Parent sues Monroe Public Schools over alleged transgender student on visiting volleyball team

A father of a Monroe Public Schools student filed a federal lawsuit against the Southeast Michigan school district, its superintendent and its athletic director over the circumstances of, and response to, a transgender athlete playing on a visiting volleyball team.

The lawsuit by Sean Lechner, whose daughter plays varsity volleyball for Monroe High School, was filed on Oct. 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. 

The family is represented by the Thomas More Law Center of Ann Arbor.

CBS News Detroit has reached out to Monroe Public Schools for a statement or response to the federal lawsuit, and has yet to receive a reply. 

Monroe hosted Ann Arbor Skyline for a volleyball match

The litigation focuses on the circumstances surrounding Monroe High School's hosting of Ann Arbor Skyline High School for a MHSAA Division 1 varsity girls volleyball match on Sept. 9, 2025. Skyline defeated Monroe, 3-0, according to the season records.  

At the time, Lechner's teenage daughter was a member of Monroe's team. 

Monroe shared its locker room and bathroom stalls with the Skyline team that day, the lawsuit says. 

"Monroe High School officials had actual knowledge a day before the game that a biological male (transgender female) would be competing against their girls' volleyball team and sharing their girls' locker room. Monroe officials said nothing to their players or their parents. Monroe officials gave their girls' team no notice and no choice," the lawsuit claims. 

The Monroe players later learned that they had competed against a transgender student, the lawsuit said. 

MHSAA allows biological males to participate in female sports on a case-by-case basis. The organization previously confirmed to CBS News Detroit that one eligibility waiver was granted under its transgender student policy for the 2025-26 fall sports season.   

Parent complains about the circumstances

Lechner sent an email to the athletic director two days later asking whether a transgender student had participated in the game, and whether that student had access to the same locker room as his daughter. The lawsuit said he received a reply from athletic director Chet Hesson that neither confirmed nor denied the circumstances. 

On Dec. 5, 2025, Lechner filed formal complaints to Monroe Public Schools Board of Education, the Michigan High School Athletic Association, the U.S. Department of Education and the Michigan Department of Education. He also participated in a press conference on Dec. 8, 2025, at the Monroe County Courthouse to announce his Title IX complaint. 

The U.S. Department of Education said in June that it was investigating Monroe Public Schools over the matter and, in July, said it was demanding answers from Ann Arbor Public Schools over its transgender student policies.

Monroe Superintendent Andrew Shaw reported in April 2026 that an independent investigation concluded that claims of Title IX violations against Monroe Public Schools were unsubstantiated. In the meantime, the district has decided to no longer allow shared locker rooms with opposing teams.   

Civil lawsuit in federal district court

The newly filed federal lawsuit cites Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, along with related federal law, saying that the intent of Title IX is to provide equal opportunities for boys and girls to participate in educational and athletic programs. 

"Title IX promised the young women of this Nation a level playing field," the lawsuit said. 

The lawsuit claims that Title IX "does not allow transgender females to participate in girls' sports," given that the phrase "sex" during its enactment in the early 1970s involved biological sex rather than gender identity. In support of that stance, the lawsuit cites Executive Order 14168 signed in January 2025 by President Trump that "sex" refers to the biological classification of male or female. 

The suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, along with a declaration that Monroe Public Schools violated Title IX for the circumstances and its response to the matter. It further seeks to prohibit Monroe Public Schools from forcing the teen to compete against "biological males on opposing girls' athletic teams." 

The claims include emotional distress, humiliation, and embarrassment as the teen "suffered invasion of her bodily privacy, humiliation, continuing anxiety about changing for competition, loss of the enjoyment of her sport, and diminished access to the athletic and educational opportunities Monroe offered her peers." 

The above video originally aired on Dec. 8, 2025.