18-year-old men can share cabin with preteen girls at Oregon outdoor school if doing so makes them 'feel safer'

Males as old as 18 may be allowed to share a cabin with preteen girls at an Oregon outdoor school, and the girls' parents will almost certainly be kept in the dark about it, according to reports.

Oregon outdoor schools are an opportunity for elementary and middle-school students to learn by immersing themselves in the great outdoors for a few days. The Nugget, an outlet covering Sisters, Oregon, referred to outdoor schools as "a beloved tradition for Oregon sixth-graders." Outdoor schools appear to be governed by education service districts, which in turn work with local school districts, offering additional resources and special programs, including outdoor schools.

The Northwest Outdoor Science School — reportedly the largest outdoor school in the state, serving 10,000 students annually — offers fifth- and sixth-grade students "an immersive, hands-on experience ... in an incredible outdoor environment," according to its website. The Northwest Outdoor Science School program lasts for four days and three nights.

As students will be spending several nights in a cabin on site, the Northwest Regional Education Service District, which oversees the Northwest Outdoor Science School, provides a very detailed explanation of its "gender inclusive practices" regarding bathrooms and cabins. Many young people and their parents may find many of these "practices" disturbing.

First, though students will have gender-segregated housing, students and their camp counselors — area high school students who are typically between 15 and 18 years old — may select cabins that accord with their "gender identity," "regardless of sex assigned at birth," the district website says. That means 18-year-old males, legal adults, may share a cabin with girls as young as 10 or 11.

Secondly, students and their parents likely will not know ahead of time about the possibly sex-mixed cabins, especially since the cabins are ambiguously designated as "Female+," "Male+," and "Gender-inclusive." The outdoor school will not inform parents if a member of the opposite sex will be sleeping on a bunk in their child's cabin or even if their child opts to use a new name and different pronouns while there, as all gender-related information, should participants choose to share it, is kept "confidential," the district website says.

Worse yet, students are permitted to change cabins only for "safety reasons." Children who feel "unsafe" by sharing a cabin with a member of the opposite sex likely will not be able to make a cabin switch, but those who believe they've been assigned to a cabin that "does not fit their gender identity" certainly can, according to the website.

"These practices are not up for debate," the Northwest Regional Education Service District website asserted. Students whose religious or cultural beliefs conflict with the outdoor school's gender ideology will have to consider attending day camp or "opting-out of the outdoor school experience" entirely.

The website does note that each cabin, regardless of gender designation, is outfitted with "private changing areas," and the outdoor school has "private showers and bathroom stalls." These bathroom locations also offer "private, single-occupancy areas." Thus, the district apparently believes it has addressed all possible concerns regarding its "gender inclusive practices."

Two years ago, Andrew Davis, a parent, objected that he was not informed about the gender dynamics at another Oregon outdoor school at Camp Tamarack, even after he explicitly asked leaders on a pre-camp Zoom call whether the cabins would be segregated on a "male/male-female/female" basis. According to Davis' daughter and her friends, who attended the Camp Tamarack outdoor school in 2022, female counselors entered a boys' cabin.

Davis claimed the school district and representatives from Camp Tamarack were playing "word games" and that "they should have alerted the parents" about the camp rules regarding gender.

"We understand that the views of our community don’t always align with the fundamental principles of public education," said part of a statement from Sisters Middle School Principal Tim Roth about the gender issues at Camp Tamarack. "As public school employees, we do the best we can to sensitively navigate issues that are not in alignment with community values. Yet we always try to make decisions through the lens that every single student has a place in our school."

Blaze News sent a detailed email to the Northwest Regional Education Service District, asking whether its outdoor school is engaging in religious discrimination and about options for students who feel "unsafe" because of its "gender inclusive practices." A representative from the district responded by directing us to various pages on the district website.

The following video, entitled "Transplaining Introduction," is embedded in one of the webpages sent to Blaze News:

Transplaining Introductionyoutu.be

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