Palatine Township School District 211 OKs deal over transgender locker room access

After the vote, superintendent Daniel Cates made it clear that, as far as the school was concerned, the motion applied only to the one transgender student.

Board members at Township High School District 211 yesterday voted 5-2 to allow the student, who was born male but identifies as female, a private area to change inside the girls’ facilities.

The U.S. Department of Education says a deal approved by a suburban Chicago school district allows a transgender student to use a girls’ locker room and does not require her to use a privacy curtain, although the student has said she will do so.

The student had filed a federal complaint against the district with assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union. To ensure compliance, district officials must provide the Office for Civil Rights regular written reports, as well as details of all gender-based discrimination or harassment complaints.

According to the Trib, federal officials are required to approve any settlement, but a spokesperson declined to comment on the case because it is still in progress.

Provide a reasonable alternative for any student requesting additional privacy – beyond the privacy afforded by the privacy curtains – in the girls’ locker rooms. She says she felt singled out.

Education Department officials also said the settlement – which says the student may use a private area to change in the girls locker room – can also change in the locker room like other girls.

The transgender student has not been identified and wants to remain anonymous.

Lhamon, of the Education Department, called it “wishful thinking” and “facially inconsistent with the terms of the agreement” for the district to contend the policy did not apply districtwide.

The agreement protects student privacy and will best serve our total school community, he said in a statement. OCR is responsible for enforcing federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination by educational institutions on the basis of disability, race, color, national origin, sex, and age, as well as the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act of 2001. “If they didn’t have the anatomy, it would be different”.

“We’re doing a huge disservice to our kids by teaching them differences dictate worth or value”, she said. From the outset, our public statements have consistently conveyed the Districts position that unrestricted access by transgender students in our open locker rooms is unacceptable because gender is not the same as anatomy. I can’t imagine anything more damaging for a student than to be told they are different from all their fellow students.