Passionate pleas in support of LGBTQ+ youth rang out at the Valley View District 365-U School Board meeting Monday night after Naperville-based Awake Illinois filed a Title IX complaint against the Will County district.
The meeting marked the first session of the board since Awake earlier this month lodged a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against District 365-U and the Illinois State Board of Education alleging they violated Title IX safeguards for “engaging in sex-based discrimination within education programs or activities that receive federal funding.”
Awake’s complaint comes in the wake of others lodged against Chicago Public Schools and Deerfield Public Schools District 109 over the past month.
Allegations against District 365-U — which includes Bolingbrook, Romeoville and portions of Plainfield, Lockport and Downers Grove — stem from a purported incident at Bolingbrook High School.
The alleged incident is laid out in a 13-page grievance submitted by Bolingbrook High School parent Jim Fisher to District 365-U last month. The grievance is attached to Awake’s complaint, which is posted on its website.
Fisher alleges his daughter was using a girls restroom at Bolingbrook High last fall when “a boy, dressed in boy’s clothing” saw into her stall.
An apparent screenshot of email communication between Fisher and District 365-U Superintendent Keith Wood from February, which is cited as an exhibit in Awake’s complaint, references district guidelines concerning transgender students, although that subject is not mentioned specifically in the grievance.
In the email, Wood gives Fisher a written “recap of guidelines the district follows related to transgender student access to restrooms.” Those, per the exhibited exchange, stipulate that the district permits transgender students to use the restroom, locker rooms or changing rooms that align with their gender-related identity without harassment or discrimination as long as their behavior does not violate school policy or the law.
Guidelines referenced in the apparent exchange also note that the district provides supports for students, teachers or parents who are uncomfortable or concerned regarding privacy, including access to private bathrooms at their request.
Bolingbrook High School Principal Jason Pascavage and District 365-U Director of School & Community Relations Jim Blaney declined comment Monday and would not answer questions about the situation.
Meanwhile, parents, students and community members turned out to express support for LGBTQ+ rights and protections.
Ahead of the meeting, held in an auditorium at Lukancic Middle School in Romeoville, members of Bolingbrook Pride handed out small transgender pride flags. Inside the auditorium, people wearing shirts bearing the words “peace, love, equality” were scattered throughout the audience.
Allaina Humphreys, founder and chair of Bolingbrook Pride, was the first to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“Please do not allow fear-based rhetoric to derail the incredible progress we have made,” she urged board members. “Stand firm in support of our LGBTQ+ students. … Let the community continue to be a place where every student, regardless of gender identity, can learn, grow and be their authentic self.”
Nearly two hours of comment followed. There were speakers who voiced LGBTQ+ support and those who spoke in favor of Fisher and Awake, though the former outweighed the latter.
Bob Skrezyna, who identified himself as a lifelong Bolingbrook resident and parent of a transgender daughter, commended District 365-U for being a “safe space.”
“Valley View School District keeps children safe,” he said, wearing a sweatshirt that read “Proud Dad” in rainbow letters. Skyrezyna pleaded with the district to not “lose sight — ever — of the life-affirming impact that a loving, welcoming, safe environment has on a child and their parent.”
Brin Bixby, a transgender woman who said she graduated from Romeoville High School in 1996, called Awake’s complaint “more grift than grief.”
“They aren’t ignorant by choice,” she said. “It’s not that the existence of trans people and the reality of our lives hasn’t been explained to them. It has — they don’t care. … Hate and fear are their coin and trade. That is what they need from you. They need your continued hate, fear and ignorance. And I’m so proud to be a graduate of VVSD 365-U tonight to see all of you telling them that you don’t have any hate, fear and ignorance to give them.”
Awake Illinois founder and President Shannon Adcock also spoke.
“A lot of people here are trying to define my organization, they’re trying to define me,” said Adcock, a Naperville resident. “I’m not here to define anybody. I’m not. And I don’t hate anybody. … I’m here because a man in this district, a father, approached me asking for help.”
Awake’s complaint alleges that both District 365-U policies and Illinois Board of Education guidance are in violation of “current Title IX protections.”
Title IX is a 1972 law forbidding discrimination based on sex in education. Last year, the Biden administration finalized new rules expanding the law to also prevent discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Those added provisions, however, were struck down nationwide in January after a federal judge in Kentucky found they overstepped the president’s authority.
Awake’s complaint references the shift in policy, as well as an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January declaring that there are just two sexes, male and female. Further, the complaint argues that District 365-U and the state board of education are at risk of losing their federal funding for their “non-compliance with federal regulations regarding access to private facilities in educational programs and activities.”
“I implore you to be compliant with the (Office for Civil Rights),” Adcock said to board members, “or you’re going to have some significant enforcement headed your way.”
Her comments were followed by a loud chorus of boos and shouts from the audience.
Last month, the OCR announced that it had opened investigations into the state board of education, CPS and Deerfield Public Schools 109 amid allegations that the entities had violated Title IX.
Fisher, reached by phone Sunday ahead of the meeting, said the matter has “nothing to do with gender identity” but rather “it’s got everything to do with women’s rights being violated against Title IX.”
His grievance lays out months of alleged back and forth between Bolingbrook High School and District 365-U administrators. On Sunday, Fisher said he faced stalling and delays in addressing the problem and that is what motivated him to file a formal grievance with the district and engage with Awake.
“I’m not doing this for me,” he said. “I’m doing it for my daughter, and I’m doing it for the girls in the school. So, it’s not about me. It’s about an adult stepping up and supporting the rights of students. I am in a good place about this, and I will see it through to the end.”
The Associated Press contributed.
