You have hopefully heard that on March 26, 2025, the Kennewick School Board filed a Title IX complaint against Chris Reykdal and OSPI. You may have also heard that on March 31, 2025, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) announced that they will not comply with amendments intended to protect the Title IX rights of biological girls to fair sports competition. This decision by WIAA makes it clear that the only way our girls will have their Title IX rights protected is to ask for a federal Title IX “Directed Investigation” here in Washington state.
In this article, we will explain why your school board should file a Title IX complaint against Chris Reykdal and OSPI asking specifically for a “Directed Investigation.” We will also provide several important tips for filing an effective complaint in order to get this Directed Investigation.
In this article, we will explain why your school board should file a Title IX complaint against Chris Reykdal and OSPI asking specifically for a Directed Investigation. We will also provide several important tips for filing an effective complaint in order to get this Directed Investigation.
Title IX is a federal law passed in 1972 to protect the rights of biological girls to fair opportunities in academic and athletic programs that receive federal funding. Fair opportunities included providing girls with their own bathrooms, locker rooms and sports leagues. Unfortunately, for the past 8 years, the Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction, Chris Reykdal, has mistakenly claimed that Title IX is really about protecting “gender identity” - and therefore requires allowing biological males to enter girls bathrooms and participate in girls sports leagues.
On January 9, 2025, a federal court in the case of Tennessee v Cardona, rejected the claim that Title IX was about protecting gender identity. The judge stated that changing the meaning of the word “sex” in Title IX from “biological sex” to “gender identity” would render Title IX to be “meaningless.” The judge therefore issued an order instructing all 50 states to comply with the original meaning of Title IX effective immediately.
In February, 2025, based on the Tennessee v Cardona ruling, President Trump issued an Executive Order requiring the US Department of Education to enforce Title IX. The US Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague Letter” citing the Tennessee v Cardona ruling and requiring every school district in the US to comply with Title IX.
Complying with this federal court order is difficult here in Washington state because it directly contradicts Washington School Board Policy 3211 – which requires school districts to allow biological males in girls bathrooms and in girls sports. After spending the past 8 years falsely claiming that Title IX is about protecting “gender-identity” rights, Chris Reykdal now falsely claims that Washington State Civil Rights laws have priority over the Title IX federal Civil Rights laws. He has therefore ordered school boards to comply with Washington State law rather than the federal Title IX law.
As a consequence of Reykdal’s bad legal advice, for the past three months, school board members have been faced with the dilemma of complying with state law (and violating federal law) or complying with the Title IX federal law (and violating Washington state law).
In reality, Article VI, Section 2 of the US Constitution requires compliance with federal law over state law whenever there is a direct conflict between state and federal law. Here is a link to an article discussing this issue in detail: https://washingtonparentsnetwork.com/title-ix-facts/why-washington-policy-3211-does-not-override-title-ix
On February 28, 2025, after it became clear that Reykdal was not going to comply with the January 9, 2025 federal court order, the Washington Parents Network filed a 99 page Title IX complaint against Chris Reykdal, OSPI and WIAA. The purpose of our complaint was to bring Washington state into complaince with Title IX. In the past month, as a result of filing our complaint, we have learned a great deal about this process which we will review below. Here is a link to download and read our 99 page complaint:
https://washingtonparentsnetwork.com/phocadownload/Washington%20Parents%20Network%20Title%20IX%20Complaint%202-28-25.pdf
On March 26, 2025, the Kennewick School Board also filed a Title IX complaint against Washington Superintendent Chris Reykdal, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA). You can download and read their 5 page complaint at this link:
https://washingtonparentsnetwork.com/phocadownload/2025%20March%2026%20Kennewick%20School%20Board%20Title_IX_Complaint.pdf
Here are quotes from the Kennewick School Board complaint:
“We respectfully request URGENT federal intervention due to open and egregious Title IX violations currently occurring within the state’s student athletics as well as requisite school district policies mandated by the state which are in direct violation of Title IX.”
“Our school board now faces a serious dilemma: Either the Kennewick School District complies with state mandates that put our federal funding in jeopardy; or it complies with Executive Orders (that ensure protection of our girls and young women) and risks retaliation from Washington State Officials… We urge your department's immediate attention to this matter to prevent undue harm to our students and ensure that our district remains compliant with federal law.”
The truth is that the harms to the Kennewick students are the same in every school district in Washington state – which is why it is important for several school districts to file similar complaints against Reykdal and OSPI.
Tips for Filing your own Title IX Complaint against Reykdal and OSPI
First, be aware that a Title IX complaint is an “administrative” complaint and not a legal lawsuit. You do not need a lawyer to file your complaint and you can always amend your complaint later if it is lacking any facts that arise after filing your initial complaint.
Second, to better understand the legal background of why Washington Policy 3211 violates the Title IX civil rights of every student in Washington state, you should download and read our 99 page Title IX complaint (see link above.)
Third, before filing your complaint, you should read the 32 page Title IX Complaint Process Manual (CPM) which can be downloaded at this link: https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/ocrcpm.pdf
Fourth, edit your complaint to fit the facts of your school district. Include the number of students in your school district. If your school district has been sent a threatening letter by Reykdal or OSPI for failure to comply with Policy 3211, post this threatening letter on your school district website and provide a link to it in your Title IX complaint.
Fifth, include in your complaint the fact that on March 19, 2025, OSPI sent a threatening letter to Mick Hoffman, the Director of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) warning him that if the WIAA passed Amendments #7 or #8 (which would bring WIAA into alignment with Title IX by prohibiting boys in girls sports), the WIAA would be in violation of state law. The OSPI warning letter also included a section called “OSPI Enforcement of State Antidiscrimination Law.” Here is a quote from this section of the OSPI warning letter:
“OSPI can however can share our own positions which we reach after consulting with legal counsel. Washington antidiscrimination law complies with federal civil rights law. Accordingly, any Executive Order or interpretative correspondence from the federal government cannot override the greater protections that Washington state law provides to its residents. School districts must follow state law and OSPI intends to enforce state law with these understandings.”
The OSPI warning letter to WIAA ended with a section called “WIAA Proposed Amendments.” Here is a quote from this section:
“WIAA must also follow state law and OSPI is concerned that Amendments #7 and #8 to be voted on this April would violate Washington state laws including Chapters 28A.640 and 28A.42 RCW and Chapter 392-790 WAC. We have confidence the WIAA would not implement these amendments if they were to pass in their current form.”
As a result of Reykdal’s letter to WIAA, on March 31, 2025, WIAA changed Amendments #7 and #8 to “Advisory votes” claiming that they could not be adopted because they were contrary to state law. WIAA officials claimed that their decision was based on “communications from the Washington state Attorney General’s Office, the Office for Civil Rights, and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.”
It is therefore certain that, regardless of the vote on the WIAA amendments, WIAA will continue to violate the Title IX rights of a half million girls to fair sports competition here in Washington state.
Sixth, be warned that there are still Biden loyalists working at both the national branch of the US Department of Education and the Seattle Branch of the US Department of Education. They are likely to ignore your complaint and even bury your complaint. The solution to overcoming this problem is to submit your complaint to the US Department of Education National Office of Civil Rights requesting an immediate Directed Investigation based on Section 402 of the Office of Civil Rights Complaint Process Manual. https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/ocrcpm.pdf
Here is a quote from Section 402: “A directed investigation is an OCR-initiated process that allows OCR to address possible discrimination that is not currently being addressed through OCR’s complaint, compliance review or technical assistance activities. Depending on the circumstances, a directed investigation may include... conducting an expedited investigation that may result in a resolution agreement that will ensure that recipients come into compliance with the requirements of the civil rights laws and regulations enforced by OCR.”
Seventh, you can submit your complaint through Snail Mail via the Post Office. But it is better to submit your complaint via the National Department of Education OCR Online complaint portal: https://ocrcas.ed.gov/
In addition, you should submit your complaint and request for a Directed Investigation via their OCR national office via this email address:
Be sure to include the following request in your complaint:
“We ask that an investigator from the national office be assigned to investigate our complaint and that they immediately begin a Directed f Washington OSPI similar to the Directed Investigation just completed againstInvestigation o the Maine Department of Education.“
Next, ask your Congressional Representatives, such as Representative Michael Baumgartner and Representative Dan Newhouse, to make sure the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights follows up on your complaint.
Finally, email us a copy of your complaint at the Washington Parents Network and we will share it with other school board members. Our email address is
If we all work together, we will eventually convince the US Department of Education to launch a Directed Investigation against OSPI and thereby help us restore the Title IX rights of our students here in Washington State.
Regards,
David Spring M. Ed.
Washington Parents Network