US Department of Education issues Title IX violations to five Northern Virginia school divisions

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Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Friday the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found the policies of five Northern Virginia school divisions regarding sports and locker rooms violated the Title IX requirements in the Education Amendments of 1972.

Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Arlington County, Prince William County and the city of Alexandria were all determined to not be abiding by Title IX provisions, the governor’s office said.

“The school division policies allow students of the opposite sex access to intimate sex-separated facilities and allow students of the opposite sex to participate in sex-separated sports,” said a release from Youngkin’s office.

According to the release, “All five jurisdictions found that students in the divisions avoid using school restrooms whenever possible because of the schools’ policies; in addition, female students have witnessed male students inappropriately touching other students and watching female students change in a female locker room.”

Youngkin accused the Joe Biden administration of being overly lenient in support of the school divisions’ standards.

“These school divisions have been violating federal law, deliberately neglecting their responsibility to protect students’ safety, privacy and dignity, and ignoring parents’ rights,” Youngkin said. “Common sense is back, with biological boys and girls in their own locker rooms and bathrooms, and boys out of girls sports.”

Youngkin went on to cite Title IX violations in Loudoun County, through which he said school officials reprimanded boys who complained that a biological girl was allowed in the boys locker room.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said he is encouraged that the federal government is working to restore “sanity” in public education.

“I fought to prevent the Biden administration’s radical Title IX re-interpretation from being imposed on Virginia’s public schools,” Miyares said in the release. “Those rules would have held federal education dollars hostage and forced Virginia’s public schools to submit to a radical, harmful, and ideologically driven agenda. Thankfully, we won that battle in court.”

According to the release, the result of the Office for Civil Rights’ decision is a three-pronged resolution agreement that requires the five divisions take the following actions:

Rescind the policies and/or regulations which allow students to access intimate facilities based on their “gender identity” rather than their sex;

Issue a memorandum to each division school that any future policies related to access to intimate facilities must be consistent with Title IX by separating students strictly on the basis of sex, and that Title IX ensures women’s equal opportunity in any education program or activity including athletic programs; and

Adopt biology-based definitions of the words “male” and “female” in all practices and policies relating to Title IX.

In a Friday statement, Prince William County Schools said it “only recently” received the agreement and said it would conduct a “thorough review” thereof, responding through “the proper channels.”

“PWCS remains firmly committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and respectful learning environment for all students and staff,” the statement read. “Our policies and practices are guided by our core values and by applicable federal and state laws. We continue to uphold our longstanding nondiscrimination policy, which prohibits discrimination in employment and in the provision of educational programs, services, and activities on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other protected characteristics.”