By Gretchen Garrity
There has been a lot
of media noise about the new Title IX regulations put in place by the
Biden-Harris administration. The new regulations, passed in April
2024 and implemented on August 1, 2024 redefine “sex.” No longer
does “sex” mean one’s biological reality—male or female—but
now can be as vaporous as gender identity, of which the making
of new gender identities there is no end.
Title IX was
originally implemented to ensure that “No person in the United
States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in,
be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under
any education program or activity receiving Federal financial
assistance.”
It protected women
from being discriminated against in sports—which is how most people
understand Title IX. However, it has always included any
education activity or program that receives federal dollars. And
there’s the rub. Title IX has been expanded dramatically.
In this article
“Biden’s
Title IX Rule Guarantees Discrimination, Censorship, And The End Of
Parents’ Rights,” Ginny Gentles, director of the Education
Freedom Center at the Independent Women’s Forum, exposes just what
can and will happen as the new Title IX regulations are implemented.
She writes, “When Biden’s Title IX rule takes effect on Aug.
1, using the “wrong” (e.g., biologically accurate) pronouns will
be considered “sex-based harassment” and a federal civil rights
violation worthy of investigation and discipline.”
Further, she states,
“Under the new Title IX regime, school districts likely will
assume that policies
that hide emotionally vulnerable children’s gender confusion from
parents, already in place in thousands of schools around the country,
are now federally required. Under these parental-exclusion policies,
when a child decides to embrace a new name, identity, and set of
pronouns, school staff swiftly craft
“gender support plans” that codify the child’s new identity and
determine the bathrooms, locker rooms, and sleeping arrangements for
overnight trips the child will use. The child determines if school
staff should actively hide the new name and identity from the
parents, uniting the entire school community against the parents...”
Not only will
students and school staff be under the gun if they happen to
“misgender” a student, but the new rules assert their
requirements can “override any conflicting FERPA
provisions.” This means that parents will no longer have the right
to have access to their children’s education records if Title IX is
invoked for their child.
INJUNCTIONS IN
PLACE
The radical nature
of the new Title IX requirements prompted numerous states and groups
to file suit against the Biden-Harris administration. Injunctions
against the new rules have been in place in 26 states thus far. See
the map above (link to interactive map HERE).
Missouri is included, so the new Title IX rules have not been
implemented, unless your local school district has seen fit to do so.
Parents and staff have a right to insist the new rule is NOT
implemented until and if the legal battle is resolved.
Additionally, it is
vitally important that parents be in touch with their school boards
to let them know that implementation of the new Title IX rules is
unacceptable.
OZARK SCHOOL DISTRICT
Christina Tonsing, a member of
the Ozark School Board, has been closely watching the battle
over Title IX and its implementation. Wanting to get ahead of the
ramifications, she has lately been active in working with the board
members and administration to address the issue.
Tonsing has written an article published on her website that lets the public know what is happening with the Ozark School District and Title IX implementation.
She writes: "The Ozark School District does not have a policy (that I could find)
limiting the use of bathrooms or locker rooms to those of the sex
discovered at birth. Similarly, I could find no policy protecting
employees’ rights to use pronouns aligned with the sex discovered at
birth. (There have been court cases prohibiting requirements to do
otherwise, yet the new Title IX regulations would have required them;
see https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/pronouns-free-speech-and-first-amendment for
more information on that.) One of the last contentious changes in the
2024 Title IX revisions involved the distinction for participation in
sports — which has thankfully already been clearly defined by Missouri’s
“Save Women’s Sports Act” championed for years by our own Senator Mike
Moon and finally passed and signed in 2023. I believe the Ozark Board
can and should at least briefly address at least those first two topics,
however, with a uniform, principled policy now rather than being
pressured to offer an appeasement later."
Further, Tonsing requests the issue be brought before the School Board at its August 29 meeting:
"I believe now is the best time to make that statement because the Board
can lay the groundwork to make clear the District’s position before
there are any contentions on it. Therefore, I requested an agenda item
allowing for discussion of the Title IX expansion be added to the next
meeting agenda."
Go HERE to read her article and a proposed statement regarding Title IX.
