These districts have been violating the rights of students ‘in the service of an extreme political ideology,’ said an official.
Five school districts in Northern Virginia have violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 by allowing students to access “intimate, sex-segregated facilities based on the students’ subjective ‘gender identity,’” the Department of Education said in a July 25 statement.
Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities that receive federal funding.
In February, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened a Title IX investigation into five Northern Virginia school districts—Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and Prince William County Public Schools.
The probe was initiated following complaints that the school districts’ policies regarding “transgender-identifying” students violated sex-based protections guaranteed under Title IX.
There have been reports and lawsuits alleging that students avoided using school restrooms, whenever possible, because of the schools’ policies, the statement said. In addition, female students have reportedly seen male students “inappropriately touching other students and watching female students change in a female locker room.”
OCR’s investigation discovered that the school districts trampled on students’ rights “in the service of an extreme political ideology,” said acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. “The Trump Administration will not sacrifice the safety, dignity, and innocence of America’s young women and girls at the altar of an anti-scientific illiberalism.”
He added that “it’s time for Northern Virginia’s experiment with radical gender ideology and unlawful discrimination to come to an end.”
OCR has asked the school districts to resolve the Title IX violations within 10 days or risk facing enforcement action and referral to the Department of Justice.
Under the agreement terms, school districts must rescind all policies and regulations that enabled students’ access to intimate facilities based on their “gender identity” rather than sex. They also have to adopt definitions of “male” and “female” based on biology.
The Epoch Times reached out to the five school districts for comment and did not receive a response by publication time.
