Dist. 211 puts safety above political correctness

I'm a graduate of Schaumburg High School and a Washington, D.C.,-based attorney who works and writes about education law. I have written law review articles on Title IX and have consulted on cases involving Title IX.

Two weeks ago, I delivered a keynote address at a law school symposium on Title IX requirements in college sexual assault cases. I am quite pleased that District 211 is taking a stand for student safety and privacy, and against federal overreach into local education.

Superintendent Daniel Cates' recent Guest View highlights a lamentably common pattern that school administrators face across the country. Outside advocacy groups instigate a costly investigation by a politically charged Department of Education.

The Department of Education, in turn, threatens the school district and makes demands that go way beyond legal requirements. And when the school district inevitably settles, the department uses that settlement as a club against other school districts.

The end result is an increasing thicket of secret regulations that cost taxpayers buckets of money. What it takes to break this cycle is a school district willing to fight back. District 211 is affluent enough to make a stand here, and when it wins, it will help schools across the country, including many poor, urban schools that would find it easier to roll over.

It will likely even save money in the long run, because what's on the line isn't just one regulation. If the federal government wants to pass a law to require federally funded schools to allow men into women's locker rooms, and vice versa - fine. But until that law is passed, the Department of Education should not be inventing the requirement out of thin air.

Andrew Kloster

Washington, D.C.