Dept. of Education investigates Westford schools over gender policy

BOSTON — The U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation into Westford Public Schools at the end of last month, over its policies regarding transgender and gender nonconforming students.

According to the complaint filed by America First Legal on behalf of a Westford parent with children in the school system, the district’s policy, implemented in March of last year, allows students to use bathrooms and locker rooms according to their self-identified gender. Students who objected, were reportedly required to leave, the complaint said, and parents were reportedly barred from changing the policy.

The policy also allegedly applied to staff, raising concerns about forced integration in single-sex facilities. America First Legal President Gene Hamilton criticized the policy, saying it silences and harms girls, and praised the DOE’s investigation as a defense of Title IX protections – which are federal protections prohibiting sex-based discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

The policy followed a 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump, requiring federal agencies to ensure grant funds do not promote gender ideology and emphasizes the protection of single-sex spaces based on biological sex.

That same Westford resident on whose behalf the complaint was filed, also submitted an op-ed to WestfordCAT in October of last year, criticizing Westford schools’ gender policy, which he argued goes against Title IX.

The resident said the School Committee has decided to allow its boys to access the female “restrooms, locker rooms or changing facilities” if the boys decide that those places “correspond to their gender identity.”

He refers to a federal court ruling in January 2025, which found that the DOE under former president Joe Biden in 2024 had exceeded its statutory authority under Title IX by expanding the definition of protection from sex to gender identity and recognized the rewrite as “arbitrary and capricious.”

Referencing this ruling, the resident said that Westford schools risk losing federal funding by going against this ruling and violating Title IX.

In response to the resident’s op-ed, WestfordCAT spoke with Superintendent Christopher Chew in November, and asked him about the gender policy at Westford Public Schools and if it is in violation of Title IX.

“Our policy, and all the policies we have, but specifically the policy in question about transgender and gender non-conforming students, is following Massachusetts state law,” Chew told WestfordCAT.

“The previous administration had made some changes to the Title IX laws and then the current administration changed them again. In both cases, we’ve been aligning our policies to the Massachusetts state laws, which are more protective than federal laws… and states are allowed to do that.”