Cumberland is the latest School District to revert its Title IX policies
This move does not affect the rights and protections available to transgender, gender diverse, and transitioning students.
In response to a Federal Court decision that struck down Biden Administration policies that expanded Title IX protections for transgender students, the Cumberland School Committee altered its Title IX policy, even as they noted existing protections for transgender, gender diverse, and transitioning students under state law, Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) policies, and other Cumberland School District policies.
Sadly, this policy was rolled back in the first municipality in Rhode Island to codify the rights of transgender, gender diverse, and transitioning students..
I couldn’t be in Cumberland on Thursday when the School Committee voted to alter their Title IX policy, but I did watch it on YouTube and edited the relevant parts into this video:
During the public comment portion of the meeting, no one spoke for or against the changes to the district’s Title IX policies. Committeemember Kerry Feather confessed that she was “anxious” about the changes to the school district’s Title IX policy.
Title IX is civil rights legislation passed in the 70s that prohibits sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funding and covers every public school in the country, more or less. Just about every public school in Rhode Island is subject to Title IX. Under Title IX, schools are not allowed to discriminate based on sex, and that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. The Biden Administration codified this interpretation in 2024, but in early 2025, Judge John Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky vacated the Biden interpretation, meaning that the 2024 regulations no longer apply anywhere in the United States, and that the 2020 interpretation of Title IX applies.
Note that this has nothing to do with President Donald Trump’s bigoted executive orders. The President does not have the authority to change the law, overrule court decisions, or change state policy through executive orders.
In Rhode Island, the Kentucky ruling does not affect the rights and protections available to transgender, gender diverse, and transitioning students. Previous federal court decisions, state law, RIDE policies, and most school district policies across the state provide ample protection, at least so far. What school committees worry about is the Trump Administration punishing schools with the 2024 policy Judge Reeves vacated in their policies, which could result in punitive lawsuits and cuts in federal funding. As a result, many districts, including Barrington and North Kingstown, have reverted to the 2020 Title IX rules.
“In 2020, we had a policy much like the one proposed tonight,” said Committeemember Feather. “When the federal government expanded its definitions of sex-based discrimination, we incorporated that into our policy. However, there was a lawsuit in Kentucky recently that, in essence, changed what we’re able to include in our policy, specifically changing the wording around sex-based harassment, which needed to be changed to ‘sexual harassment’ or ‘sex harassment.’ We must return this policy to the 2020 language to avoid losing funding.
“I want to state that I’m not a fan of going backward,” continued Councilmember Feather. “I’m not a fan of providing less support to people who need all the support they can get. That being said, I would not in good conscience have been able to vote for this as I did in our public policy subcommittee meeting if I believed that that is what we are doing. I believe Cumberland has long been a place of acceptance and tolerance, and I don’t believe that will change.”
Councilmember Keri Smith noted, “This is a difficult policy for many people, and it’s divided many people in their personal beliefs. The most important thing we must look at here is that we must follow federal and state laws. As long as the state law includes all the federal law, they can add to it, but we can’t take away from it. This court ruling occurred, which takes the sex discrimination, and it’s solely on sex discrimination in Title IX, back to what it was originally. The change is removing the words ‘sex-based discrimination.’ This isn’t to make any one particular group suffer. Rhode Island has an anti-discrimination law in place, and we follow that. This is not what is in Title IX. We’re not talking about all the discrimination; we’re talking about one particular topic.
“I think it’s very important that we point that out,” continued Councilmember Smith. “There are other discrimination laws. We have other policies in place here that follow federal and state laws, and we continue to do that. A lot of the items that people wanted or thought would be in Title IX are in those other policies.As much as some people may not like it, and others may want it, it doesn’t matter. It’s our job and duty to follow the state and federal laws, and that’s what we’re doing in making this adjustment after the court ruling.”
Committee Chair Amy Vogel called for a vote, and the motion passed 6-0.
A School board of little courage