Two Ohio school districts are facing federal complaints alleging they are “openly violating” federal civil rights laws after videos surfaced exposing administrators agreeing to conceal the biological sex of a male student to allow him to compete in girls’ sports.
School leaders in Dayton Public School District (DPSD) and Three Rivers Schools (TRS) were caught on camera saying they had no issue with hiding the true identity of male students who want to access girls’ spaces at school, according to complaints filed by Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) on Wednesday and exclusively shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The complaints are based on undercover videos recorded by Accuracy In Media (AIM) investigators posing as prospective parents.
“If it says female and that’s the birth certificate we have on the file, then that’s what we’re going to go with,” Carla Rodriguez, Student System Administrator at DPSD, told AIM investigators in the video.
“We do have transgenders that do participate in our area,” administrative assistant for the athletics department Mauryce Neal told AIM, adding that they would keep the transgender student’s identity “in house” and would not inform parents of other athletes.
DPSD did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
At TRS, Education Management Information System (EMIS) coordinator Debbie Fox told AIM that if the male student’s birth certificate is changed to female, “she will be entered as a female” and “no one will know the difference.”
Former district superintendent Mark Ault added that the edited birth certificate “might have some bearing… It may help.”
TRS informed the DCNF that one of the employees in the video has since passed away, and the other has retired.
Protestors demonstrate during a rally against the transgender bathroom rights repeal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2017. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
The complaints were filed with the Department of Education (ED), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). PPT said the schools appear to be “demonstrating deliberate indifference to harassment” and are “openly violating Ohio law and the principles communicated in Title IX and EO 14201.” (RELATED: ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’: Ohio Schools Caught Saying They’d Conceal Trans Students’ Sex, Complaint Alleges)
“Another day, another set of Ohio schools still peddling discriminatory ideology, apparently in violation of both state law and Title IX,” Michael Chamberlain, director of PPT, told the DCNF. “It seems deeply ingrained in those who work in school systems in the state, despite the wishes of the communities and leadership at the state and local levels. This should serve as a stark warning that even schools in parts of the country vehemently opposed to this destructive school of thought are not immune from having it imposed on their children.”
Ohio law requires schools to base facility use on biological sex and bans sex-change procedures for minors, including hormone blockers. President Donald Trump has also signed executive orders banning men from competing in women’s sports and declaring the federal recognition of only two biological genders.
“If changes in the law in Ohio are not enough to motivate these school systems to right themselves, then maybe investigations by the federal government could be,” Chamberlain continued.
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