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All North East Schools Intended to be on List of PA Schools Not Subject to Title IX 2024 Final Rule – UPDATED

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You may be wondering why, as noted in Friday’s article, only the elementary school in North East would be subject to the new 2024 Title IX rules revision the board was planning to vote on and the rest would not and it is an unintended consequence of the combination of Davis Primary (K-2) and North East Intermediate Elementary (3-5) schools into one K-5 school entitled North East Elementary School. The combination created a new name and it does not appear on the list. The new name has since been submitted as well as a list of Moms for Liberty members sent to the school district which should put an end to votes for this Title IX rule change by the school board.

A court order restricting government action

There is a 1577 page unofficial version of the rule change available online. Yes, 1577 pages! You can check it out here (link corrected), but don’t worry, you don’t have to read it because right at the top of page one is a paragraph in red letters:

As of August 28, 2024, pursuant to Federal court orders, the Department is currently enjoined from enforcing the 2024 Final Rule in the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming; the Department is also currently enjoined from enforcing the 2024 Final Rule at the schools on the list located at https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/list-of-schools-enjoined-from-2024-t9-rule.pdf. Per Court order, this list of schools may be supplemented in the future. The Final Rule and this resource do not currently apply in those states and schools. Pending further court orders, the Department’s Title IX Regulations, as amended in 2020 (2020 Title IX Final Rule) remain in effect in those states and schools.

UPDATE: The link above to the full list of schools exempt from enforcement of the 2024 Title IX revision which goes to the Dept of Education website now goes to a “404 Page not found.” It seems the list was removed. Well, that’s interesting. It can now be found here.

Pennsylvania is not among the states listed where the rule cannot be enforced, but there is a reference to a list, the list we referred to above, and which you can examine at the link in that paragraph, but it, too, is very long, so below is a much shorter list of only PA schools from the latest supplement, 08-28-24. The list is cumulative, so many PA schools not shown there are on the list from earlier supplements. You’ll notice, most schools in our area are on there as well, such as Millcreek, Girard and many others:

List of PA schools where Title IX cannot be enforced

The former name of the elementary school is there, too

North East schools are listed as follows:

North East High School
North East Intermediate Elementary
North East Middle School

Since the name was changed, that specific name no longer applies, but the very same school was obviously intended to be there. Was the superintendent, the members of the school board and the school solicitor all not aware of this obvious issue that would soon be corrected making the vote for this policy change unnecessary?

Solicitor misses the obvious

The solicitor in the board meeting lectured the members of the public at length that there was nothing that could be done, that NESD must follow PA and federal law, even though he referred to one school not being included on the no enforcement list, so he was aware of the elementary school not being there. How would he know that if he had not seen the list and the obvious exclusion of the elementary school simply due to the name being changed not because it didn’t qualify? It’s extremely obvious, how could he have missed it? Why didn’t he recommend not waiving the extra readings of the policy change, as recommended in the agenda, thereby delaying the vote. The solicitor’s statement that nothing could be done by the board was incorrect.

Everyone MUST pay attention

This whole chain of events should be a wake up call to all members of the public to pay attention to what is happening in our schools. We cannot have the school administration making decisions that are not in the best interests of our students and everyone in the North East community. Attend the board meetings. Look at the agenda and the backup documents before the meeting, they are always linked from this website and on the school district website. Be aware of what the schools are doing or trying to do. Your children are counting on you.

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Filed Under: North East School District Tagged With: ,

  1. Everyone has the right to know what their government is doing.
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  6. Agendas should be posted online a minimum of 3 days before public meetings take place allowing interested citizens an opportunity to hear discussions and offer input on matters important to them.


Comments

  1. Thank you Paul for keeping the community informed. You share the facts and encourage people to read and educate themselves on a variety of topics.
    Transparency is not a strong point of the district…. For sure, the solicitor and superintendent could do so much better. What they know and what they share are not equal. This was so obvious at the last board meeting.
    All Community members should be paying attention.

  3. Paul once again your doing the work! Thank you for all you do. I hope we begin to see more parents come , attend, ask questions! As we have seen you’ll probably never get an answer. Just keep it up. Our students deserve better and the tax payers needs accountability on where our money is going!

  4. Paul,

    Between us.

    Are you suggesting that on Thursday night, the Board wanted to approve a policy for the elementary schools, not the middle and high school students?

    Thanks for what you do.

    • That would have been the result since the other schools were on the list meaning they were not subject to the new rules. The elementary school should have been except for the name change. I’m curious who among the assembled participants knew this.

      • Putting the elementary school aside, are you saying that when the meeting began, the Superintendent and the Board knew that the Middle and High Schools were not subject to the Title Nine identity policy requirements?

        Was the entire discussion Thursday night regarding elementary school? I appreciate your patience because, apparently, I got lost someplace. I thought the whole discussion was about the Middle and High School students. Thanks, Buck

        • Who knew what is a question for the participants. My impression of the meeting is that everyone on the public side of the room saw the discussion as applying to all schools. It appears most, if not all, of the members representing the school board and administration assumed the same thing.

          On the other hand, as noted above, the solicitor may well have known only the elementary school was involved, though he may not have understood what the list of schools actually meant as to which schools could be required to follow the 2024 Final Rule.

          It is also unclear, based on her comments, whether the superintendent fully understood the matter at hand, especially in relation to what the new rules required of any schools subject to those rules.

          Your questions can best be answered by asking them at the next board meeting.

          • Thanks. Your view is what I thought happened.

            Perhaps the District will provide an explanation, especially considering the legal expenses that may be incurred by the massive redrafting of Board Policies.

            I will ask questions, but as you know, I will not get any answers.

            Thanks,

            BUCK

  5. Did anyone else hear Sennet say “Mandate” in discussing the title 9? Guess what Pal, mandates are not law!