Zack Ford reports that an agreement has been reached between District 211 and OCR about a transgender student using the girls’ locker room, but the district’s statement about the settlement does not really match the actual agreement:
Illinois’ largest school district, District 211 in the Chicago suburb of Palatine, has agreed to accommodate a transgender student’s equal use of sex-segregated locker rooms, but it seems they don’t want anybody to actually think so.
[…]
Cates asserted in his statement the following:
Let me emphasize — consistent with our stated position throughout this matter, if the transgender student seeks access to the locker room, the student will not be granted unrestricted access and will utilize a private changing station whenever changing clothes or showering.
In a similar letter to parents, he explained, “a transgender student in a locker room will not have unrestricted access and will use private changing areas when changing clothes or using a shower.”
The wording of the actual agreement, however, undermines this claim. The school is not actually requiring the student to use the privacy curtain as a condition of access to the locker room — OCR made it clear that would not suffice. Instead, the agreement hedges on the fact that the transgender student has volunteered to use the privacy curtain.
Read more on ThinkProgress.