The federal Office of Civil Rights or OCR ensures students equal access to education and resolves complaints about discrimination based on race, sexual orientation and gender.
“The OCR protects Delaware Valley students simply by the statutes of the government established in Title IX and VII, as well,” Mr. Chris Lordi, Director of Human Resources for the district, said.
The agreement with the OCR originated from a lawsuit against the district by a transgender student who attended the high school from 2011 to 2015.
This agreement outlines responsibilities the district has to follow and protocols about trangender students having equal access to bathrooms and locker rooms. It also provides access for students to change their name and gender in both Power School and the yearbook.
“The policy ensures that all students, including transgender students, have an equal opportunity to participate in all education programs and activities offered by the District,” according to the Resolution Agreement, OCR Case No. 03141056.
At the school board meeting on Feb. 20 during board comment, school board members Carl Will and Jack Fisher explained that because of the executive orders signed by President Donald Trump, specifically “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” they would like the district to disengage from the agreement the district has been bound to for almost 10 years.
During the meeting, Will commented that the district must check with the school district’s attorneys and referenced KingSpry and the school board solicitor Nick McIntrye. McIntrye declined to comment to the Del.Aware on this issue.
“I’d like to remove the district from the OCR agreement. I think it kind of pigeon holes us into the way we govern our school district, especially when we have a new presidential administration in office that is changing a lot of policies,” Will said. “These resolutions that are in here and ideas are not current to what the current administration in Washington is instructing that is going to be law here in the future, very shortly.”
At the last school board workshop on March 13, Fisher read the motion he will propose at the next meeting, which will be held tonight at 6 p.m. at the Delaware Valley Administrative Offices.
“It is thus my position, and hopefully that of the whole board, that the DV school board that female bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities only be used by females. Noting that the executive order may eliminate all federal funding for schools that violate this order,” Fisher said. “I best motion that the OCR case No. 03141056 resolution agreement dates 10/22/2015 be no longer complied with and consider it null and void immediately.”
Fisher went on to explain the need for urgency in this situation and not wanting to wait for more legal counsel on this decision.
“There are times you don’t rely just on what the attorney says. You rely on what the people elected you to do,” Fisher said.
At the work session Board President Pam Lutfy, Vice-President Felicia Sheehan, and board members, Christine Agron and Jessica Decker disagreed with the rapid pace of Fisher’s proposed motion.
“In my opinion we simply cannot abandon a (administrative decision), without knowing the parameters of that decision,” Lutfy said at the work session.
This lack of knowledge about the legality of disengaging from the OCR agreement was common across certain board members. Sheehan shared her concerns for possible lawsuits that could come from pulling out of this agreement and the consequences that would fall on the taxpayers.
“Nobody’s saying that we’re not going to or we’re going to disengage from the OCR. But I think to make a decision in a week without proper counsel, and knowing everything is up in turmoil, everything is being flipped upside down,” Sheehan said. “I don’t see the need to make a decision seven days from now with everything else that’s going on.”
The Del.Aware has also reached out to Lutfy who declined to comment on this topic until further discussion with the board. She did share a proposed solution at the meeting for both the public and the board to have full knowledge of the agreement before a decision is made.
“My plan is that on April (16). We’re going to have a public meeting, it will be a discussion, and it will be an answer question discussion,” Lufty said.
