School District Punishes Female Students for Seeking Privacy in School Locker Room

The News: The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed a Title IX complaint with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi (DOJ) against Westosha Central High School for endangering the safety and privacy of multiple female students. Over parent objections, the school allowed a biological male to change in the girls’ locker room and then punished female students who attempted to avoid changing in front of the male.   

The Quotes: WILL Associate Counsel, Lauren Greuel, stated, “When schools like Westosha force girls into an inadequate choice between exposing themselves to a male student or academic penalties, they abandon all common-sense and their core mission. The law requires protections for girls to have the same educational opportunities as their male peers. The decision to punish these girls for protecting themselves must be promptly investigated by the Department of Education. We ask the department to consider the allegations in our complaint and quickly remedy these unlawful policies and practices.” 

Former Westosha parent, Nicholas Puchter, stated, “Parents send their kids to school so they can learn in a safe environment, but that’s not what happened here. My daughter was punished for standing up for her own privacy and safety. The district’s misplaced priorities left us no choice but to leave the school.”  

What Happened: At the beginning of the second trimester in December 2024, two female students began a physical education class that included the enrollment of a biologically male transgender student. The transgender student used the girls’ locker room to change. Girls then had to choose between changing in front of the male student, waiting for a stall “that barely closes,” or face academic penalties. When one student attempted to skip gym class to avoid having to change in front of this male student, a teacher forced her to walk back to the locker room. Another student received an “F” in gym for her repeated absences and her family chose to remove her from the district altogether.  

The district effectively took away the opportunity for these girls to learn with their peers. To add insult to injury, the district further told families that “no reports of inappropriate locker room behaviors” were made to school staff, which was false. 

Title IX Violation: Title IX regulations mandate that schools must “respond promptly and effectively” when they have knowledge of conduct that may constitute sex discrimination. 34 C.F.R. § 106.44.  

We believe Westosha violated Title IX by failing to take meaningful action to accommodate, or even speak to, affected students, despite multiple parental and student complaints and reports.  

Read more:

• Title IX Complaint Westosha March 2025