Five Northern Virginia school districts are under investigation by the Department of Education (DOE). This comes after a conservative group filed a complaint about transgender-inclusive policies.
The America First Legal Foundation filed a complaint to the DOE earlier this month. The group named Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Prince William County, Arlington, and Alexandria City schools districts. AFL is a conservative organization led by Stephen Miller, a senior advisor to President Donald Trump.
AFL alleges that the schools’ policies — which allow students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identities — violate Title IX protections against gender discrimination.
In its complaint, AFL said the districts’ transgender policies “provide greater rights to students whose ‘gender identity’ does not match their biological sex than it does to students whose ‘gender identity’ matches their biological sex.”
In response, the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights shared a letter stating that it would investigate the complaints. The letter notes that “opening an investigation does not mean that OCR has made a final determination with regard to the merits. During the investigation, OCR is neutral; OCR will collect and analyze the evidence it needs in order to make a decision about the complaint.”
This follows a decision from the Virginia High School League to restrict trans students’ participation on sports teams to coincide with their gender assigned at birth. That move was prompted by an executive order from the Trump administration.
The five school systems named in the complaint are aware of the investigation, The Washington Post reported.
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
