Why Should Delaware Care?
Earlier this month, the United States Department of Education said it would no longer require the Cape Henlopen School District to enforce rules protecting students from discrimination based on their gender identity. The incident that precipitated that settlement was unreported until now.
The harassment of a middle school transgender student led to the now-rescinded federal civil rights settlement that required the Cape Henlopen School District to hold lessons for students and staff, according to records obtained by Spotlight Delaware.
In November 2021, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights notified Cape Henlopen that it had received a complaint against the district, alleging sex-based discrimination.
The student claimed that the district failed to address incidents of harassment based on their gender identity in the spring and fall of 2019, according to the federal Office of Civil Right’s letter to then-Superintendent Robert Fulton.
The student also claimed discrimination on the basis of disability.
By March 2024, the district and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights reached an agreement with the Cape Henlopen School District.
The agreement required the district to hold age-appropriate learning sessions for students on its policies prohibiting sex-based harassment, provide training to staff members regarding the federal Title IX statute requirements, and holding a school climate survey to analyze the prevalence of sex-based harassment in the district, among other requirements.
On April 6, the U.S. Department of Education announced it would rescind agreements made with the Cape Henlopen School District — and five others across the country — that required those districts to enforce rules protecting transgender students.
That same day, the Cape Henlopen School District received notice from the U.S. DOE that the agreement was terminated.
The letter stated that the district did not violate the Title IX statute, and the DOE’s Office of Civil Rights will “take no further action to enforce any provisions relating of the agreement.”
The letter to the district also said the district “must rescind any materials, guidance, or other actions created pursuant to the Agreement that violate Title IX.”
Those materials included staff training, climate surveys, student learning sessions, and other requirements from the March 2024 agreement.
What do we know about the complaint?
It was not immediately clear what specifically precipitated Cape Henlopen’s inclusion on the list of districts when the Trump administration’s announcement came earlier this month.
Spotlight Delaware obtained the communications between the Biden administration and Cape Henlopen School District, the March 2024 agreement, and the Trump administration’s letter stating the agreement was rescinded from a Freedom of Information Act request.
At the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, the student spoke with a school psychologist, and the student’s “gender support plan” was reviewed with all of their teachers and the school nurse, according to a December 2021 letter from the district’s lawyer to the U.S. DOE.
Less than one month later, the student made a complaint that a male student bullied them by making a verbal comment regarding gender in the Beacon Middle School cafeteria.
The district’s report found that another student had asked, “Are you still a boy?” After the complaint was substantiated, the student was “disciplined in accordance with the District’s Code of Conduct.”
Three more claims of bullying in September 2019 were found to be unsubstantiated, according to the district’s letter.
In one of those claims, the student had used the girls’ bathroom but was told by a classmate they were in the wrong bathroom. The child told the classmate that they are a girl and are using the correct bathroom.
The district found the bullying claim to be unsubstantiated after it interviewed the student’s classmate and ultimately determined that the classmate genuinely thought the student was in the wrong bathroom due to their “appearance and dress.”
What does this mean for Cape students?
In its announcement last week, the Trump administration said Cape Henlopen and the other five districts were “freed” from enforcing Biden-era discrimination policies involving gender identity.
But, for Cape Henlopen, Delaware still requires the district to follow state laws that, among other things, allow transgender students to participate on sports teams that align with their gender identity.
The Cape Henlopen School District’s own anti-discrimination policy was last revised in August 2025, according to the district’s website. The policy does not explicitly mention protections based on gender identity.
In the past, Delaware students have told Spotlight Delaware that anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and bullying increased during the first Trump administration.
