ACLU SUING PLATTE COUNTY R-3 SCHOOL DISTRICT
A lawsuit filed this week claims the Platte County School District denied a transgender student use of school bathrooms that matched her gender identity.
The lawsuit was filed in Platte County Circuit Court on Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Court papers identify the student as initials R.F., a 16-year-old transgender student. The allegations indicate the school punished the student for using the girls restroom at Platte County High School in 2021.
According to the petition filed with the court, R.F. began her medical transition to female in early 2019, prior to attending Platte County High School. The lawsuit alleges in the fall of 2021, when R.F. was a freshman, she was told by the assistant principal to use either the restroom that matched the sex she was assigned at birth or the single gender-neutral bathroom in the school.
The lawsuit says R.F. identified as a transgender female before she began attending the school and that PCHS and school district staff and administrators were aware that R.F. is a transgender female. According to the lawsuit, R..F. was designated a male at birth and R.F. has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
According to the lawsuit, the high school’s only gender-neutral restroom was not close to R.F’s classes and it frequently had a long line, because it was used by all students. The lawsuit claims that on Dec. 9, 2021, she was given one day of in-school suspension as punishment for using the girls restroom and in January of 2022 she received two days of out-of-school suspension for using the girls’ restroom. The lawsuit further alleges that when R.F. returned from suspension and attempted to use the boys restroom, she experienced harassment and the threat of rape from a male student.
The lawsuit says R.F. missed about three weeks of classes after the alleged threat before the school approved a virtual learning option for her.
Reached by The Landmark on Tuesday, Dr. Jay Harris, who became superintendent for Platte County R-3 in the fall of 2022, said: “The Platte County School District was just made aware of a lawsuit filed yesterday afternoon by the ACLU. The district is in the early stages of evaluating the legal claims. The district’s focus is, and has always been, providing a safe and caring environment for all students. We plan to provide additional information soon.”
A docket call in the court case is set for Nov. 3 in front of Judge Ann Hansbrough.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and “such other monetary and equitable relief as is just and proper.”