Crime & Safety
DOJ Investigates 36 IL School Districts Over Gender Curriculum
A federal civil rights probe will examine curriculum, policies and parental notification in K-12 schools.
The U.S. Department of Justice has launched investigations into 36 Illinois public school districts to determine whether they are teaching lessons related to sexual orientation and gender identity in pre-K through 12th grade classrooms, the agency said Thursday in a news release.
The probes, led by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, will examine whether schools included such material in coursework and how it was implemented, according to a news release from the DOJ. Federal officials are also reviewing whether districts followed policies related to parental notification and student rights tied to the instruction.
“This Department of Justice is determined to put an end to local school authorities keeping parents in the dark about how sexuality and gender ideology are being pushed in classrooms,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Supreme Court precedent leaves no doubt: parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children. This includes exempting their children from ideological instruction that contradicts their values or decisions about their children’s health and best interests.”
McHenry County
- Community High School District 155
Lake County
- North Chicago Community Unit School District 187
Cook County
- County Club Hills School District 160
- Lyons School District 103
- Oak Lawn-Hometown School District 123
- North Palos School District 117
Will County
- Crete-Monee School District 201-U
- Will County School District 92
All of the other school districts included the DOJ probe are:
- Atwood Heights School District 125
- Bloomington Public Schools District 87
- Bluford Unit School District 318
- Buncombe Consolidated School District 43
- Center Cass School District 66
- Central School District 104
- DeKalb Community Unit School District 428
- East Dubuque Unit School District 119
- Elmwood Park Community Unit School District 401
- Freeport School District 145
- Galena Unit School District 120
- Gillespie Community Unit School District 7
- Iroquois County Community Unit School District 9
- Leyden Community High School District 212
- Lick Creek Community Consolidated School District 16
- Martinsville Community Unit School District C3
- Meridian Community Unit School District 223
- Noble Network of Charter Schools
- Norwood Elementary School District 63
- O’Fallon Community Consolidated School District No. 90
- Odin Public School District 722
- Oregon Community Unit School District 220
- Pembroke Community Consolidated School District 259
- Reavis Township High School District 220
- Ridgeview Community Unit School District 19
- Stockton Community Unit School District 206
- Tamaroa School District 5
- Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215
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