PALATINE, Illinois, December 3, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – The suburban Chicago school district sued by the Obama administration for refusing a teen boy access to its girls' locker rooms, bathrooms, and shower facilities may have to concede to the administration's demands in the 11th hour.
With the school's federal funding at risk, along with possible litigation, Township High School District 211 in Palatine, IL will hold an emergency board meeting tonight to consider an agreement with the administration as its 30-day notice for the district to comply comes to an end.
The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights condemned the district last month for not allowing the biological male who identifies as female to use the women's facilities.
The male student sued the district in 2014 for access to the female locker room, and
the district agreed to let the student use a separate, private room instead.
District 211 Superintendent Daniel Cates had said there was a need to balance the privacy rights of 12,000 students with other particular, individual needs of another group of students, and that the district believed that allowing the student to use the facilities of the opposite gender infringed on the privacy of all the students served by the district.
School officials further attempted to resolve the issue in October by installing privacy curtains for the transgender student's use in unused areas of the girls' locker room and another around a shower.
However, this was rejected by the feds' Office for Civil Rights because it would force the student to use the private areas, as opposed to giving him the choice of what facilities he would use.
The district has repeatedly held it is not in violation of the law. Transgender students are allowed to use the bathroom and play on sports teams of their self-identified gender and have their gender and name changed on school records.
Neither district officials nor the Department of Education offered comment or released details, according to the Chicago Tribune. The federal government must sign off on any agreement the board produces.
The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. tonight at Conant High School in Hoffman Estates, the location chosen to accommodate potential high attendance.
Township High School District 211 Board of Education member contact information can be accessed here.
