The Department of Education (ED) on Friday found five Virginia school districts violated civil rights laws for allowing boys to use girls’ spaces.
ED opened an investigation into the public school districts of Alexandria City, Arlington, Fairfax County, Loudoun County and Prince William County in February after American First Legal (AFL) alleged the districts’ policies illegally discriminated against women. The department said the districts are “trampling on the rights of students” with their policies catering to so-called transgender students that allow students to access bathrooms and locker rooms based on gender identity rather than sex.
“Although this type of behavior was tolerated by the previous Administration, it’s time for Northern Virginia’s experiment with radical gender ideology and unlawful discrimination to come to an end. OCR’s investigation definitively shows that these five Virginia school districts have been trampling on the rights of students in the service of an extreme political ideology,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights at ED, said in the announcement. “The Trump Administration will not sacrifice the safety, dignity, and innocence of America’s young women and girls at the altar of an anti-scientific illiberalism.”
ED proposed a resolution to the districts, asking them to change their policies that are inconsistent with civil rights laws, inform schools within the districts that facilities must only be accessed based on sex and “Adopt biology-based definitions of the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ in all practices and policies relating to Title IX.”
Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to the district’s public statement, which remarked they “will conduct a thorough review” of ED’s proposal and “will continue to work collaboratively with [ED] and all stakeholders to ensure compliance with Title IX and to support the well-being and dignity of every student.”
“PWCS remains firmly committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and respectful learning environment for all students and staff,” the district’s statement reads. “Our policies and practices are guided by our core values and by applicable federal and state laws. We continue to uphold our longstanding nondiscrimination policy, which prohibits discrimination in employment and in the provision of educational programs, services, and activities on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other protected characteristics.”
“Earlier today, Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) received the Letter of Findings and proposed Resolution Agreement from the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights,” the district told the DCNF. “ACPS is conducting a thorough review of these documents with staff and legal counsel in order to assess the next steps. ACPS remains committed to providing a safe and supportive learning environment for all students in accordance with federal and state laws.”
A spokesman for Fairfax County Public Schools told the DCNF the district is is currently “reviewing the document in detail and will respond after we have completed our review.”
The Loudoun County and Arlington school districts did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Following its February complaint, the AFL pushed the department again in July to expand its investigation and punish the schools, calling it “a slap in the face to parents and the administration that these Northern Virginia school districts would continue to so blatantly defy the United States Constitution and the Supreme Court of the United States.”
In its most recent complaint to ED, AFL alleged the districts were using a court’s decision in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board, a case arguing a Virginia school discriminated against a transgender student by making the individual use private, single-sex restrooms, to claim they are required to allow students to use whichever restroom they desire. The district’s policies also allow children’s gender identities to be hidden from the child’s parents, according to AFL.
Loudoun County Public Schools became infamous in 2021 when it was exposed for allegedly attempting to cover up several sexual assault allegations. Virginia’s attorney general placed the district under the microscope in May after several male students at one high school complained about a girl recording students in the boys’ locker room.
Arlington Public Schools’ policy allowed a serial sex offender to watch young girls change in a high school locker room for months before he was finally arrested in December 2024. The district still doubled down on its so-called inclusive policy.
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