5 Things To Know About The WI School Trans Bathroom Policy

The School District of New Richmond in Wisconsin secretly implemented a transgender bathroom policy, and on last Tuesday night during an explosive school board meeting, parents revolted en masse. 

New Richmond, a small northwestern city of only 10,000, is like many communities in the region — mostly white, conservative, and broadly working and middle-class. It sits in Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, where I’m currently running for Congress in 2026 and where President Trump won by more than 20 points in 2024.

Across the country, reliably red communities like this one assume their schools reflect their values. One by one, they’re learning that assumption is wrong. This week, it was New Richmond’s turn.

I attended the packed, four-hour emergency school board meeting Tuesday night. Here are five key takeaways.

1. The Board Voted Against Protecting Girls 

Last month, parents learned that, for years, the district has allowed male students who identify as female to use girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms. The policy was never formally disclosed to parents, but it was an open secret among students — many of whom were reportedly too afraid to speak up for fear of being labeled “bigoted” or “transphobic,” according to Moms for Liberty activist Scarlett Johnson.

On Tuesday night, I listened to Ella, a junior, tell the board she feels “uncomfortable,” “anxious,” and “embarrassed” over the policy, and even avoids using the restroom during the school day. “Girls should not have to stand in front of adults and beg to feel safe at school,” she said.

Her plea was not met with action.

One of the only common-sense board members, Ben Engelhart, introduced a policy proposal to separate bathrooms and locker rooms by real, innate sex. Just two of the seven members voted in favor, meaning the proposal failed, and the trans bathroom policy remains. 

Instead, the board agreed to “review” the proposal later, which is code for kicking the can down the road until public pressure subsides. 

2. Board Members Smeared Concerned Parents As Bigots 

After two hours of public comment, several board members criticized the tone of concerned parents, suggesting their objections were harmful and discriminatory. This is a familiar tactic: redefine moral clarity as cruelty and shift the focus from the safety of hundreds of girls to the feelings of males claiming to be female.

School Board President Bryan Schafer chastised parents by proclaiming the district aims to be a “destination district, not a discrimination district.” Yet it is the girls who are being discriminated against. 

New Richmond High School principal Nikki Benson has reportedly told the girls who are uncomfortable sharing restrooms with males to use one of four single-stall bathrooms. Per Johnson, those restrooms are locked and require students to request a pass from the office. Essentially, the district is punishing hundreds of female students while accommodating the one or few trans-identifying males. 

Schafer also insisted that trans-identifying students “are not dangerous.” Yet just this week, a high school female wrestler reported she was sexually violated by a trans opponent, and nine Canadian school children were allegedly gunned down by a trans-identifying man in Canada.  

We don’t gamble with our daughters’ safety to prove a political point. This is about boundaries. Civilized societies preserve sex-based spaces because girls’ privacy and dignity are not optional.

3. Fake Legal Arguments Used To Steamroll Parents

Board officials argued that they have to put female students in danger; otherwise, the district risks a lawsuit they will inevitably lose in court. 

This is false — and, in fact, the opposite risk now exists.

The board and its legal counsel claim their bathroom rules are informed by Title IX. Title IX, passed in 1972, prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded schools and is responsible for expanding opportunities for girls’ sports and guaranteeing equal facilities. In 2024, the Biden administration attempted to redefine “sex” in Title IX to include “gender identity,” but federal courts blocked that rewrite, and it remains blocked today.

Enter President Trump. His administration has directed federal agencies to interpret “sex” as only real, biological sex and has already launched investigations into school districts in several states across the country over policies similar to New Richmond’s.

The board’s invocation of Title IX is nothing more than a malicious ploy to discourage and silence parents. Maintaining the current transgender bathroom policy actually exposes the district to investigation and a lawsuit from the Trump administration — the very outcome the board claims it is trying to avoid.

4. Congress Must Clarify The Law

America desperately needs members of Congress committed to clarifying Title IX by clearly defining sex as biological male and female in the law. If elected to office, I will do exactly that. 

The reinterpretation of Title IX by left-wing activists is an egregious distortion. President Richard Nixon, who signed Title IX into law, likely never even heard the term “gender identity.” But clarifying the statute would end the legal shell game that allows political radicals, like the New Richmond school board members, to twist civil rights protections into tools of discrimination against the very women and girls they were designed to protect.

5. Elections Matter

America is plagued by leaders who are more concerned with appearing compassionate than with being courageous. What I witnessed Tuesday night was a fundamental failure of leadership.

Most of the New Richmond School Board members clearly fear headlines, lawsuits, and name-calling. So they chose obfuscation and surrender rather than what is right. 

One of the most moving comments Tuesday came from a father of two who shared that his daughter has been skipping gym class out of fear that a male would walk in while she is changing in the locker room.

“I’m here to protect my child. I’m here to protect my baby,” he said. “There is no situation where my daughter will change in front of a biological male. A father protects, and I will not stay silent.” As a husband and soon-to-be father of a daughter myself, I feel the weight of his words.

On Tuesday, I saw New Richmond fathers and mothers refuse to surrender. New Richmond leaders, however, did. 

This is why all elections matter. From your local school board to your member of Congress. If we want schools that reflect our values and laws that protect our daughters, we must elect leaders willing to stand firm in their convictions, protect the vulnerable, and defend the truth.

Michael Alfonso is an America First conservative running for Congress in Wisconsin’s 7th District. Follow him on X and visit alfonsoforwisconsin.com  for more information.