Nicole Neily President | Parents Defending Education
Defending Education (DE) has filed a civil rights complaint against the Contoocook Valley School District (ConVal), alleging violations of Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The complaint claims that ConVal, which operates 11 schools in Southwestern New Hampshire, discriminates on the basis of sex in programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance.
DE is acting as an interested third-party organization on behalf of its members, including parents and students across the country, as well as a parent of a ConVal Regional High School student. According to DE, Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sex in any education program or activity that receives federal funding. The organization states that while Title IX protects single-sex spaces such as female locker rooms and athletic teams, ConVal’s current policies do not uphold these protections.
The complaint cites communication from ConVal’s Superintendent indicating that the district will follow New Hampshire’s state antidiscrimination laws rather than federal requirements under Title IX. Under these state laws and district policy, transgender-identified males are permitted to use restrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity instead of their biological sex. DE argues that this approach forces girls who are uncomfortable with biological males in girl-only spaces to change elsewhere.
ConVal Regional High School’s student handbook includes a non-discrimination policy prohibiting discrimination based on race, religion, disability, gender identity, or relationship preference but does not specifically mention “sex” as a protected category. The policy handbook also appears to rescind enforcement of Title IX’s sex discrimination prohibitions.
Despite this, ConVal’s website acknowledges it is subject to Title IX and provides links to U.S. Department of Justice guidance on compliance with the law.
DE maintains that federal case law and regulations require schools receiving federal funding to prohibit discrimination based on sex throughout all operations—including academics, extracurricular activities, athletics, and other programs—and that gender identity is not equivalent to sex under Title IX according to current Supreme Court precedent.
Quoting United States v. Virginia, DE asserts: “sex discrimination—which includes policies like ConVal’s that fail to respect sex-specific programs and spaces—is presumptively unlawful absent ‘exceedingly persuasive justification.’” The complaint further states: “the entire purpose of Title IX is to ‘protec[t] biological women in education.’ That purpose is directly undermined by policies that ‘subordinate the fears, concerns, and privacy interests of biological women to the desires of transgender biological men’ who want to intrude upon spaces normally reserved for ‘their female peers.’”
DE concludes: “Accordingly, we ask that the Department promptly investigate all the allegations in this complaint, act swiftly to remedy unlawful policies and practices, and order appropriate relief.”
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