Bias complaints by LGBTQ students at Central Bucks have become a federal case

The school board insists it needs the names of the students who allegedly were victimized. The ACLU says the board already knows who they are.

Student Lilly Freeman from Central Bucks East High School speaks at a rally in advance of the board's vote on a library policy that targeted books with "sexualized content."Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / MCT

by Anthony R. Wood

Published Oct. 21, 2022, 3:46 p.m. ET

The U.S. Department of Education said Friday it is investigating allegations that LGBTQ students have been consistently bullied and harassed and subjected to a “toxic educational environment” at the Central Bucks School District, the fifth largest in Pennsylvania.

The decision was “no surprise,” said Rich Ting, staff attorney for ACLU-PA, which had filed a 72-page complaint against the district.

In a notice to the civil rights group, the Education Department said its goal would be “the prompt, appropriate resolution of the complaint.” The department noted that the investigation would be a federal matter since the district, as most others, receives federal aid — about $6 million for this fiscal year, or about 1.5% of its budget.

Ting said, “The school board and administration should take notice and work to create a supportive and safe environment for all students.”

Dana Hunter, president of the nine-member board, said in a statement Friday that the district already was doing what Ting advocated: “As we have said, the district is resolute and united in its zero tolerance for discrimination.”

At a raucous board meeting on Oct. 11, she said, “We have policies in place to protect children; those policies are for every administrator, faculty member, and support staff to follow.”

The board has called on the ACLU to identify the trans and nonbinary students who allegedly have been victimized and whose names were redacted in the complaint.

Hunter said the district can’t act without knowing their names. On Friday, she said the board has been waiting on a response and accused the ACLU of being “more interested in making political points” than “being focused on protection of the students.”

Ting said the federal investigators would make the call on releasing the names; the department does not comment on “pending investigations,” a spokesperson said.

However, ACLU-PA legal director Witold J. Walczak has said that if board members “want to know who these kids are, they know. They’re the ones they’ve been disrespecting and ignoring for the past years.”

At the Oct. 11 meeting, the board voted 6-3 to enact a “neutrality” policy in which “staff members should not use their position or classroom decor to advocate for their personal beliefs. Taking sides on these important issues in the classroom can easily be misunderstood.”

ACLU-PA countered that the policy was “plainly intended” to undermine staff support for LGBTQ issues by removing pride flags from classrooms and calling them “political symbols.”

The group cited other policies that included directing teachers not to use students’ preferred names and pronouns without parental consent, and enacting new library and textbook policies the group says is a “thinly disguised effort” to censor LGBTQ materials.

The discussion is expected to continue at the next board meeting, scheduled for Nov. 15.

Staff writer Oona Goodin-Smith contributed to this article.