Feds target 3 Michigan public school districts over alleged Title IX violations involving transgender students
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights says it is investigating three Michigan school districts over the sports involvement of transgender students.
The investigation seeks to determine whether the Ann Arbor, Monroe and Chippewa Valley public school districts violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 by allowing students to participate in athletic teams and use locker rooms based on what the department calls "self-professed 'gender identities.'"
Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex for any program or activity that receives federal financial assistance.
The education department says that Ann Arbor Public Schools "maintains policies allowing males to compete on women's sports teams," specifically, allowing a student who was assigned male at birth to compete on the female volleyball team. The complaint filed with the department claims that the student "not only competed on the girls' volleyball team at an Ann Arbor school, putting the safety of other students at risk, but he also allegedly used the female-only locker rooms to undress."
Monroe Public Schools is accused of discrimination against female students by scheduling the girls volleyball team to compete against a team that included "a biological male," and further having a shared locker room with that athlete.
"Parents report that Monroe Public Schools failed to respond appropriately to their concerns about legal violations and the risk of their children being put in inappropriate, unsafe situations," the department said.
The Ann Arbor and Monroe circumstances were the topic of a complaint that a parent filed in December against Monroe Public Schools, Michigan High School Athletic Association, the state and the U.S. Department of Education. That complaint claimed that parents in Monroe were not notified ahead of time about a transgender student-athlete from an Ann Arbor school, saying some school administrators knew ahead of time but didn't notify parents of the circumstances.
The Chippewa Valley School District is named by the education department on an accusation that it allowed a student-athlete who was assigned female at birth to use a locker room otherwise assigned to boys.
"The convoluted practice of allowing students to participate on sex-segregated athletic teams and make use of locker rooms based on 'gender identity' is not only known to be unsafe for students, but is a direct violation of federal law," argued Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey.
The Department of Education notes that at the collegiate sports level, the NCAA limits women-only competitions to those who are "assigned female at birth."
Meanwhile, many medical organizations – including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics – have stated that gender identity is not a mental health disorder.
CBS News Detroit has reached out to all three school districts for comment and is awaiting responses from Ann Arbor and Monroe. Chippewa Valley provided the following statement:
"Chippewa Valley Schools was notified through local media that the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation regarding a Title IX complaint. As a matter of practice, the district cooperates fully with any review conducted by the Office for Civil Rights.
"Chippewa Valley Schools remains committed to providing a safe, supportive, and respectful learning environment for all students and to complying with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations.
"We will continue to work cooperatively with the Office for Civil Rights throughout its review process."
