A letter sent by a law group on Thursday claimed that the Wisconsin-based Sun Praire Area School District [SPASD] has not "adequately" addressed a violation of students’ privacy rights after a transgender woman walked into a shower with four high school freshmen girls inside of it.
The letter, written by the Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty (WILL) urges a response by the SPASD to resolve the issue and claims its actions have "been completely inadequate."
"We are calling on you to address this immediately and put policies in place that will protect the safety and privacy of all students (and provide public notice of what those policies are)," WILL attorneys wrote.
According to the letter, titled "Serious Violation of Girls’ Privacy Rights in Sun Prairie East Locker Room," four Sun Prairie East High School freshmen girls were disturbed when an alleged "undressed" 18-year-old transgender woman came into the locker room and got into the showers with the girls.
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WILL attorneys’ letter claims that on March 3, four freshmen girls at EHS participated in a swim unit as part of their first-hour physical education class.
After the class, the girls entered the girls’ athletic locker room to shower and change for class. However, upon entering, they noticed the transgender student, a senior, in the area containing lockers and benches. WILL claim that the transgender student was 18 years old at the time of the incident.
The girls said that the transgender student was not in the first-hour PE class they were participating in.
The letter went on to say that the girls were surprised to see the transgender student in the locker room, although it additionally notes that they knew that the student identifies as transgender and had used girls’ bathrooms before. The girls proceeded to use the shower without interacting with the transgender student.
Furthermore, WILL claimed that the girls entered the shower area with their swimsuits on to rinse off, a practice that is common after swimming in PE class. Moreover, the letter alleges that the transgender student entered the girls’ shower area, approached them, and announced "I’m trans, by the way."
The letter alleges that the transgender student "undressed fully and showered completely naked right next to one of the girls."
"He was initially turned towards the wall but eventually turned and fully exposed his male genitalia to the four girls."
The incident was first reported to student services. WILL argues that the SPASD's actions following the first report were not sufficient to resolve the issue. They asserted that "SPASD did not follow its own policy in this instance regarding District Response to Alleged Sexual Harassment."
WILL wrote, "Under federal law, the incident should have been reported to the Title IX coordinator, who should have then contacted the girls, offered supportive measures, and provided them an opportunity to file a complaint."
They explain further, "Supportive measures might have included accommodations to maintain their access to education and adequate privacy in the locker room at least while a Title IX investigation was pending. No one from the District contacted any of the girls’ parents at that time, and no one investigated. To be clear, that means that the District’s initial response to this incident violated Title IX."
Fox News Digital saw an email from the EHS principal that acknowledged the incident and said the situation should have never happened.
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An attorney who represents the SPASD told Fox News Digital that the district had read the letter from WILL and claimed that the letter "provides neither an accurate nor complete account of the events that occurred."
"Further, the incident that is the subject of WILL’s letter is a confidential, pupil matter, and the District is prohibited by law including the Wisconsin pupil records statute, Wis. Stat. 118.125, from disclosing any information about specific pupils in the District. The District has addressed the events that are the subject of WILL’s letter in a manner that should prevent any similar incident from recurring in the future. Further, the District has shared additional information with the parents involved."
"The District cannot answer your question of why the parents allegedly claim that District’s actions have been inadequate, and frankly we are not certain that statement is accurate. The District has shared as much information as it can with the involved parents without violating student confidentiality laws, and the District has offered to schedule additional meetings with those parents to address any remaining concerns."
