US Dept of Ed targets Buncombe, Cabarrus schools over restroom policy

Buncombe County Schools is the second North Carolina district to land under federal investigation this month over its bathroom policies, as the US Department of Education mounts a campaign to keep transgender students out of facilities that don’t match their birth sex.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened the Title IX inquiry June 17 after a parent complained that girls were “being forced to share their female-only restrooms with biological men.” It follows a nearly identical probe into Cabarrus County Schools on June 1.

A concerned parent reported that girls in the district were “being forced to share their female-only restrooms with biological men,” according to the department. OCR said the arrangement could compromise their equal access to educational opportunities and put them “in potentially unsafe situations.”

“Since Day One, the Trump Administration has steadfastly enforced Title IX according to its intended purpose — to protect young women and girls from discrimination on the basis of sex,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey in a statement. “So long as adults flout the law and twist it in the pursuit of radical political ideologies, the Trump Administration will launch investigations, hold schools accountable, and ensure the safety of female students across America.”

The Buncombe probe follows a similar investigation OCR opened earlier in June into Cabarrus County Schools, announced as part of what the department has branded its second annual “Title IX Month.”

Both inquiries reflect the Trump administration’s reading of the 1972 law, which prohibits sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funds. Within two weeks of taking office, the administration returned to enforcing the 2020 Title IX rule, reversing a 2024 Biden-era rewrite that had extended the law’s protections to gender identity.

In the Cabarrus case, OCR said multiple female students at Cox Mill High School reported being required to dress and undress in the presence of a male student and that the district “ignored, ridiculed, and dismissed their pleas for protection.”

One student recounted that her former principal said “there isn’t anything [the district] can do” and that girls “can go somewhere else” if they felt uncomfortable. Former Cox Mill principal Chris Myers later resigned. The conservative group America First Legal had filed a civil rights complaint over the district’s handling of the matter.

The Cabarrus investigation grew in part out of efforts by US Rep. Mark Harris, a Republican representing the state’s Eighth Congressional District, who said he brought reports from the district directly to the Department of Education.

“When students walk through the doors of their school, the last thing they should have to worry about is their safety in bathrooms and locker rooms,” Harris said in a statement. “The reports my office received from Cabarrus County Schools are deeply disturbing and should concern every parent. After bringing these reports directly to the Department of Education, I am grateful for Secretary McMahon’s quick action and for treating this matter with the seriousness it deserves.”

The investigations land amid a broader push in North Carolina to restrict access to female-only spaces in schools.

In May, the NC Values Coalition rallied outside the Legislative Building, urging lawmakers to bar biological males from girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms, with students from Cabarrus and Buncombe counties among those citing encounters.

According to the coalition, 21 states and Puerto Rico have laws restricting biological males from girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms in K-12 schools. North Carolina has no such statute.

Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. The department’s actions trace to Executive Order 14168, which President Donald Trump signed in January 2025, directing federal agencies to recognize two sexes and enforce sex-protective laws accordingly.

“US Dept of Ed targets Buncombe, Cabarrus schools over restroom policy” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.