A suburban Chicago district has reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Education’s office for civil rights over its treatment of a transgender student, the federal agency announced Thursday.
Township High School District 211 in Palatine, Ill., was the first ever to be found in violation of federal civil rights laws over transgender issues. Federal officials threatened penalties—which could include the withholding of federal funds from the school system—if it did not offer a transgender student, who was born a boy but who identifies as a girl, unrestricted access to the girls’ locker room.
The district agreed to “provide the student with access to the girls’ locker rooms ... based on the student’s request to change in private changing stations.” It also agreed to install privacy curtains within the girls’ locker rooms” and to provide alternative facilities for other students who may want more privacy. The student agreed to that solution.
