Outrage erupts over trans Rochester Memorial School student using girls' bathroom

ROCHESTER — The angry father of a Rochester Memorial School student is calling for the district to change its policy on bathroom access for transgender students after he reports a transgender classmate barged into his daughter’s bathroom stall. 

Luis Rivera filed a complaint under the federal Title IX statute against the Old Rochester Regional School District last week, with a letter filed by his lawyer to the district claiming his 9-year-old daughter is the victim of sexual harassment. He said he’s upset with the district’s lack of response.

The district has no plans to change its treatment of transgender students, and Superintendent Michael Nelson said in a written statement the district “is bound by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts laws. Additionally, our schools adhere to the policies and procedures of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.”

This isn’t the first time parents have complained to the school about this particular student, a transgender girl who was born male. The letter states Rivera and his wife Kerri, among other parents, have made numerous calls to the school’s Principal Heidi Letendre about this student using the girls’ bathroom.  

Before the complaint alleging violations of federal Title IX statutes was filed, Rivera attended a May 7 School Committee meeting to discuss the incident and request a full investigation. 

He said the transgender student was looking through the cracks of his daughter’s stall while she was inside, and then pushed the door open despite knowing she was inside. 

“My daughter was humiliated, embarrassed, frightened and left feeling completely violated while sitting defenseless in what should have been a private and safe moment for any child,” he said at the meeting. 

Two fellow Rochester residents supported his complaints during the meeting. 

Because Rivera’s comments were not addressing something on the School Committee’s agenda, the state’s Open Meeting Law prevented committee members and school staff from responding publicly. 

According to the Title IX complaint letter, Letendre responded to an email about the incident saying the door to the stall hadn’t been locked at the time and suggested the 9-year-old could use a single-person bathroom if she felt uncomfortable. 

The district has not disclosed any disciplinary action or investigation conducted in response to Rivera’s complaints.

He said the district’s response to his call for change has been “absolutely nothing.” He wants an apology for the incident, and a “plan put in place, so this doesn't happen again.”

He said he feels the district is handling the situation differently because the student is transgender. “Consequences have no gender,” he said, and if any other student violated someone’s privacy, there would be immediate discipline. 

However, Sam Whiting, his lawyer from the Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center, said the bigger concern is the school’s bathroom policy and how it interprets antidiscrimination laws. 

“This incident is just indicative of that larger issue, which we believe is kind of a common sense issue — that boys and girls are different, and there's a reason why we have different bathrooms for people who are male and female,” Whiting said. 

Massachusetts general law prohibits discriminating against students based on protected identities, including gender identity, and excluding them from "the advantages, privileges and courses of study” their school offers.  

According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, schools are also required to provide transgender students access to the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. 

Rivera said his complaint is not “directed politically,” and his issue is not the gender identity of the other student. However, he consistently referred to the student as a “transgender boy” and said he would have a problem with any boy barging into a girls’ bathroom, despite the student in question identifying as a girl.