Palatine transgender student files federal complaint over locker rooms

PALATINE, Ill. (WLS) -- There is a controversial battle over a transgender student's use of a school's locker rooms in Palatine Township School District 211.

The student filed a federal complaint asking for unrestricted access to the locker rooms. The district proposed a compromise that would allow the transgender student into the locker room, but require them to change and shower in a separate area.

A federal agency for civil rights rejected that proposal.

"This matter is not about a single student, this matter is whether the federal government and Office of Civil Rights shall dictate upon local school districts, essentially usurping local school boards," says district 211 superintendent Daniel Cates.

The school district says they must consider the privacy rights of the other 12,000 students in the school district.