COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Less than six months after passing a new policy segregating the use of district facilities based on biological sex, D-49’s board of education voted to repeal it during a special meeting.
Policy JBAA was adopted by the board in September 2025 to establish guidelines separating the district’s toilet, locker room and shower facilities between students of opposite sexes, regardless of their chosen gender identity.
The policy was repealed on a 3-2 vote.
The rationale for passing the policy at the time was to ensure compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal financial aid.
Another reason stated by board members at the time was that the policy would protect the private spaces of biological boys and girls in the district.
Leading up to and following the policy’s approval, however, both sitting board members and members of the community have argued that the policy doesn’t protect the privacy rights of transgender students by forcing them to use public facilities that don’t match their gender.
Board President Marie La Vere Wright presented the action item to reaffirm or suspend the policy to the board during its Jan. 16 meeting, citing legal concerns with violating the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act and the Mathis v Fountain-Fort Carson D-8 decision in 2013.
The ruling by the Colorado Civil Rights Division allowed then-6-year-old Coy Mathis, a transgender girl, to use the girls’ bathroom at Eagleside Elementary School after she was initially denied access, according to previous Gazette reporting.
La Vere Wright explained then that the district developed individualized, case-by-case procedures for affected students since the Mathis decision and that, because Policy JBAA reads as an active policy, its schools currently risk accusations of violating state law.
She added that, since the policy has not yet been implemented in district schools, the board could vote to suspend it before repealing it at the next meeting.
Holly Withers, who unseated Jamilynn D’Avola on the board since the policy was approved, voted with La Vere Wright and board director Mike Heil to suspend JBAA. Board members Lori Thompson and Deb Schmidt stood by their support for the policy.
The Gazette's Eric Young contributed to this web story.
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