Despite facing new pushback over its longstanding bathroom policy, Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland is standing its ground.
Similar to other school districts, Anne Arundel County’s policy allows students to use the bathroom that matches the gender they identify with. It’s a policy that also aligns with state guidelines.
“We have had guidelines in place to support LGBTQ+ students since 2019, so that’s going on seven years now,” Bob Mosier, chief communications officer at Anne Arundel County Public Schools, told WTOP.
“We were one of the first, if not the first school system in the state, to put together guidelines to support LGBTQ+ students as it relates to gender identity.”
The school system came under fire recently after a photo of the policy was taken at Old Mill High School and highlighted on social media by conservative influencer Chaya Raichik. The matter was then touched on by the Maryland Family Institute, which issued a letter alleging that the AACPS policy violated Title IX protections.
While the nonprofit group called on the Office for Civil Rights to initiate an investigation, it stated it does not intend to act on any formal complaint of its own, The Capital Gazette reported.
Mosier told WTOP that the school system has, since 2019, received complaints about the policy, but that the signage at Old Mill High School had been posted at the school “for more than a year without issue.”
“Clearly, someone took objection to them early in this school year. And so, it’s become an issue,” he said.
“Our mindset around here is one of belong, grow, succeed. There are no qualifiers to that. It’s not belong, grow, succeed, if anything. It’s belong, grow, succeed. And our superintendent has been very clear that a sense of belonging will prevail in AACPS.”
“We are comfortable with where they are. We’re comfortable with the way that we support students,” Mosier said.
The latest regarding bathroom policies and gender identity comes as several Virginia school districts, namely Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Arlington and the City of Alexandria, were identified as “high risk” for their policies. The Department of Education accused the districts of violating Title IX because they allow students to use bathrooms based on their gender identity.
Government agencies have drilled down on the subject since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term in office as a means to stay in line with executive orders that mandate federal agencies recognize gender as determined “at conception.”
As such, Virginia school districts are facing the possibility of federal funds being frozen, which Fairfax County Schools’ Superintendent Michelle Reid said would harm “tens of thousands” of students in the school system.
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