A Loudoun County student’s suspension is on hold while litigation over whether the punishment was warranted moves forward, a federal judge ruled Friday.
The ruling comes after two students’ families filed a lawsuit against the Northern Virginia school district, alleging the kids were wrongfully punished for speaking out about an incident in a school locker room. During the encounter, they said a transgender student identifying as male recorded them in a locker room at Stone Bridge High School.
The students had been suspended for 10 days for harassment. And in a new court filing this week, the school system described incidents in which the two students harassed the other student before the incident in the locker room.
The Washington Post was first to report on the filing.
“These boys never directly spoke with the complainant, and so our boys were merely complaining that there was a biological girl in their locker room,” said Victoria Cobb, president of the Founding Freedoms Law Center. “The school has decided to make them political pawns in a battle over ideology.”
In court documents, the school system said witnesses describe threatening incidents or behavior in gym class and school hallways.
In an 11-second video, a speaker is heard saying “girl boy” several times. The student who filed the complaint said the two boys said to “get out” of the locker room and was referred to as “it” during P.E. class.
According to the court files, investigators spoke to Loudoun County Public School staff members and a variety of student witnesses.
The locker room incident prompted some community members to speak out, and resulted in a federal Department of Education investigation. The agency found Loudoun County violated Title IX and retaliated against the boys, who expressed concern about being recorded by a transgender boy in the boys’ locker room.
The incident has also been referenced as the Education Department found bathroom policies at five Northern Virginia school districts violate Title IX. The agency said policies that allow students to use facilities based on their gender identity rather than biological sex violate the law. The families’ lawsuit seeks to end that school system policy in Loudoun County.
A recording of the locker room incident, documents said, reveals a series of comments the two boys made, including things such as “there’s a girl,” “why is there a girl?”
Reviewers described in documents as “independent decision makers” ruled that the two boys had sexually harassed the student.
“Our clients never spoke to the female student,” Cobb, the boys’ attorney, said. “They only expressed confusion and discomfort about having a girl in the boys locker room.”
After Friday’s ruling, Cobb said one of the two students can remain in school while the case progresses. The other moved away from the area, but Cobb said it’s “about their student record more than a suspension.”
In a statement on Friday, a spokesman for Loudoun County schools said the division acknowledges “the court’s decision today and will prepare for the next steps in this matter. We remain committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and respectful learning environment for all students.”
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