Alamance-Burlington school board members voted 6-1 during their latest work session Tuesday afternoon to adopt a policy revision that ABSS officials say complies with expanded protections for LGBTQ students – and prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and other “sex stereotypes” – under newly-implemented revisions to the federal Title IX by the U.S. Department of Education.
Voting in favor were: school board chairman Sandy Ellington-Graves; vice chairman Donna Westbrooks; and school board members Dan Ingle, Chuck Marsh, Dr. Charles Parker, and Seneca Rogers.
School board member Ryan Bowden cast the lone vote against, saying prior to actually voting on the motion to adopt the new policy, “I have a lot of questions that I want to dig into.”
A new version of the school board’s “Title IX sex discrimination policy,” which outlines a raft of prohibited types of conduct, along with procedures for filing a grievance based on alleged discrimination, was presented to the school board for approval Tuesday afternoon – but without any of the customarily red-lined language to show what is being added to or deleted from the policy.
The revisions to Title IX that ABSS will implement prohibit discrimination based on sex discrimination, including “sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, sexual orientation, and gender identity,” according to the revisions to the federal amendment and subsequent guidance issued this spring by the U.S. Department of Education .
The policy change approved Tuesday appears to contravene the Parents’ Bill of Rights passed last year by the General Assembly. The bill was sponsored by senator Amy Scott Galey, a Republican who represents Alamance and Randolph counties, as well as Republican senators Michael Lee and Lisa Barnes.
School board members were advised by their attorney Tuesday to approve the new policy, which was made retroactive to August 1, in order to comply with the new Title IX regulations and also not risk losing federal funding in the event that a complaint alleging sex discrimination were filed against ABSS.
School board members voted 7-0 Tuesday to amend their agenda to change the requested policy revision, which had been listed as an informational item, to a voting item. They subsequently voted 6-1 to waive a second reading for the policy and vote to adopt the new policy as presented by ABSS chief student services officer Dr. Kristy Davis.
All North Carolina school systems had been given a deadline of January 1, 2024 to implement policies to conform to the Parents’ Bill of Rights, which bans instruction on gender identity, sexual activity, and sexuality for all N.C. K-12 students, according to the Legislative Analysis Division for the General Assembly. The Parents’ Bill of Rights also requires public school employees to notify parents if a child requests to change his or her name or preferred pronoun at school.
Ingle countered that some North Carolina K-12 schools and universities appear to have been included on the list of organizations that are exempt from adopting the new rules. “I noticed that UNC-Chapel Hill was one of the universities on the list to be able to opt out,” he said, referring to a 142-page list of exempt K-12 schools and universities that was filed in federal court on July 15.
However, the school board’s attorney, Adam Mitchell of the Tharrington Smith law firm in Raleigh, told the board that “North Carolina is not on the list to opt out.”
Mitchell, who participated in the discussion via phone, told the board Tuesday afternoon, “There has been some litigation in different parts of the country related to these regulations.” While some states’ public school systems have been enjoined from putting these regulations into place, North Carolina is not one of them and had not joined the suit, he said.
“The [litigation] we’re discussing was brought in Kansas; it was only brought in that place and only applied to certain states,” Mitchell told the board. “The court decided, in certain schools, if they have children of members of those groups [who filed the suit], they would be subject to the injunction…They have kids who are members of the nonprofits groups that are part of that lawsuit. It mainly applies to Kansas and other school districts in that region.”
While some North Carolina K-12 schools, colleges, and universities are among the schools that are currently exempt from enforcement of the new Title IX rules – a higher court could overturn the Kansas federal judge’s July 2 ruling – ABSS is not, based on a July 15 federal court filing. The only K-12 schools and colleges in Alamance County that are included on the list of exemptions are Burlington Christian Academy, Alamance Community College, and Elon University, according to a list of K-12 schools filed July 15 by Young America’s Foundation, Female Athletes United, and Moms for Liberty and a list of colleges and universities filed the same day by Young America’s Foundation and Female Athletes United.
The plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit earlier this year against the U.S. Department of Education to prevent the expanded protections under Title IX from taking effect included the state of Kansas, Moms for Liberty, and several other groups who sought to block the expanded protections for LGBTQ students from taking effect, according to the federal suit.
On July 2, a federal district court judge issued a ruling that halted the expansion of Title IX to include gender identity and other “sex characteristics” outlined in the federal “2024 Title IX Final Rule Overview.”
“The injunction covers not only the states of Kansas, Alaska, Utah, and Wyoming but also every school across the country attended by plaintiff Katie Rowland [a 13-year-old student in Oklahoma who stopped using the bathroom at school after male students were allowed to use the restroom that aligns with their “gender identity”], the members of Female Athletes United, the members of Young America’s Foundation, and the minor children of the members of Moms for Liberty,” Alliance Defending Freedom, the law firm that represented several of the plaintiffs, announced July 2.
“I think what Mr. Mitchell is saying, is because we didn’t join the lawsuit, we aren’t able to opt out,” Parker said Tuesday afternoon. “This guidance is not fully litigated…I understand that North Carolina would have to be part of that lawsuit.”
Mitchell confirmed for the school board, “Title IX, the law passed by Congress is binding. [The Office of Civil Rights] is responsible for enforcing Title IX, so if a student has a complaint they would make a complaint to the [OCR]. At this time, the regulations are binding on all ABSS schools.”
“This is for the folks that are listening,” Ingle responded. “What we’re being asked to do is comply…so we’ve had to tweak our policy; that’s what we’ve done, is just comply with title IX.”
Parker echoed Ingle, saying it’s necessary for the board to adopt the changes because “a lot of funding” is tied to compliance with federal law.
“That’s generally correct,” Mitchell told the board. “If there’s a Title IX complaint, and we’re found to be out of compliance, the ultimate penalty can be a withholding of federal funds.”
Read the newspaper’s editorial page opinion on the school board’s action: ABSS’ LGBTQ lemmings: https://alamancenews.com/abss-lgbtq-lemmings/
