Department of Education Finds Title IX and FERPA Violations Following DFI Complaints

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Education found four Kansas school districts violated Title IX and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) following complaints filed by the Defense of Freedom Institute (DFI).

The Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) found that the districts—Shawnee Mission Public Schools; Olathe Public Schools; Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools; and Topeka Public Schools—require staff to hide “gender transitions” from parents and allow students to access sex-separated spaces based on “gender identity” rather than biological sex.

“These findings confirm that schools cannot hide education records from parents or allow gender theory to gut the protections that Title IX guarantees to women and girls,” said DFI President and Co-Founder Bob Eitel. “DFI filed these complaints because parents are entitled to the transparency required by FERPA, and students are entitled to the protections required by Title IX. We are grateful that the Department of Education is upholding the rights of parents, students, and the rule of law.”

According to the Department of Education, “The Districts’ policies allow schools to conceal from parents whether their children are using different pronouns, going by different names, or even having different names printed on their diplomas.” 

“The Kansas City, Kansas Public School District and Topeka Public Schools violated Title IX with policies that allow male students to use female restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms, as well as participate in single-sex athletics, based on ‘gender identity,’”

OCR and SPPO found that “Olathe Public Schools and Shawnee Mission Public Schools violated Title IX with policies that allow students to use restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms based on ‘gender identity.’”  

DFI also filed a supplemental OCR complaint in partnership with Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) on behalf of Shawnee Mission parents and their daughter who, as a first grader, encountered a biological male identifying as female in the girls’ restroom. Following the incident, the child experienced significant emotional distress and began using staff bathrooms separate from student bathrooms to protect her privacy.

SLF President Kim Hermann said, “I am incredibly thankful that OCR has recognized the absolute insanity of these ‘gender identity’ policies and how dangerous they are for students of Shawnee Mission SD. It’s a shame that this even had to happen and that a school district would ever allow this level of emotional distress and torment to occur to any students, let alone a first-grade girl. The reality is that when you allow these forms of woke policies to infiltrate our school systems, students are the ones that pay the price.”

The Department of Education announced Friday that each district must take corrective action to align its policies with federal law or risk further enforcement action, including potential loss of federal funding.

To read DFI’s original consolidated complaint against the four school districts, click here.

To read the supplemental complaint filed with SLF against Shawnee Mission, click here.