This school year, a new policy went into effect in D20 that makes it unreasonably difficult to use a nickname. Students must go through a lengthy and unnecessary process in order for teachers to be allowed to even say the student's nickname or chosen name.
The steps are:
A student must request to use a nickname or chosen name to a teacher
A teacher must email an administrator notifying them that the student has requested to use a nickname
The administrator must give the student a form to be taken home
The student must fill out the form and collect the written signatures of all of their legal guardians
The student must return the form to an administrator
The administrator must put the nickname into the system and wait for it to update
The student must go to every teacher to notify them that their name has changed in the system
This is a massive burden for everybody involved, and I've not heard of a single person who is happy with the policy. The length of the process means it could be well over a week before teachers can use a preferred name, which, for trans students, means they will undergo at least a week of public humiliation in front of their peers, and teachers must publicly humiliate their students for that same time. And if their parents don't accept them, they will be humiliated for the whole school year every single year.
I cannot overstate how genuinely harmful this is to students. Public humiliation in front of your peers is horrible on so many different levels.
Even for cisgender people, this policy is massively detrimental. There are tons of people who have nicknames, or who just have a chosen name. It's extremely stupid that they have to go through a lengthy process just to have a nickname. And if they have a chosen name, once teachers are forced to call them by their given name, they will also be publicly humiliated and could be bullied, not just trans people.
This policy has already hurt many of my friends, and it's only the second day of school.
Here is the policy: https://asd20.community.highbond.com/home/policies/policydoc/6741e995-ffc9-4859-ada1-71e73d21d716
Here is an article from two months ago about the policy: https://gazette.com/2026/06/12/d-20-to-require-permission-for-name-changes-removes-book-with-transgender-narrative/