Voters in New Richmond delivered a clear message Tuesday night by voting out the president of the New Richmond School Board amid a national controversy over the district’s bathroom policy.
Voters in the New Richmond School District delivered a clear rebuke to leadership that prioritized radical gender ideology over student safety and parental rights, ousting board President Chris Schafer in Tuesday’s election.
The defeat came after months of public outrage over the district’s policy allowing biological males to access girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms based on gender identity rather than biological sex.
Parents and students raised alarms at heated January and February board meetings, describing discomfort, fear and embarrassment for female students forced to share intimate facilities with boys. One student testified she stopped using school restrooms altogether due to the policy.
Despite community demands and a proposal by board member Ben Engelhart to restore sex-based separations (consistent with longstanding interpretations of Title IX) Schafer and a majority of the board defended the practice, citing legal advice and rejecting calls for change. The board voted 5-2 against the privacy measure in February, opting instead to explore adding more restrooms while maintaining the status quo.
The controversy escalated when the Trump administration’s Department of Education launched a Title IX investigation last month.
