The investigation comes soon after the Supreme Court heard arguments in two landmark cases involving transgender athletes.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has announced investigations into 18 educational institutions across the country due to Title IX violations.
The announcement came soon after the Supreme Court heard arguments in two landmark cases involving transgender athletes participating in women’s and girls’ sports.
Great Valley School District, located in Chester County, is one of the institutions under investigation. The investigation was sparked by a complaint filed by a local resident and former school board member.
“OCR is opening an investigation to examine whether the District has a policy or practice of allowing male students to participate in athletic programs designated for female students in violation of Title IX and its implementing regulation,” wrote the Compliance Team Leader in an email to Bruce Chambers, the resident who filed the complaint.
“OCR’s initiation of an investigation is not itself evidence of a violation of federal civil rights laws and regulations. During the investigation, OCR is neutral; OCR will collect and analyze the evidence it needs in order to make a decision about the complaint.”
The complaint filed by Chambers alleges that the school district’s policy 103.3, “Transgender and Gender Expansive Students,” violates Title IX and President Trump’s executive orders related to protecting women’s and girls’ sports.
“The Great Valley School District violates Title IX by enforcing Policy 103.3 that will ‘ensure the safety, comfort, and healthy development of transgender and gender expansive students,’” wrote Chambers in the complaint.
“Policy 103.3 provides these students with the ability to feel safe and comfortable using sex-segregated intimate restroom and locker room facilities as well as participating in physical education, sports and other school activities consistent with their ‘gender identity.’ However, this policy is in violation of Title IX as it denies students whose ‘gender identity’ is the same as their sex the ability to feel safe and comfortable in the use of the sex-segregated common restrooms, locker rooms, and in their participation in sports, physical education classes, and other school activities,” he continued.
The policy Chambers launched the complaint about says that “students shall be allowed to use the restroom that corresponds to the gender identity they consistently assert at school. No student will be required to use a restroom that conflicts with their consistently asserted gender identity.”
The policy also requires that the district provide transgender or gender expansive students with locker room access corresponding to gender identity, and that such students be permitted to participate in athletic programs of their choosing.
According to Chambers, he contacted the school district board three times to request that the policy be rescinded. He notified the district that he would contact OCR if the policy was not removed.
Chambers previously served on the board from 2009 to 2012 and was Board President from 2010 through 2011.
