The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has launched an investigation into a Wisconsin high school following allegations that a transgender student exposed himself to underage girls, as per an official ED letter.
The incident reportedly occurred in March at Sun Prairie Area High School (SPASD), where four freshman girls were allegedly exposed to the genitalia of an 18-year-old male student who identifies as transgender. The student is said to have undressed in front of the girls during a swimming class. Despite the school being informed of the incident, it is alleged that no action was taken.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) subsequently called on the ED Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to investigate SPASD for its alleged failure to address the incident. "Following the schools failure to sufficiently address the incident, disregard for parents concerns, and their stonewalling of an open records request, WILL worked alongside parents of the school district to seek an investigation and remedies from the Department of Education under the Biden Administration," a press release from WILL stated.
The federal government has since confirmed that it will be investigating SPASD. "The Office for Civil Rights can confirm that there is an open investigation of Sun Prairie School District under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972," a spokesperson for ED told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Cory Brewer, WILL associate counsel, expressed his concerns about the situation. "Parents and students should be able to feel confident that their school is complying with federal laws like Title IX, but right now in Sun Prairie parents do not have that confidence," he said. "We applaud the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights for investigating the allegations made in our complaint, but we all need to wait and see if they take this as seriously as they should."
The issue of transgender individuals using bathrooms that align with their gender identity has become a contentious topic nationwide. In Idaho, a district court blocked a state law in October that would have prevented male students from using female bathrooms and locker rooms. Meanwhile, hundreds of students at a Pennsylvania school staged a walkout in September to protest a decision allowing transgender students to use bathrooms that matched their gender identity.
Brewer expressed hope that the investigation would provide answers for parents and families at SPASD. "We hope this results in answers for parents and families at the Sun Prairie Area School District, but we wont know until we see the results of the investigation," he said.
A spokesperson for SPASD told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the school district does not condone any student of one sex being present in a state of undress in the presence of students of another sex on school property. "What happened in this incident was not in line with our Districts practices," the spokesperson said.
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