District 128 gender policies questioned as violating rights of parents and students
Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128 is being told to amend its gender-related written policies or face potential legal action.
The Liberty Justice Center’s PARENTS Initiative in a letter Tuesday to now-former Superintendent Marc Schaffer, said policies regarding procedures for assigning rooms for overnight student trips and the district’s gender support guidelines infringe on parent, teacher and student rights and conflict with federal law.
District officials could not be reached for comment.
Liberty Justice Center was contacted by District 128 parents concerned about those policies, according to a news release announcing the action.
There is no formal group, but several like-minded parents, community members and others over the past two years during the public comment portion of District 128 school board meetings have been critical of district administrators and the board regarding federal law, including Title IX guidelines.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
At issue is a policy requiring lodging to be assigned based on gender identity rather than biological sex and bars disclosure of roommates’ biological sex to parents.
Withholding the information, “directly compromises parents’ fundamental right and responsibility to make informed decisions regarding their children’s safety, welfare and physical privacy,” Attorney Kathryn Cosgrove wrote.
She also noted district guidelines directing staff not to reveal a student’s transgender status to anyone without student authorization and another that school libraries and curricula incorporate “gender-affirming diversity as well as gender-affirming literature,” without required parental notice or opt-out provisions infringes on constitutional protections.
District guidelines also permit biological males to use female locker rooms and restrooms based on the expressed gender identity, Cosgrove wrote.
When female students raise privacy and safety concerns, they’re relegated to alternate facilities while biological males maintain unrestricted access to the designated female space, she wrote.
The denial of equal access and privacy for female students in sex segregated facilities violates Title IX, she added.
To correct the situation, Cosgrove suggests the district provide written assurance that it will begin the process of amending written policies and, when revisions are done, inform and train staff. Failure to address the issues could result in legal action against the district, she wrote.
The district’s gender support guidelines say it follows federal and state laws, the Illinois School Code and board policies to promote “the integration of transgender and gender expansive students and creates a culture free of harassment, discrimination and bullying.”
mzawislak@dailyherald.com