Massachusetts School District Under Federal Scrutiny for Transgender Bathroom Policy

EXCLUSIVE TO FOX: The Department of Education has initiated a probe into a Massachusetts public school district over claims that it permits students in K-12 schools to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity rather than their biological sex. The investigation also addresses allegations that students are being made to comply with this policy and parents are being blocked from making any changes.

The policy of Westford County Public Schools (WPS) regarding “Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students” reportedly allows students to use facilities corresponding to the gender they identify with, compelling students who disagree to vacate, according to America First Legal (AFL). This organization initially filed the complaint that led to the investigation.

“America First Legal is devoted to protecting children from what they view as leftist indoctrination,” stated Gene Hamilton, President of AFL, in a comment to Fox News Digital. “We refuse to let our girls be silenced or endangered by WPS’s ‘gender identity’ policy. The Department of Education’s investigation sends a strong signal to schools nationwide: Title IX will not be compromised by gender ideology.”

The Department of Education’s inquiry into the practices of Westford County Public Schools is underway. (Getty Images)

The same policy allegedly allows girls to enter boys facilities as well, forcing students who disagree with the policy or may be of the opposite sex to leave the bathroom or locker room. 

“Prior Administrations regularly misinterpreted Title IX to pander to political ideology and police ‘misgendering’ despite not having sound legal grounds,” Department of Education spokesperson Amelia Joy told Fox News Digital in a statement. “With today’s actions, the Trump Administration is upholding the law and righting years of wrongs.”

The policy, which appears to have been removed from the WPS website, also included policies surrounding gender identities, pronoun usage, and defines terms like “gender nonconforming.”

Bathroom entrance sign for men’s and women’s restrooms. (Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket)

When the policy was being debated prior to its implementation in March 2025, WestfordCAT reported that one school board committee member said that staff could also be affected by not allowing the use of opposite sex facilities based on gender identity. 

“I know that we have students, possibly staff, that this impacts,” WPS committee member Tom Laflamme said. “They are real people who are harmed by taking no action. The policy may not be perfect because we are humans, but it makes a statement that they matter to us.”

The policy was implemented after President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled: “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government” on his first day in office, Jan. 20, 2025.

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP)

The executive order threatens the stripping of federal funds from institutions which do not recognize a two-gender standard and instead rely on self-defined gender identity.

“Across the country, ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex have increasingly used legal and other socially coercive means to permit men to self-identify as women and gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women, from women’s domestic abuse shelters to women’s workplace showers,” the executive orders reads. “This is wrong.”

“Federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology. Each agency shall assess grant conditions and grantee preferences and ensure grant funds do not promote gender ideology.”

Fox News Digital reached out to WPS and Laflamme, but did not receive responses in time for publication.