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In a move that has sparked national attention, the U.S. Department of Education has announced a civil rights investigation into the policies of a North Carolina school district. This inquiry comes after allegations that the district permitted a transgender student access to areas designated exclusively for female students, including locker rooms, The Post reports.
Female students in the Cabarrus County Schools have raised concerns, claiming the district ignored their Title IX complaints. The complaints centered on a high school’s decision to allow a transgender student, identified as a biological male, to be present in spaces where girls change clothes. The principal allegedly dismissed these concerns as “too political to address,” according to reports.
During a public school board hearing in December, Trista Ruck, a student at Cox Mill High School, voiced her concerns. She described the athlete in question as “a biological male who dresses and acts like a female,” noting that the student is part of the football and basketball cheer teams.
“The core issue,” Ruck emphasized, “is not their participation in sports, but rather their presence in the women’s locker room and restrooms.” She recounted a teammate’s experience during spring workouts, where the teammate felt uneasy as she noticed the transgender student observing her and others as they changed.
These allegations have brought to light significant debates regarding the balance between inclusivity and privacy in educational settings, with the ongoing investigation set to examine whether the district’s actions aligned with federal civil rights laws.
Former Cox Mill principal Chris Myers later told female students they “can go somewhere else” if they felt uncomfortable about having to share intimate spaces with their transgender peer.
Myers later resigned after further claiming “there isn’t anything [the District] can do.”
DOE Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said the probe into Cabarrus County Schools concerned potentially “egregious violations” of female students’ “privacy and safety.”
Richey added that the DOE’s Office of Civil Rights would be “spotlighting the critical civil rights protections that women fought for decades to secure and the Trump Administration’s vigorous commitment to protecting Title IX’s promise for current and future generations of women and girls” throughout June.
“Under the Trump Administration, no woman or girl will have to fight alone to secure her basic protections, and we will not relent until Title IX is restored to the fullest extent of the law,” she also said.
The 1972 law defends equal educational opportunities for women and has other protections against sex-based discrimination.
The conservative group America First Legal had filed a civil rights complaint last month citing the school district’s failure to address the issue.
The Cox Mill kerfuffle is the latest civil rights investigation launched by President Trump’s Education Department.
In January, the department began looking into a Long Island school district where a biological boy sought to compete on a girls’ volleyball team.
One of Trump’s Day One executive orders declared that the male and female sexes are not changeable and mandated executive branch agents to “reflect sex accurately.”
The Biden administration had interpreted Title IX to bar discrimination against perceived gender identity, which a person could designate on official government documents like passports or other forms, regardless of their birth sex.
Cox Mill administrators reportedly claimed to “not have a specific policy” even in 2024 under former President Joe Biden and adopted his administration’s interpretation of Title IX, according to America First Legal’s complaint filed with the Education Department and Department of Justice.
Reps for Cabarrus County Schools and cuurent Cox Mill high school principal Meghan Frazier did not immediately respond to requests for comment.