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Illinois’ largest school district gets federal disapproval of compromise on transgender student locker room

The battle for equal access for transgender students is pitting Illinois’ largest high school district against federal authorities.

At issue is locker room access for a transgender high school student in Palatine-based Township High School District 211. The student, formerly male who claims to now identify as female, is asking that “she” receive full access to the girls’ locker room at all times.

Citing privacy concerns, the district has denied the request and instead offered a separate room where the student can change.

“At some point, we have to balance the privacy rights of 12,000 students with other particular, individual needs of another group of students,” said District 211 Superintendent Daniel Cates. “We believe this infringes on the privacy of all the students that we serve.”

Federal officials responded to the complaint, which was filed about a year and a half ago with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, by saying the school is in violation of the Title IX gender equality law, according to the ACLU and district officials. 

School officials and board of education members worked for months in hopes of finding an acceptable compromise, Cates said. The proposed solution, which Cates said was “quickly squelched,” required the transgender student to change and shower in private.

Transgender students also are given the option to use the locker room of the sex from which they transitioned, a district spokesman said.

With educational campaigns and a recent media spotlight on transgender issues, school officials have found themselves wrestling more than ever with establishing practices for transgender students.

Last year, the Office for Civil Rights reached a settlement with a California school district after a transgender elementary school student filed a complaint alleging gender discrimination. The district ultimately agreed to allow the student to use female-designated facilities, including the locker room and bathroom.

In Barrington Community Unit School District 220, officials work with several transgender students and their families to ensure they feel included, spokesman Jeff Arnett said.

Only one middle school student has needed to use a locker room, Arnett said. That student is allowed full access to the locker room, with a slight variation.

“We provide an aide to the student in the locker room to be there and observe from a distance in case there are any questions or any issues,” Arnett said.

Just last year, Chicago Public Schools adopted guidelines for its transgender students, which included a case-by-case determination of locker room and bathroom use.

Neither Barrington nor Chicago has reported a problem, but that’s not been the case in all school systems. In recent years, backlash forced East Aurora school officials to retract a policy that allowed transgender students access to the locker rooms and bathrooms of their identified gender.

Alex Sennello, a local transgender activist, said she battled with school administrators at Lake Forest High School before graduating in 2013. She said they wanted her to use out-of-the-way faculty bathrooms. She ended up using the girls’ bathroom stalls to change for physical education.

If the district cannot reach a compromise with federal officials, it risks losing some of the $6 million it receives in federal funding.

Mike Cannon, parent of a former student at Fremd High School in District 211, supported the district. 

“The solution District 211 came up with seems to be reasonable to me,” he said. “If someone wants to be a transgender person, I think giving them a private place to change would be a reasonable solution. To make special arrangements to fit into the general population is almost abusing the rights of others.” READ MORE >>

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