Liberty Justice Center Demands Illinois School District End Policies That Hide Students’ Gender Transitions from Parents and Violate Teachers’ and Students Rights

The Liberty Justice Center is calling on Community High School District 128 in Vernon Hills, Illinois, to bring its gender-related policies into compliance with the U.S. Constitution and Title IX.

Through its PARENTS Initiative—the Liberty Justice Center’s initiative dedicated to defending and enforcing parental rights—LJC was contacted by parents of students enrolled in District 128 who are concerned about two District policies: its Procedures for Assigning Rooms for Overnight Student Trips and its Gender Support Guidelines. As explained in LJC’s demand letter to Superintendent Marc Schaffer, these policies violate the rights of parents, teachers and students under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and Title IX.

1. The District’s overnight trip policy hides critical safety information from parents.

The policy requires that overnight trip lodging be assigned based on gender identity rather than biological sex, while barring disclosure of roommates’ biological sex to parents without student consent. As a result, parents receive only participating students’ chosen names, leaving them unable to determine whether their minor child will share a room with an opposite-sex peer. Withholding this information undermines parents’ fundamental rights and responsibilities to make informed decisions about their children’s safety, welfare and physical privacy.

2. The District’s gender support guidelines conceal students’ social transitions from their parents.

The guidelines direct staff not to disclose information revealing a student’s transgender status to others, including parents, without the student’s authorization. The guidelines also require that school libraries and curricula incorporate gender-affirming literature without parental notice or opt-out options.

The Supreme Court recognized the constitutional significance of parents’ rights to direct their children’s upbringing, including in cases involving school policies that conceal students’ gender transitions from their parents.

The District’s guidelines require all staff to use a “gender-affirming approach” and treat an employee’s refusal to affirm a student’s self-asserted gender identity as grounds for discipline. LJC argues that compelling teachers to use pronouns inconsistent with their sincerely held beliefs to affirm a particular viewpoint violates their First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion.

3. The policies violate female students’ rights under Title IX.

The guidelines permit biological males to use female locker rooms and restrooms based on gender identity. When female students raise privacy and safety objections, they are directed to alternate facilities while biological males retain access to female-designated spaces. LJC argues that this policy undermines the privacy and equal educational opportunities that Title IX protects, placing the burden on female students to surrender their privacy rather than requiring the District to protect it.

To resolve these violations, the Liberty Justice Center demands that District 128:

• Provide written assurance that it will amend its policies to comply with parents’, teachers’ and students’ constitutional and statutory rights.
• Confirm in writing that it will notify all staff of the revised policies and provide appropriate training.

The letter warns that failure to address these violations could result in a federal civil rights lawsuit.

This letter is part of ongoing effort to defend parental rights through the Liberty Justice Center’s PARENTS Initiative. This year, LJC sent letters the attorneys general of five states challenging school district policies that conceal students’ gender transitions from their parents. LJC also sent a demand letter to a Missouri school district that blocked a parent from its official Facebook page after the parent left a “thumbs down” reaction on a post announcing a new staff member. In ongoing litigation, LJC represents a Portland mother who was banned from her son’s public school campus after speaking out against gender-related school policies.

The Liberty Justice Center will continue to defend parents’ constitutional rights and hold school districts accountable when their policies undermine those rights.