Superintendent Cates’ intemperate and inflammatory statements this afternoon are disappointing. Clearly, the District remains committed to a path of discrimination and division, rather than moving toward healing, understanding and inclusion. In its letter of findings, OCR found the District in violation of Title IX for refusing to allow our client in the locker room unless she agreed to change behind a privacy curtain. Similarly, the resolution agreement fails to condition our client’s locker room access on whether she uses the privacy curtains. Our client should be treated as every teenage girl, with the right to exercise her own sense of modesty and privacy. Threatening to cut off our client’s access to the locker room if she does not promise to use the privacy curtains exclusively simply moves her current segregation from a separate room to a space inside the locker room, as OCR already concluded. After being caught in their repeated misrepresentations of this matter over several weeks, it is strange to see the District accuse someone else of acting in “bad faith” and engaging in “smoke and mirrors.” It is time to end this hostile and cynical public relations campaign and for the leadership of District 211 to create an open and welcoming environment for all students – as other school districts in Illinois and the nation have already done.

Learn More