Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened investigations into the Illinois Department of Education, the Chicago Public Schools District 299, and the Deerfield Public Schools District 109 in Illinois amid allegations that these entities violated Title IX by requiring girls in the school to share their locker room with a boy.
These investigations are based on complaints filed with OCR, including a complaint filed by the Defense of Freedom Institute and Liberty Justice Center, against the Illinois State Board of Education and Chicago Public Schools for discrimination on the basis of sex, in part, emanating from the Deerfield School District’s alleged repeated violations of Title IX.
“Congress enacted Title IX to end sex-based discrimination against females in educational programs, and its implementing regulations have long reflected the common sense practice of schools providing separate intimate facilities for males and females. The architects of Title IX understood that males and females, especially minors, have a right to be free from compelled exposure of their bodies or from engaging in intimate activities—like changing their clothes in a locker room—in front of the opposite sex,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. “This preserves the privacy and safety of all involved, especially young girls. The Department is deeply troubled by these allegations and will investigate this matter fully.”
“It is shocking that school administrators would allegedly harass and bully a student for objecting to sharing intimate facilities with members of the opposite sex,” said Robert Eitel, President and Co-Founder of the Defense of Freedom Institute. “We applaud the Department for launching an investigation and urge the agency to take action to terminate federal funding until the bad actors comply with Title IX.”
Background:
According to a parent’s testimony during a District 109 School Board Meeting last month, female students at Shepard Middle School complained to school administrators that there was a male present in their locker room while they were changing for gym class. The next day, the Assistant Superintendent for Student Services, the Assistant Principal, and the Director of Student Services reportedly reprimanded the female students for refusing to undress in front of the male student and allegedly forced them back into the locker room to change, which allegedly went on for the remainder of the week. According to a complaint filed with OCR, an administrator told the female students that the male student may use the female intimate facilities as long as that student identifies as female.
Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments to the Civil Rights Act and its implementing regulation prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. Violations of Title IX may result in an educational entity’s loss of federal funding.