After a district parent went on national television accusing the Shepard Middle School staff of forcing her daughter to change with a transgender student in a locker room, Deerfield Public Schools District 109 found itself caught up in a broader fight over transgender rights, as past efforts to be inclusive clashed with the goals of President Donald Trump’s administration.
The controversy — and the sudden rush of national attention it created — over a hot-button issue that continues to make national headlines made it one of the Lake County News-Sun’s Top Stories of 2025.
In March, district parent Nicole Georgas made her claims during a district board meeting, as well as during an appearance on “America Reports,” a Fox News show focused on current events. She accused school officials of forcing her daughter and other students to change their clothes with an unidentified transgender student.
Georgas demanded locker rooms and bathrooms be designated as biological male and biological female, arguing there is “already a gender-neutral option.”
“The girls want their locker rooms and bathrooms back,” she said previously. “They want their privacy back.”
She also said the district violated federal policy, pointing to executive orders signed by Trump banning transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports. Allowing transgender people into female bathrooms “erodes” female privacy and safety, she said, and her daughter’s “well-being, privacy and mental health” are at stake.
In previous statements, D109 officials have said students are not required to change into gym clothes in front of others in locker rooms, and have “multiple options to change in a private location if they wish.”
The district said its policies and procedures, including student use of locker rooms, are in line with state laws, the Illinois School Code and guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education.
“District 109 is committed to providing a learning environment where all students and staff are respected and supported,” a previous statement said.
Georgas said her complaint to the Department of Justice had been forwarded to the Department of Education. Conservative nonprofit America First Legal said it had also filed a complaint with the criminal section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, urging it to investigate District 109 and its administrators over the alleged incident.
AFL alleged that school administrators “admonished (the students), and threatened them with discipline for ‘misgendering’ the student” and “refusing to change for PE,” according to a news release.
The AFL did not respond to a request for comment or an update on the situation.
Shortly before the AFL’s announcement, the DOJ said it was investigating whether the alleged incident violated Title IX, a law prohibiting schools from discriminating against female students. Such violations can result in a loss of federal funding.
Neither federal department responded to requests for comments or questions regarding the status of the investigation, or any potential charges against the district. According to Superintendent of Schools Michael Simeck, the district has received no updates from either department.
Speakers voice support
While those who spoke during various meetings shared a wide variety of perspectives, between their personal political views and what they felt was the most fitting solution to the issue, the vast majority of speakers over the several months that the controversy gripped the district were in defense of the unidentified transgender student.
The district’s most well-attended board meeting, held in April, had to be moved to Caruso Middle School’s gymnasium to accommodate the expected crowd. Hundreds packed the room, and crowds continued out the door, lining up outside, their cheers of support slightly delayed as they watched a livestream of the meeting.
One of the many speakers included Kristal Larson, executive director of the LGBTQ+ Center Lake County, clerk for Avon Township and a transgender woman herself.
Since the spring, Larson said she’s not heard any updates on the issue, but she pointed to broader national efforts to cut off transgender care, saying there is an ongoing “federal effort to criminalize the transgender population and anyone offering medical support to the transgender population right now.”
Most recently, the federal government proposed new rules that would strip Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care for minors in Illinois.
Gender-affirming care can include a range of services such as puberty blockers, which are medications that delay puberty; hormone therapy, which can help individuals develop male or female characteristics; and surgeries to remove the breasts or alter genitals.
Larson called it a “campaign of terror” that is “running parallel” to a “campaign of terror against the immigrant communities.”
“That kind of treatment is inhumane and unconscionable,” Larson said. “It continues to raise the risk of suicide among the transgender population, and dramatically decreases the mental health of parents trying to get their children through this.”