An independent Title IX investigation stemming from a May bathroom incident involving two 9-year-old students at Rochester Memorial School has concluded that school staff and district administrators acted in compliance with the law and found that no violation of a student’s Title IX rights had occurred.
The Old Rochester Regional School District announced the finding August 21, saying the investigation is now closed.
The district also disclosed that educators and administrators received numerous angry and threatening communications during the controversy, most of which officials believe came from outside the Tri-Town and Massachusetts. The district will increase police presence as the new school year begins.
The complaint was filed May 4 by Rochester parent Luis Rivera, who said his daughter’s privacy was violated when another 9-year-old student opened an unlocked bathroom stall she was using. Rivera alleged in his Title IX complaint that his daughter was the victim of sexual harassment.
The incident became the subject of a larger public debate over the district’s bathroom policies for transgender students.
At a packed June 3 Rochester School Committee meeting, residents were divided over the district’s response. Rivera asked the committee to take disciplinary action and consider policy changes. Other speakers questioned the district’s handling of the incident, while several residents defended the school and expressed concern that a private matter involving elementary school children had become the subject of a public controversy.
In announcing the investigation’s conclusion, Superintendent Michael S. Nelson described the original incident as one student opening an unlocked bathroom stall being used by another student.
“The review found that school building staff and the district administrators acted in compliance with the law, and the investigation found no violation of a student’s Title IX rights had occurred,” Nelson wrote in an email to the ORR community.
The district has maintained that it is required to follow Massachusetts nondiscrimination law and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education guidance regarding gender identity.
That position was reinforced in an August 21 letter from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, which said state law prohibits discrimination in public schools based on gender identity and gives students the right to use restrooms corresponding with their gender identity.
“Permitting a student to access the restroom in accordance with that student’s gender identity is required under Massachusetts law and consistent with current federal law,” the Attorney General’s Office wrote.
The Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and Massachusetts Association of School Committees also issued a joint statement August 19 supporting Nelson and the district. The organizations said district officials had operated in compliance with state law and DESE guidance.
The organizations also addressed the broader political environment surrounding such disputes, saying national “culture wars fueled by partisan politics” should not distract schools from their responsibility to educate and protect students.
The district said the controversy brought significant outside attention to Rochester.
Nelson said educators and administrators were subjected to “innumerable explicit, angry, and threatening communications” directly and through social media. The district believes almost all of those communications came from people with no connection to Marion, Mattapoisett, Rochester or nearby Massachusetts communities.
The district has been in contact with local police chiefs and said there will be an increased police presence when the new school year begins.
“Let us not forget that the matter in question involves two 9-year-old children,” Nelson wrote.
Citing the educational privacy rights of the children, the district said it will have no further comment on the matter.