Harris Sounds Alarm, Feds Launch Title IX Probe Into North Carolina Schools

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Department of Education has launched an investigation into a North Carolina public school district as officials continue to allow biological men in women’s restrooms, violating presidential executive orders and Title IX.

Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., called the violations “deeply disturbing” and thanked the secretary of the department for “quick action.”

June is the second annual Title IX Month, which honors the 54th anniversary of the educational amendments of 1972. On this anniversary day, the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced its investigation into Cabarrus County Schools, following Harris’ reports. The department claims the school system violated Title IX by allowing males in girls-only intimate facilities.

“When students walk through the doors of their school, the last thing they should have to worry about is their safety in bathrooms and locker rooms,” Harris told the Daily Signal.

“It should go without saying that these intimate spaces must remain private. The reports my office received from Cabarrus County Schools are deeply disturbing and should concern every parent,” he continued.

The reports mentioned that multiple female students were “required” to dress and undress in front of males in their school locker room. The DOE says the district “ignored, ridiculed, and dismissed their pleas for protection.” When one student asked administrators for help, the principal said, “There isn’t anything [the district] can do,” and that the student should “go somewhere else” to dress.

“After bringing these reports directly to the Department of Education, I am grateful for Secretary McMahon’s quick action and for treating this matter with the seriousness it deserves,” Harris said.

“Today’s investigation demonstrates that the Trump Administration will not stop pursuing districts that reportedly subject our women and girls to egregious violations of their privacy and safety,” Kimberly Richey, assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education, said in a press release.

“Under the Trump Administration, no woman or girl will have to fight alone to secure her basic protections, and we will not relent until Title IX is restored to the fullest extent of the law,” Richey continued.

In 2024, the Biden administration altered the meaning of Title IX, opening the floodgates for privacy violations like what has been reported in North Carolina. Once President Donald Trump took office, he quickly worked to reverse this. Within days, he signed an executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” Since then, Harris has worked to implement this protection in his state.

“As this investigation moves forward, I will continue standing up for the young women in my district and fighting to ensure their civil rights are upheld. Our daughters must be protected, and they should be able to trust their school leaders to defend them, not turn a blind eye,” Harris concluded.

The Department of Education says it “commemorates women’s struggle” for equal educational opportunity, and throughout the month it will continue highlighting violations of Title IX and the Trump administration’s progress in restoring sex-based protections.