School board policies nullified by federal court’s decision on Title IX rules

By the time the Newton school board approved policies prohibiting discrimination or harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, Iowa and other Republican-led states were still in a lawsuit against the Biden administration over the new Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students.

It was unclear at the time of the July 22 school board meeting if the courts would reach a decision in time, prompting officials to adopt policies with the stipulation that they might be overturned if the injunction was settled. On July 25, a federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s new Title IX rules.

Tim Bloom, director of business services for the Newton Community School District, said the district was given direction by its legal counsel to provide school board members with a motion that included a stipulation should the Title IX rules become enjoined by the courts, which is exactly what occurred.

“You can see that this would be suspended if they are challenged in court,” Bloom said, noting previous board policy would be immediately reinstated.

According to school board documents, the proposed policies — which are now irrelevant and are no longer in place — included education on the purpose and requirements of Title IX, how to respond to complaints of sex discrimination, grievance procedures and other guidelines.

Robyn Friedman, chair of the Newton school board, said if any court action were to happen the board would remain apprised and talk about it further. School board member Cody Muhs gave kudos to those who worked on policies and lamented that any changes that are made to public education are never timely.

“We end up in this boat where we kind of have two things just in case and I think this is a good way to do it,” Muhs said. “It’s the most proactive way we can do it.”

The motion passed in a 4-0 vote. School board members Josh Cantu, Kristi Meyer and Travis Padget were not in attendance.

REPUBLICAN LEADERS CELEBRATE COURT’S DECISION

Legislation passed last year requires people to use Iowa public school bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their sex assigned at birth. Since that law would contradict the Title IX rules by restricting transgender students from using certain bathrooms, it would likely result in the state losing federal funding for education.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird joined a lawsuit led by Arkansas and Missouri and argued the federal government’s Title IX protections — which she called a “radical gender ideology mandate” — would rob young women the opportunity to safely compete and succeed in school sports and violate their privacy.

In past comments, Bird attributed the Title IX rules to the Biden administration. Her most recent response, which occurred after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election and paved the way for Vice-President Kamala Harris to run, now attributes it to the Biden-Harris administration.

“Today’s victory delivers a major blow to the Biden-Harris Administration’s war on women and protects young women all across the country,” Bird said. “Biden and Harris’s woke gender ideology mandate seeks to abolish more than 50 years of landmark protections that women spent centuries fighting for.”

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a similar statement that also referenced the Biden-Harris administration.

“Another federal judge has blocked the Biden-Harris administration’s attempt to apply Title IX protections intended for girls to biological boys who identify as girls,” Reynolds said. “The definitions of ‘sex’ and ‘gender identity’ are different, just as biological males and females are different.”