DELAWARE VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT — In light of an anti-DEI push from the Trump administration, the board of education at Delaware Valley School District (DVSD) plans to revisit a 2016 agreement between the school and the federal Office of Civil Rights [OCR], an agreement that bound the district to specific policies for inclusion of its transgender students. 

Discussions at a March 12 work session had the board split in its views on the best way forward. Some board members argued that DVSD needed to pull out of the OCR agreement to comply with a Trump executive order, and supported a motion to ensure that female bathrooms, locker rooms and other school facilities would only be used by females. Other members, citing ongoing confusion about the exact ramifications of shifting federal policies, said DVSD should seek legal council before it made any decision on the agreement. 

Board president Pam Lutfy laid out a plan for the next two board meetings to follow: the first, on April 10, would have the board conduct a question-and-answer session with school administrators to find out more about how the OCR agreement affects students; the second, on May 15, would have a more formal presentation from legal council outlining the conflicting issues of federal law, state law and case law that would apply. 

“In my opinion, we simply cannot abandon [the OCR agreement] without knowing the parameters of that decision,” said Lutfy. 

DVSD signed the OCR agreement in March 2016, following a lawsuit from a transgender student, and an OCR investigation which found DVSD violated that student’s Title IX rights by subjecting her to different treatment on the basis of sex. 

The agreement required DVSD to work with a consultant and revise its policies around discrimination, including to “provide all students, including transgender students and other students who do not conform to sex stereotypes, equal access to all such programs and activities in a manner that does not discriminate based on sex,” according to the text of the agreement. 

The Trump administration issued a January 29 executive order titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” targeted DEI, calling it “discriminatory equity ideology” as opposed to the standard definition of “diversity, equity and inclusion.”

It ordered the federal government to come up with a plan to eliminate federal support and funding for DEI practices and to enforce “patriotic education,” which includes “a clear examination of how the United States has admirably grown closer to its noble principles throughout its history.”

Several board members at DVSD argued that the executive order would pull funding from any district that maintained DEI practices, including those mandated by the OCR order, and urged the board to withdraw itself from the agreement, lest it lose federal funding. They also made it clear they saw the decision as the right thing to do. 

“I believe that is the direction that the board should go in, that we have an obligation to our girls to make sure that their bathrooms and their locker rooms have no boys in them,” said board member Jack Fisher, who read out a motion to withdraw from the OCR order. 

Other board members urged the board to understand the consequences of such a decision before it made them. 

“I don’t know what to do here, quite frankly,” said board member Christine Argon. She urged the board to attain legal advice for the decision, because the last thing she wanted to do is to vote for something that will have negative repercussions for the DVSD student body. 

Pennsylvania Department of Education Press Secretary Erin James told the River Reporter that the department is reviewing new federal guidance, including the January 29 executive order.

“Many of the executive orders and public statements issued by the federal administration have lacked specifics and clarity, or required federal agencies to complete an action within a certain amount of time,” said James. “As such, we will await official guidance from federal education agencies. Once that occurs, we will assess the impact on Pennsylvania and communicate with school districts.”

James added that, at the PDC, “We’re focused on creating opportunity for all Pennsylvanians to build a stronger, more prosperous Commonwealth for all of us.”

The March 12 meeting included significant public comment, both in support of and in opposition to the board pulling out of the OCR agreement. 

Matthew Contreras supported Fisher in saying that the President’s executive order removes the restriction from the OCR on the school district. 

“There’s a new sheriff in town,” Contreras said. “I’m sorry that my friends on the left don’t like that there’s a new sheriff in town, but the fact of the matter is that this OCR agreement goes against the President’s executive order, and guess what—we’re gonna try and make some changes.”

He added that the language used by those on the left, including the term “nonbinary,” “suggests that there are two genders, and frankly, that’s the way it is. If you have a problem, speak with your God, because that’s what he created.”

DVSD alum Patricia McGee told the board she had witnessed firsthand the behavior exhibited toward the transgender student in the original lawsuit. 

“I’ll describe it as nothing short of cruel,” she said, emphasizing the bullying, harassment and discrimination that came from DVSD students. 

McGee said that the harassment she experienced at DVSD made it so that, even thought she believed herself to be trans, it took her until her 20s and a lot of therapy to feel safe enough to move forward with her transition. She called upon the board to not encourage bullying and systematic oppression of transgender students. 

To see how another local school district is approaching this issue, click here for an article on the Wallenpaupack Area School District's approach.