Latest news with #CIAC
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Federal Title IX investigations now include Canton, Bloomfield
CONNECTICUT (WTNH) — As of Wednesday, the Trump administration is investigating at least three school districts in regards to their Title IX policies and how they apply to transgender athletes. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal funding. The administration is investigating whether the school districts violated federal law by possibly allowing transgender students to participate in sports not matching their biological sex. Cromwell Board of Ed ponders next steps amid Title IX investigation Officials with the Connecticut Department of Education confirmed letters were issued to Canton, Bloomfield, and Cromwell school districts. They said the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Office for Civil Rights sends the notices directly to the districts, so the department does not have their own copies. However, Cromwell school leaders shared the letter they received. 'OCR's directed investigation will examine whether Cromwell Public Schools denies equal athletic benefits and opportunities to female student athletes through general or athletics-specific participation policy(s) that permit, direct, instruct, or require its schools to allow males to participate in girls' interscholastic athletics, thereby depriving girls and young women of equal athletic opportunities,' Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in the notice. Read the full letter issued to Cromwell Superintendent Dr. Enza Macri below. Cromwell-Schools-letterDownload The Cromwell mayor also commented on it publicly. He said if found in violation, nearly a million dollars in federal funding is at risk. 'The Cromwell Board of Education is following all applicable state and federal law as well as the rules for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC). Should Cromwell exclude transgender athletes, it will be ineligible for any CIAC sport,' Mayor James Demetriades said in a written statement on Facebook. News 8 has reached out to Canton and Bloomfield representatives for comment. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
3 days ago
- Politics
Connecticut town's schools are investigated for transgender athlete policies
A school system in Connecticut that's at the center of an ongoing legal fight over allowing transgender student athletes to participate in competitive girls' sports is being investigated by the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Education confirmed Tuesday, adding a new flashpoint in the national debate over trans girls' participation in youth sports. James Demetriades, the mayor of Cromwell, said the town's school system could lose nearly $1 million in federal special education funding if the department determines it's in violation of Title IX, the federal civil rights law that forbids discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal assistance. The mayor, a Democrat, said Monday the school district would be ineligible for the state's athletic conference if it didn't allow student athletes to compete on sex-segregated sports teams consistent with their gender identity. He said the district is currently following 'all applicable state and federal law as well as the rules for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference," the governing body for secondary school athletics in the state. In an interview on Tuesday, Demetriades said Cromwell currently has 'no gender diverse' high school CIAC athletes. 'We don't know why Cromwell was targeted for this action,' Demetriades said in a statement on Facebook. He said the investigation also includes restroom and locker room usage. CIAC's policy of allowing transgender girls to compete in girls high school sports was first challenged in 2020 by four runners who said they were unfairly forced to race against transgender sprinters from Cromwell and Bloomfield. CIAC argued its policy is designed to comply with a state law that requires all high school students be treated according to their gender identity. It has also said the policy is in accordance with Title IX. While a federal appeals court in 2022 dismissed the plaintiffs' challenge to CIAC's policy, saying they lacked standing and had not been deprived of a 'chance to be champions,' the suit was later revived in 2023 and is currently pending. It could be ready for a trial in 2026. The head of the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, Craig Trainor, said in a statement that the investigation was looking at whether Cromwell's policies were 'depriving girls and young women of equal athletic opportunities.' U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon added that, 'This Administration will fight on every front to protect women's and girls' sports.' A community of more than 14,000, Cromwell is about 20 minutes south of the capital, Hartford. A rally in support of transgender youth was planned Tuesday evening at Cromwell High School. In 2019, during President Donald Trump's first term, the Office for Civil Rights launched an investigation into the policy in Connecticut that allows transgender high school athletes to compete as the gender with which they identify. It determined the actions of the CIAC, Cromwell and several other communities in Connecticut resulted in 'the loss of athletic benefits and opportunities for female student-athletes.' Days after taking office for his second term, Trump signed an executive order titled ' Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," which states that all funds from educational programs 'that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy,' will be rescinded. In his post, Demetriades asked state officials to help hold the town harmless from liability and intervene if Cromwell is sued by the Department of Justice. In March, the Department of Education opened an investigation into Portland Public Schools, Oregon's largest school district, over allowing a transgender athlete to compete on a high school girls' track-and-field team.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Central CT school system rejects Trump agency's demand for transgender policy change
Saying it's stuck between Trump Administration demands and Connecticut civil rights law, Cromwell's school board on Tuesday night unanimously rejected a federal directive to dismantle its protections for transgender student athletes — at least for now. Mayor James Demetriades applauded the board's decision, and said his town's schools and some of their students are being unfairly singled out. 'Let's be very clear about what is happening here, the federal government is targeting transgender students in an attempt to divide our community,' he said in a statement. 'The federal government is holding hostage nearly a million dollars of federal funding and putting the Board of Education in an impossible situation: captitulate on our core values of community inclusion (and lose our ability to participate in all CIAC sports) or risk losing funding for our most vulnerable students,' Demetriades said. The school board and the mayor called on Gov. Ned Lamont and state Attorney General William Tong to step up to help, warning that other Connecticut communities eventually will be in for the same treatment by Trump's education department. 'We as a community will not be it is Cromwell, but we know we are not alone in this fight,' Demetriades said. An hour before the school board's meeting, a group of LGBTQ students along with 80 to 100 student and adult supporters rallied outside the high school. The dispute involves the latest instance of the Trump Administration orchestrating a speedy and dramatic about-face by federal agencies on DEIs policies, transgender rights and similar culture war issues. Liberals have blasted the campaign as unconstitutional, cruel, racist and divisive, while conservatives contend it undoes illegal mandates and unpopular ideologies that were made into law during the Biden Administration. Trump chopped back funding for the federal Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, and the agency has apparently abandoned hundreds of traditional civil rights cases it was investigating on behalf of various minorities. Instead, it has chiefly begun attacking what Trump calls discriminatory actions harming whites and women. In Cromwell's case, the school board said the federal office advised on May 2 that it investigating whether Cromwell violated Title IX by allowing transgender students play on girls' sports teams and use girls' locker rooms. The school board said it replied that it was represented by an attorney, but the federal agency made no further contact until last Thursday. On that day, it told the schools it had found 'compliance concerns' and offered to settle the matter if Cromwell signed a five-page agreement that included withdrawing all athletes from CIAC events for the remainder of the spring season. 'We do not see any justification for an agreement that would prevent our student athletes from competing in year-end interscholastic events for which they have worked so hard and earned the right to participate,' the board said in a written statement Tuesday night. It released the statement after a nearly hour-long executive session talk with its attorney. The board said the agency gave it only a week to sign the deal, warning that otherwise it would consider the dispute at a stalemate and refer it to the Justice Department or take other enforcement action. 'As proposed, many of the terms are in direct conflict with state law,' the board wrote. The board said it has notified the federal agency that it needed more time to review the matter, and could not agree to the one-week deadline. It said the agency hasn't responded to its request for an extension. 'We believe it is essential that the state assume a leadership role in addressing this issue in a comprehensive and coordinated manner and spare Cromwell from having to spend an inordinate amount of money and public resources to navigate this alone. 'We remain steadfast in supporting all of our students and are committed to upholding policies that prohibit discrimination or harassment on the basis of one's actual or perceived membership in a protected class ,' the board said. During the rally beforehand, Cromwell 11th-grader Kyro Garrett said 'Everyone deserves to play a sport regardless of whether they're transgender. It's extremely unfair to challenge that right.' Garrett, a member of Cromwell High School's Gay Straight Alliance and its Unity Club, said the town might have been targeted because Trump's administration believed a small community would more easily agree to demands than a larger city. 'Maybe they think they're going to make an example using an easier target,' Garrett said. The school board's agenda included discussing whether to withdraw a policy affirming transgender students' rights. The board announced it would postpone that matter. Several parents called on members to defend the policy. Resident Kristen Basiaga said she's heard the argument that if only the schools would end transgender students' sports participation, the conflict would end. 'This is not just about sports. The goal posts could move, and the next thing would be inclusive books. And if it's not the books, the goal posts could move,' she said. In a written statement, Demetriades criticized Trump's education bureaucracy for going after Cromwell. 'They focus on this issue rather then focus on how approximately one in five children face hunger at school, how literacy rates plummeted after the pandemic, or how many students can't afford college. Instead of addressing these issues, they are targeting a population of students that make up a percentage of a percentage,' he said.
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Connecticut town's schools are investigated for transgender athlete policies
A school system in Connecticut that's at the center of an ongoing legal fight over allowing transgender student athletes to participate in competitive girls' sports is being investigated by the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Education confirmed Tuesday, adding a new flashpoint in the national debate over trans girls' participation in youth sports. James Demetriades, the mayor of Cromwell, said the town's school system could lose nearly $1 million in federal special education funding if the department determines it's in violation of Title IX , the federal civil rights law that forbids discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal assistance. The mayor, a Democrat, said Monday the school district would be ineligible for the state's athletic conference if it didn't allow student athletes to compete on sex-segregated sports teams consistent with their gender identity. He said the district is currently following 'all applicable state and federal law as well as the rules for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference,' the governing body for secondary school athletics in the state. In an interview on Tuesday, Demetriades said Cromwell currently has 'no gender diverse' high school CIAC athletes. 'We don't know why Cromwell was targeted for this action,' Demetriades said in a statement on Facebook. He said the investigation also includes restroom and locker room usage. CIAC's policy of allowing transgender girls to compete in girls high school sports was first challenged in 2020 by four runners who said they were unfairly forced to race against transgender sprinters from Cromwell and Bloomfield. CIAC argued its policy is designed to comply with a state law that requires all high school students be treated according to their gender identity. It has also said the policy is in accordance with Title IX. While a federal appeals court in 2022 dismissed the plaintiffs' challenge to CIAC's policy, saying they lacked standing and had not been deprived of a 'chance to be champions,' the suit was later revived in 2023 and is currently pending. It could be ready for a trial in 2026. The head of the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, Craig Trainor, said in a statement that the investigation was looking at whether Cromwell's policies were 'depriving girls and young women of equal athletic opportunities.' U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon added that, 'This Administration will fight on every front to protect women's and girls' sports.' A community of more than 14,000, Cromwell is about 20 minutes south of the capital, Hartford. A rally in support of transgender youth was planned Tuesday evening at Cromwell High School. In 2019, during President Donald Trump's first term, the Office for Civil Rights launched an investigation into the policy in Connecticut that allows transgender high school athletes to compete as the gender with which they identify. It determined the actions of the CIAC, Cromwell and several other communities in Connecticut resulted in 'the loss of athletic benefits and opportunities for female student-athletes.' Days after taking office for his second term, Trump signed an executive order titled ' Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports ,' which states that all funds from educational programs 'that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy,' will be rescinded. In his post, Demetriades asked state officials to help hold the town harmless from liability and intervene if Cromwell is sued by the Department of Justice. In March, the Department of Education opened an investigation into Portland Public Schools, Oregon's largest school district, over allowing a transgender athlete to compete on a high school girls' track-and-field team.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump administration probes Cromwell Public Schools on athletic transgender policies
CROMWELL, Conn. (WTNH) — The Trump Administration is launching an investigation into Cromwell Public School's transgender athletic policy. Cromwell schools received notice of the Title IX investigation from the United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal funding. If found in violation, nearly a million dollars in federal funding is at risk, the town's Mayor, James Demetriades, said. Connecticut officials underscore challenges for LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month 'The Cromwell Board of Education is following all applicable state and federal law as well as the rules for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC). Should Cromwell exclude transgender athletes, it will be ineligible for any CIAC sport,' Demetriades said in a written statement on Facebook. On February 5, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports, banning transgender women from competing in women's sports. The United States' policy is to rescind all funds from educational programs found in violation. Read the full letter below issued to Cromwell Superintendent Dr. Enza Macri. Cromwell-Schools-letterDownload Mayor Demetriades said he does not know why Cromwell was targeted. 'Let's be very clear about what is happening here, the Federal Government is targeting transgender students in an attempt to divide our community,' the mayor said. Several state leaders, Sen. Martin Looney, Sen. Bob Duff and Sen. Matt Lesser commented on the administration's prob into Cromwell schools. 'This is the first instance we know of where the federal government is directly targeting a local Connecticut school system. This administration feels brazen enough to weaponize federal resources to target our local schools and bully and discriminate against our LGBT children while gutting critical agencies like the Department of Education. It appears cruelty is the point and instead of protecting students, they are targeting our teachers and schools and ripping funding away from basic healthcare and food assistance. In Connecticut, we have passed legislation that reaffirms our commitment to our students' right to express their gender identity without fear of discrimination. Let us be perfectly clear – our values remain steadfast and consistent in support of individual rights and liberty, regardless of who occupies the White House or who the President decides to unfairly target next.' The policy also includes bathroom and locker room usage. A community gathering at Cromwell High School to support LGBTQ+ students is happening on Tuesday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
