Feds roll back expanded Title IX rules for Cape

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced April 6 that it is rescinding portions of Title IX resolution agreements with the Cape Henlopen School District and five other institutions nationwide.

Title IX is a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs or activities. All public schools that receive any federal funds must comply with Title IX.

Resolution agreements are used by OCR to require schools, school districts or other educational institutions to take specific actions to resolve noncompliance with federal Title IX legislation.

The OCR is rescinding the provisions of its agreement with Cape that expand the scope of Title IX to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity in addition to biological sex. 

Cape must still comply with federal law under Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, but it is no longer bound by the expanded interpretations of Title IX from previous agreements that include gender identity or pronoun use. In other words, Cape is no longer federally required to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or preferred pronouns.

The school district and the state can choose to still keep these expanded interpretations in the district’s Title IX policies, but they are no longer federally required to do so, nor will they be supervised by OCR for enforcing them.

The five other institutions affected by OCR rescissions include the Delaware Valley School District, located in Pennsylvania; Fife School District, located in Washington state; and La Mesa-Spring Valley School District, Sacramento City Unified School District, and Taft College, all located in California.

In March 2024, the Cape district faced a Title IX complaint alleging that its facilities for girls’ sports were inadequate due to location and privacy issues. It also alleged inequality between the district’s softball and baseball facilities, and unequal access to training facilities, locker rooms and fields for girls’ sports teams. 

A Cape Gazette investigation into the complaint revealed the existence of gender disparities within the district’s sports programs.

The Cape Henlopen School District issued the following statement April 7: "The Cape Henlopen School District has received correspondence from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights regarding the resolution agreement entered in March 2024.  As always, we are committed to providing a safe and supportive learning environment where all students can succeed. We will continue to work collaboratively to ensure our practices and programs support the well-being, growth, and achievement of every student in our district.”

The Cape Gazette asked district officials to confirm whether the resolution referenced in the statement pertains to the March 2024 Title IX complaint alleging inequities in the district’s sports programs and facilities. Officials did not respond by press deadline.

“In Delaware, we are staying focused on students and outcomes,” said Delaware Secretary of Education Cindy Marten. “Every child deserves to feel safe, supported and ready to learn. That’s the foundation for everything we are working to improve in our schools.”