anastasiav | ''I think sometimes when we don't understand something completely, we sort of react with fear,"

Methuen , MA School Allows Transgender 4th Grader to Be Treated as a Boy

"Dozens of parents flooded the Methuen school system with phone calls yesterday after a local newspaper reported that a fourth-grade girl had returned from the February school break requesting to be treated as a boy....

....Most parents who called, however, simply wanted to know which bathroom the child uses, according to Littlefield, who said he told them the youngster uses a separate bathroom, and people say, ''Oh, wow, that's cool."

"It's the relatively rare child who will come forward and have the courage to say, 'This is what I am, even though it was not what I was born to look like,' " Spack said. ''I admire the school for its acceptance. When schools set an example like this, it's a lesson for all."

You can email Superintendent Dr. Charles P. Littlefield at pllittlefield@methuen.k12.ma.us if you want to tell him what a good thing he's done. I already did.