The Thomas More Society was in federal court this week arguing for the privacy and protection of students against violations by Township High School District 211. Special counsel Jocelyn Floyd represents 51 families from the northwest suburban Palatine area in a lawsuit against two federal agencies. The suit charges that the school district is disregarding student privacy and safety by opening girls’ locker rooms to boys. Attorneys for the families have asked for a court order that would temporarily halt policies that resulted from an agreement between this Illinois school district and the U.S. Department of Education.

The preliminary injunction hearing in Students and Parents for Privacy v. United States Department of Education took place Monday, August 15, 2016, at the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse in Chicago.

The case was filed earlier this year in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois because the Palatine high school district opened its schools’ restrooms to the opposite sex – without informing parents –after threats of funding loss by the U.S. Department of Education. This was in direct violation of the Title IX regulation that specifies a school receiving federal funds can “provide separate toilet, locker room, and shower facilities on the basis of sex” without putting that funding at risk.

Read the Students and Parents for Privacy v. United States Department of Education, complaint here.