Federal officials have launched a Title IX investigation into Westford Public Schools over its gender identity policy governing bathrooms and locker rooms.

Highlights

• U.S. Department of Education has launched a Title IX investigation into Westford Public Schools over its gender identity policy governing bathrooms and locker rooms
• America First Legal filed the complaint that led to the federal review. The group argues the district’s approach violates Title IX protections
• President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office regarding transgenderism. The order directs federal agencies to enforce sex-based accommodations and revoke funding for institutions that do not comply.

Photo by Raúl Lazcano / Unsplash

Tom Joyce

Published on: 08 Apr 2026, 8:27 am   Boston Post

The U.S. Department of Education has opened an investigation into a Massachusetts school district over its bathroom and locker room policy.

The case focuses on Westford Public Schools, where, like all public school districts in Massachusetts, students can use facilities based on gender identity instead of their sex. The district’s policy also requires students who object to leave those spaces.

America First Legal filed the complaint that led to the federal review. The group argues the district’s approach violates Title IX protections.

“America First Legal is committed to ensuring that children are protected from leftist Indoctrination,” AFL President Gene Hamilton said in a press release. “We will not allow our girls to be silenced or harmed by WPS’s ‘gender identity’ policy. The Department of Education’s investigation rightfully sends a clear message to schools across the country: Title IX will not be sacrificed on the altar of gender ideology.”

Federal officials said the investigation is part of a broader shift in how the law is enforced.

“Prior Administrations regularly misinterpreted Title IX to pander to political ideology and police ‘misgendering’ despite not having sound legal grounds,” Department of Education spokesperson Amelia Joy told Fox News. “With today’s actions, the Trump Administration is upholding the law and righting years of wrongs.”

The district’s policy addresses transgender and gender nonconforming students. It includes guidance on restroom and locker room access, pronoun usage, and definitions related to gender identity.

School leaders discussed the issue publicly before adopting the policy in March 2025. One committee member acknowledged the impact on members of the school community.

“I know that we have students, possibly staff, that this impacts,” school committee member Tom Laflamme said. “They are real people who are harmed by taking no action. The policy may not be perfect because we are humans, but it makes a statement that they matter to us.”

The policy has since been removed from the district’s website.

The investigation comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office regarding transgenderism. The order directs federal agencies to enforce sex-based accommodations and revoke funding for institutions that do not comply.

“Across the country, ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex have increasingly used legal and other socially coercive means to permit men to self-identify as women and gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women,” the order states. “This is wrong.”

It also instructs agencies to ensure taxpayer money is not used to support those policies.

“Federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology,” it says. “Each agency shall assess grant conditions and grantee preferences and ensure grant funds do not promote gender ideology.”

Westford Public Schools could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.