Edmond Public Schools Implements New Bathroom Policies Amid Ongoing Investigation

Edmond Public Schools is making changes to their bathroom policies. Despite changes the Department of Education said the district is still under investigation.

Senate Bill 26 went into effect in July. This bill said a person can enter a restroom or changing area of the opposite gender on their birth certificate for maintenance purposes, to render emergency medical assistance, or if a coach needs to enter a locker room.

“If a suitable meeting area is not available a coach may enter a locker room before, during or after school sponsored activities as long as all students are fully clothed. The coach should be accompanied by at least on other adult,” an official with Edmond Public Schools said.

Right now, the district is under fire for their bathroom policy. A parent has filed a lawsuit against the district, and the State Board of Education said they've launched an investigation.

“We had a situation there were it seems obvious from the reports that they knew they had a boy going into the girls restroom. I mean that has to be stopped you can't allow that,” State Superintendent Ryan Walters said.

A lawsuit filed exactly a year after Governor Kevin Stitt signed SB615 into law said a freshman girl was attacked by a 17-year-old transgender girl in the girl’s restroom. Walters said the board of education is in the middle of investigating what happened.

“We have accreditation officers that go on site that talk to administrators, talk to teachers to ensure that those laws are being upheld,” Walters said.

The district responded to the lawsuit with a motion to dismiss. They said the parents failed to prove the attack stemmed from a violation of the law.

It goes on to say the lawsuit also didn't prove the district was not in compliance with the law to have restrooms of the exclusive use of boys and girls.

There will be a hearing in the lawsuit on Sept. 21.