The Appleton Area School District Board of Education met 02/24/2025. One of the items they voted on was the request to no longer enforce District Policy 411.4 (Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities) while 2020 Title IX regulations are in effect and instead rely on Policies 411.1 (Student Harassment) and 411.2 (Student Nondiscrimination) to provide protections for students.
It was noted during the meeting that although enforcement of Policy 411.4 was being paused, the other two policies included protection of transgender students and transgender students would still have access to the bathrooms designated for members of the opposite sex.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
The District’s legal counsel had advised AASD to pause enforcement of policy 411.4 (Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities) until further notice in response to the Federal Court decision in Tennessee v. Cardona which vacated the 2024 Title IX regulations which Policy 411.4 had been crafted to adhere to.
Assistant Superintendent Michael Hernandez told the Board that the District now needed to follow 2020 Title IX regulations which were covered by Policy 411.1 (Student Harassment) and Policy 411.2 (Student Nondiscrimination). He said that there were three major differences between the 2020 Title IX regulations and the 2024 regulations.
- The primary difference was the definition of sex which was more broad in the 2024 regulations.
- The second largest difference was the grievance process which was more expansive under the 2024 regulations.
- The third biggest difference was the scope of where actions could take place that would be covered by Title IX regulations.
[For those who are interested, this website seems to be very informative on the differences between the two sets of rules.]
Board member Jason Kolpack asked to confirm, “[I]f we wanted to continue doing those things [in policy 411.4], we can’t.”
Assistant Superintendent Hernandez responded, “Well, I guess the different question would be is, would we be willing to face litigation? I can speed if I want to, but if the speed limit says 75, I stay below 75. At this point we have guidance from the Department of Ed that’s saying we will follow 2020. We do depend on federal funds as well.”
Board member Nick Ross who identifies as a non-binary LGBTQ individual stated, “I firmly believe that a no vote against this in protest would send the wrong message and be the wrong idea, because a no vote in protest would imply that trans and non-binary students in our district no longer are protected from discrimination, and that is not true,” and went on to say, “Legal precedent in our district as of this moment, still says that the older version of Title IX protects students based on gender identity [….] So, our students who are trans or non-binary are still protected from discrimination even if this amendment passes and we’re no longer practicing the 411.4 Title IX rules.”
He preferred the 2024 regulations for a number of reasons but reiterated, “voting against this would imply that our students have no protections or staff have no protection, and that’s not true, not only because of the court cases. Also, guidance from DPI currently still says that we have to follow state law which explicitly calls out sexual orientation and implies gender identity and gender expression through the interpretation of the courts of appeals and potentially even decisions that were made at the Supreme Court level.”
He finished up by saying, “So, you know, for any trans student who is listening, you still have the right to be protected from bullying and from discrimination. You have the right to access the restroom that aligns with your gender identity. You cannot be told to use a gender-neutral restroom. You have the right to do that in Appleton Area Schools, and this decision is not going to change that.”
The Board ended up voting unanimously to approve pausing enforcement of Policy 411.4 (Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities).
View full meeting details here: https://go.boarddocs.com/wi/aasd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DCVUE87BA9F5
View full meeting video here: https://www.youtube.com/live/ZhWSwv6eqEc?si=cDyVtzAAYlkZOBSe
Be the first to reply