Huntley District 158 board president objects to Biden’s Title IX expansion, which adds gender identity

The Biden administration made some changes to Title IX rules this year, but codifying them is not sitting well with some on the Huntley Community School District 158 board.

When proposed changes came up at a school board meeting last week, board President Andy Bittman expressed frustration with the new rules.

“They have completely rewritten it,” Bittman said President Joe Biden’s administration and the Title IX that bans gender discrimination in schools. “I guess I’m frustrated with our federal government that they would go through this without actually, you know, having the force of a law change to do this, and they just rewrote it.”

Bittman said the district must follow federal law.

According to District 158 records, the rule changes expand the scope of Title IX sex discrimination so it applies to “discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation and/or gender identity.”

Bittman said he fully supported the Title IX protections for pregnant students, and said it should have been included 50 years ago.

Many of the changes district administrators broached were related to codifying new Title IX rules introduced by the Biden administration earlier this year. Among the rules updates are that transgender students can seek a response from their school if they are discriminated against and, if schools fail students, they can seek recourse from the federal government, according to the Associated Press.

The new rule changes took effect in August, but federal judges have temporarily blocked enforcement in 25 states, according to the AP.

In addition to gender identity, some of the changes affect how schools address sexual misconduct.

The rule changes require schools to address “unwelcome sex-based conduct that is so ‘severe or pervasive’ that it limits a student’s equal access to an education,” according to the AP.

Similar language is proposed to be added to the school district’s policy section prohibiting harassment of students, and it was among the changes Superintendent Jessica Lombard highlighted to the school board.

In his comments, Bittman also noted challenges in the courts to the changes. Over the summer, federal courts blocked the rule changes about gender identity from going into effect. A federal judge in Kentucky temporarily blocked the rule from going into effect in six states, days after another federal judge blocked the rule in four others.

Additionally, a federal judge in Kansas also ruled that the changes can’t be enforced in schools where children whose parents are members of Moms for Liberty and other similar groups attend. Bittman, referencing the case out of Kansas, said because some members of those groups have connections to the district, three schools in the district don’t have to follow the rule changes.

The new rule doesn’t touch on transgender students participating in sports. The Biden administration originally planned to forbid schools from banning transgender athletes, but put that on hold, according to the AP.

Bittman said that the rule changes don’t mention athletics. The school board is expected to further examine the changes in December.