, Ala.,-based civil rights group, said he plans a telephone conference with the school's attorney.Ittelson said the school district violated federal law when it denied Jeydon the right to wear a tuxedo like other boys.Jeydon, who was raised as a girl but identifies himself as a male, said he wants to wear a tuxedo because "it shows who I really am."Ittelson said Villarreal denied Jeydon's request."We definitely hope to resolve this issue sooner rather than later," Villarreal said in an interview.But Villarreal declined to disclose whether the district will allow Jeydon to wear a tuxedo in his yearbook photograph."We're working through the process to try to make the best decision possible," Villarreal said. "We're trying to work through it in the best interest of the student, the school and the community."Villarreal said Jeydon is requesting a "dress code variance" in the district whose yearbook photographs show boys wearing tuxedos and girls wearing blouses or drapes."As administrators, we are charged with implementing the dress code," Villarreal said. "Dress code issues are always difficult. There are always issues."School board Vice President Alan Moore said Jeydon's family should have requested a grievance hearing because the family believes Villarreal denied the boy's request to wear a tuxedo in his yearbook photograph."I think this is a grievancemini storageprocess," Moore said. "My understanding is they did not like a decision of an administrator. That would be a grievance."But Tiffany Thomas Smith, the law center's public affairs manager, said a grievance would be a response to a disciplinary action. Jeydon is a model student with no disciplinary history, Smith said in an e-mail."This is about discrimination against a boy who happens to be transgender -- it is in no way a disciplinary issue," Smith said.Jeydon, his mother Stella Loredo and their legal representatives Monday were allowed five minutes during a public comment period to present their argument to the La Feria school board but were denied their request to be placed on the meeting's agenda, Ittelson said.Villarreal said the district's students paid to have a photographer take their yearbook photographs.The photographer took photographs of students wearing formal and casual clothes, Ittelson said. After problems getting his photographs, Ittelson said, Jeydon finally received his copies -- one showing him in a tuxedo and the other in casual attire.But Villarreal did not allow Jeydon's tuxedo photo to be published, Ittelson said."I've lived here my whole life and I've grown up with the kids here," Jeydon said in a law center press release. "I've seen those in my community go through troubles and denying my tuxedo photo would be a way for the district to forget me and everything I've brought to this community. The yearbook is for the students -- not the faculty or the administration. It is a way for us to remember each other."Villarreal said the district set Dec. 9 as the deadline to place senior student photographs in the yearbook.But the district may push back the deadline "if needed," said Villarreal, who declined further comment.The law center will take legal action if the district does not provide written confirmation by Nov. 21 to state that Jeydon's photograph that shows him in a tuxedo will be published in the yearbook, the organization said.fdelvalle@valleystar.comCopyright: ___ (c)2013 Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas) Visit Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas) at .valleymorningstar.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存