ALEXANDRIA, Virginia – A handful of Northern Virginia public school districts say they will not comply with federal efforts to stop letting transgender students use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Education asked Arlington Public Schools, Alexandria Public Schools as well as school districts in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties to change policies regarding transgender student access to bathrooms and locker rooms. The DOE had asked the schools to separate facilities “strictly on the basis of sex” and to use the “biology-based definitions” of male and female in Title IX policies.
The schools had until August 15 to agree to comply. The DOE had said it would contact the Department of Justice regarding litigation for noncompliance.
But in separate statements Friday, the school districts for Arlington and Alexandria said they cited state and federal laws in claiming they can’t legally comply with the DOE directive.
“Arlington Public Schools will continue to foster an inclusive community for all, including students and staff who identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community,” Superintendent Francisco Durán and School Board Chairwoman Bethany Zecher Sutton said in a joint statement. “We are proud that our core values include excellence, equity, and inclusion. …
“APS is committed to creating policies that ensure all students can learn in an inclusive environment that is safe, supportive and free from all forms of discrimination.”
Alexandria City Public Schools issued a similar statement.
“We want to make the community aware that ACPS has today informed OCR (the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights) that it disagrees with the legal analysis in the Letter of Findings and cannot agree to the (Voluntary Resolution Agreement) currently proposed,” Superintendent Dr. Melanie Kay-Wyatt and School Board Chairwoman Dr. Michelle Rief said in their joint statement. “For families, students and staff concerned about whether or how this decision will impact operations in ACPS, please know that ACPS’ current policies regarding the rights of all students to use restrooms and locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity will remain in place.”
Loudoun and Prince William counties also announced a similar response this week.
The Arlington school system said the issue should be set aside until a related lawsuit – West Virginia v. B.P.J. – is heard by the U.S. Supreme Court later this year.
The DOE has threatened to withdraw federal funds as well. That funding represents about 3 percent of Arlington’s $845 million budget.
Gunlock
Julie Gunlock, a Northern Virginia mom of children who attended Alexandria schools, said public schools in the area have a variety of problems.
“I’m not all surprised by the actions of these schools,” said Gunlock, whose children now attend private schools. “These schools, before Gov. (Glenn) Youngkin was elected, always said, ‘We just have to follow the rules. We have to follow the policies laid out by the Department of Education and the Centers for Disease Control. But when Youngkin was elected and removed the mask mandate, they suddenly didn’t feel the need to follow the rules.
“The schools are doing the same thing now. They’re putting the children at extreme risk. We have had sexual assaults in schools, one in Loudoun County that they tried to hide from parents.”
Gunlock, who is the director of the Independent Women’s Forum, also said Alexandria and other Northern Virginia school districts say there haven’t been any complaints about these issues, but she there’s a reason for that.
“They don’t welcome complaints,” she said. “They don’t care about parents. They shut down comments. They want parents to comply and shut up. Nobody’s going to complain because there is a system of intimidation by woke liberals who expect you to toe the line. There’s a lot of hypocrisy and double standards.
“And, there is evidence there have been problems with these bathroom policies. The new high school in Alexandria has unisex bathrooms, and the school pool is open to the public. So you could have an adult sex offender in the high school.”
Gunlock also said the millions of dollars in potential lost federal funding doesn’t matter to the schools.
“They’re just raise our taxes to make up for the loss of federal funds,” she said. “They don’t care. They’ll never back off of this issue.
“What we really do need is have prosecutions. These are violations of Title IX and of these girls’ civil rights. It’s sexual discrimination. That (prosecutions) is what will do it. They don’t care about anything else. They’re so obsessed with this gender ideology.”
The DOE’s proposed agreement would require schools to take the following actions:
Rescind the policies and/or regulations that allow students to access intimate facilities based on their “gender identity” rather than their sex;
Issue a memorandum to each Division school explaining that any future policies related to access to intimate facilities must be consistent with Title IX by separating students strictly on the basis of sex, and that Title IX ensures women’s equal opportunity in any education program or activity, including athletic programs; and
Adopt biology-based definitions of the words “male” and “female” in all practices and policies relating to Title IX.
