At a Township High School District 211 Board of Education meeting, dozens of residents, students and elected officials used the board’s public-comment period to debate whether a student assigned male at birth should be allowed to play on a girls volleyball team and use girls locker-room facilities. Speakers on both sides urged the board to act, but the board did not take public action on policy during the meeting.

The dispute centered on safety and privacy for female students and on the district’s obligations under state and federal law. "A biological male should not be able to compete on a girl's volleyball team or share a locker room," said John Goodman, a U.S. Senate candidate, during public comment. "Everyone should be treated with dignity and respect… but inclusion needs to be balanced with fairness, needs to be balanced with safety," he added.

Other residents urged the opposite approach. Parent Kristen Wagner said her nonbinary graduate ‘‘is a student in this district as much as anybody else,’’ and asked the board to allow transgender students to participate in activities consistent with their gender identity. Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison, who told the board he is a product of District 211 schools, asked speakers to consider the effects of dehumanizing language on youth and said, "Transgender and nonbinary people exist."

Several speakers who oppose the current practice cited the 2015 and 2017 episodes in the district and a widely reported volleyball injury (Peyton McNabb) as reasons to change policy. Angela Christman, a former district teacher, told the board that if students say they feel unsafe in locker rooms that concern should not be ignored and urged the district to provide separate bathrooms, locker rooms or a separate sports league for transgender students.

Supporters of transgender students pushed back, saying the public backlash centers on a single student and risks harming that student’s mental health. Justin O’Rourke, a Palatine resident and mental-health advocate, told the board that "shaming and targeting transgender teenagers in a public forum isn't just cruel; it directly impacts mental-health vulnerabilities." Several speakers cited local mental-health resources and urged the board to protect vulnerable students.

Speakers also disputed statistics and scale. One commenter cited a WGN News figure that, she said, showed only three people assigned male at birth requested and received waivers to compete in girls sports across IHSA sports in a recent year; another speaker cited an estimate that more than 214,000 high-school and college volleyball players have been injured since 2009. Those figures were presented by public commenters and attributed to their sources during remarks.

The meeting’s public-comment period was marked by high emotion and a disruption that prompted the board president to call a recess; at one point a member of the audience was asked to leave and security intervened. The board reminded the public that comments are a one-way forum and that board members would not answer questions from the podium.

No vote to change district policy was taken at the meeting. The only formal board action recorded in the public portion of the minutes was a unanimous vote to enter a closed session on board self-evaluation practices and procedures of professional ethics; the board later returned from closed session and adjourned.

Speakers on both sides urged the board to consider legal obligations. Jerry Frieda told the board that the Illinois Human Rights Act and guidance from the Illinois High School Association require districts to follow state law on gender-identity discrimination, and he urged perspective and proportion in the debate. At the same time, several parents pressed for stricter separation of sex-designated spaces on privacy and safety grounds.

The board did not announce immediate policy changes. Public commenters were told how to follow up — by email to the board and superintendent — and reminded of the district’s next regular meeting.