In February, the U.S. Department of Education began investigating five school districts in Virginia after America First Legal said the districts' policies were illegally discriminatory against women. They are public school districts in Loudoun County, Fairfax County, Alexandria City, Arlington, and Prince William County.
Beth Parlato is Senior Legal Advisor with the Virginia-based Independent Women's Forum, which last week published an explosive exposé revealing Fairfax County Public School's defiance of federal law.
"The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights had opened up an investigation because there were several complaints filed with males invading female spaces," she tells AFN.
And it wasn't just boys competing in girls' sports, according to Parlato. "We're talking locker rooms, shower rooms, restrooms …. They were inundated with complaints, and so they did complete their investigation."
The Department of Education gave the districts ten days to change their school policies that allowed "trampling" of students' rights, or federal funding will be withheld.
"At Independent Women's Forum, we're in agreement with the administration," Parlato emphasizes. "Title IX has been around now for 53 years [guaranteeing] protections and rights for women in education and athletics, and these schools need to comply."
Parlato contends schools all across the country must comply by protecting the safety and well-being of women and girls – or the Trump administration will hold them accountable.
