School district fight over transgender student locker room policy heats up school board meeting

By Jermont Terry

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    DEERFIELD, Illinois (WBBM) — A school board meeting grew heated Thursday night amid a discussion of a situation at a school in the north Chicago suburb of Deerfield that has captured national headlines.

The situation involves allegations that middle school students were forced to change gym clothes in a locker room in front of a transgender classmate. The Deerfield Public Schools District 109 board heard an earful — with some being passionate and unhappy about the alleged incident.

But the district strongly disputes the claim, and insists it simply did not happen.

It was a packed house for the board meeting. Parents and the community were split — with half in the room applauding while others sat silently as the issue regarding transgender rights took the spotlight.

“The recent bullying and scapegoating of trans community has made me question what kind of town we’re becoming,” one parent told the board.

Back in March, parents alleged that girls who attend Shepard Middle School were forced to change into gym clothes in front of a trans classmate in the girls’ locker room. One parent spoke publicly about it at the board meeting Thursday night.

“My daughter was a victim, and she doesn’t lie,” the mother said. “My daughter suffered silently from this hostile environment for quite a few weeks, but we’ve made progress supporting her needs. But the district has a long way to go supporting all the students impacted by policy decisions.”

The school board did not respond to any parents, but did issue a lengthy letter to the District 109 community claiming the allegations about a locker room incident were false. The letter said the district “complies with state law,” and added, “We are sensitive to the privacy needs of all our middle school students and ensure that no student is required to change into a gym uniform for physical education class in front of others.”

Marsha McClary is with Moms for Liberty Lake County, and argues that the district is not taking sufficient action.

“I think we have a bigger issue than just the restroom use,” she said.

McClary’s group has called for District 109 to change its entire policy, “and to comply with the executive order of Donald Trump — which requires the spaces to be biologically based.”

This comes as the local issue caught the attention of the White House.

“The president has made it incredibly clear — that is, it is the policy of this administration that there are only two genders — male and female; only two sexes, rather — male and female — and we are not going to tolerate such behavior,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said last month.

Meanwhile, a conservative legal group calling for the Department of Justice to investigate. Yet the local LGBTQ+ Center stands by the district’s current policy.

“We fought hard for these policies with our allies at Equality Illinois to ensure the rights of all people are reserved,” said Kristal Larson of the LGBTQ+ Center.

At least one civil rights violation lawsuit has been filed against the district. The district said it will take all avenues to defend what it said are false claims.

The full letter to the District 109 community is below:

The Deerfield Public Schools District 109 Board of Education and administration strongly dispute the patently false allegations that students were forced to change in front of administrators or others. We recognize the intense reaction by advocates from both within and outside our community, and we are committed to communicating factually and transparently. As we have consistently shared, the District’s policies and procedures fully comply with current local, state and federal laws.

Federal Title IX and the Illinois Human Rights Act prohibit all public school districts from discriminating on the basis of sex, including gender identity. Current laws mandate that students must be permitted access to the locker room and bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. We are following the law.

We are sensitive to the privacy needs of all our middle school students and ensure that no student is required to change into a gym uniform for physical education class in front of others. When both our middle schools were renovated in 2017, we added five private changing stations within each locker room that are available to all students. All students also have multiple options to change in a private location separate from the locker room if they wish.

This week, the District responded to a data request from the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The request was for information regarding the District’s policies, procedures and practices related to student locker room and restroom use. As we have stated from the beginning, the District Administration and the Board stand united with our building leaders and educators in a shared commitment to upholding all applicable local, state, and federal laws.

We will vigorously support administrators and staff every step of the way. The District is pursuing all avenues to defend against the egregious and false claims being alleged. We further condemn the unjustified threats that have been directed at school administrators since the false allegations first surfaced in February. No one should be targeted on social media or elsewhere for obeying the law.

The District is committed to serving all of its students and continues to do so with the utmost care and professionalism. We call upon all of those expressing concerns or perspectives on this issue with our staff and educators to do so in a respectful and civil manner.

Sincerely,

Michael V. Simeck, Superintendent of Schools Sari Montgomery, Board President

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