Department of Education investigating 3 Michigan school districts for alleged Title IX violations

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened a new investigation Thursday into Ann Arbor Public Schools, Monroe Public Schools and Chippewa Valley Schools in Michigan for alleged Title IX violations.

The districts reportedly allow males to participate in girls’ sports or permit students to use opposite-sex bathrooms and locker rooms, which violate the landmark 1972 provision governing women’s sports.

“Since Day One, the Trump Administration has steadfastly enforced Title IX according to its intended purpose – to protect young women and girls from discrimination on the basis of sex,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement.

Ann Arbor Public Schools maintains policies that allow males to participate in girls’ sports, according to the department’s press release. A biological male reportedly competed on an Ann Arbor school girls’ volleyball team and undressed in the girls’ locker room.

Monroe Public Schools reportedly forced its girls’ volleyball team to compete against a team with a biological male player and required the girls to share a locker room with that team. Chippewa Valley Schools also reportedly allowed a female athlete access to the boys’ locker room, according to the release.

The Office for Civil Rights declared June “Title IX Month” for the second consecutive year and has spent much of the month opening cases against districts it says are violating the law. A similar case was opened June 17 against Buncombe County Schools in North Carolina over biological males using girls’ restrooms, according to another release.

Over the past 17 months, the Trump administration has launched investigations into the California Community College Athletic Association, the School District of New Richmond in Wisconsin, Denver Public Schools and Western Carolina University over similar complaints involving males in female spaces.

“So long as adults flout the law and twist it in the pursuit of radical political ideologies, the Trump Administration will launch investigations, hold schools accountable and ensure the safety of female students across America,” Richey said in the same statement.