TEXAS — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday announced his office is investigating Richardson ISD and Hutto ISD over allegations that the school districts are violating the state’s ban on transgender athletes participating in girls’ sports.
According to Paxton, Hutto ISD Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director Keyawna Glaze advised parents about “workarounds” to “allow a male student to participate in girls’ sports by changing the sex of his birth certificate.”
Paxton claims Richardson ISD Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Angie Lee “said to a parent that if their male high school student stayed overnight at a hotel on a school trip, he would be allowed to share a room with female students.” Paxton claims Lee also implied that the school district “allows male students to participate in girls’ sports.”
Paxton sent letters to the superintendents of both schools.
Spectrum News received the following state from Richardson ISD:
“RISD has received the public information request from the AG’s Office. We will comply with responding to the records request in accordance with the Texas Public Information Act.
“RISD closely follows Texas law, including the UIL requirement that student athletes must compete according to the gender on their original birth certificate. The district is not aware of any instance whatsoever where this requirement was not followed in RISD. If any entity has information about a suspected violation of Texas or federal law, they are strongly encouraged to share information with RISD for evaluation and next steps.”
Hutto ISD Executive Director of Communications James Gazzale provided Spectrum News with this statement:
“Attorney General’s Request:
“Hutto ISD has received a letter from Attorney General Ken Paxton requesting documents regarding the district’s policies on transgender student participation in athletics. The district is in the process of complying with this request in accordance with legal requirements.
“Response to Video Referenced in Attorney General’s Letter:
“The individual featured in the video is no longer employed by Hutto ISD.
“The views expressed do not reflect the policies or positions of the district. No individual is authorized to speak on behalf of Hutto ISD, and any statements made should not be considered an official representation of district policies.
“In Texas, the University Interscholastic League (UIL) governs athletics, and only the Athletic Director, the District Executive Committee, and UIL have the authority to determine an athlete’s eligibility. Hutto ISD follows a strict, well-defined process to ensure compliance with these regulations.
“Hutto ISD Policies:
“Hutto ISD is committed to upholding Texas laws and UIL guidelines, ensuring full compliance with all established policies governing student-athletes.”
Paxton’s investigation comes after he sent letters to two Dallas-area school districts demanding to know if they are allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports.
Paxton sent the letter to Dallas ISD and Irving ISD. In the letters, Paxton alleged that employees at both districts were filmed “advising parents as to how the school district would consider a change of sex on a birth certificate for a student in determining eligibility to participate in sports.”
Both of the employees Paxton mentioned were filmed by an undercover investigator posing as a parent for the conservative watchdog group Accuracy in Media (AIM), according to multiple news outlets.
One of the employees, Irving ISD’s Executive Director of Campus Operations Reny Lizardo, has since resigned. According to Paxton’s letter, Lizardo told the undercover person that the district “would not check if the parent were to change the birth certificate of their son to indicate ‘female’ so as to enable that male student to participate in interscholastic sports for young women.”
The Dallas ISD employee named in the letter was LGBT Youth Program Coordinator Mahoganie Gaston.
A video from AIM showed Gaston talking with the person posing as a parent and allegedly advising them to update their child’s birth certificate from “male” to “female” in order to circumvent Texas law.
In the video, Gaston said she was willing to go to jail for defying Texas law.
Current Texas law bans transgender athletes assigned male at birth from competing in girls’ and women’s sports at both the K-12 and collegiate levels.
Spectrum News 1’s Katharine Finnerty contributed to this report.
