Congressman Tom Tiffany, a candidate for Wisconsin governor, and state Rep. Rob Kreibich are both calling on the New Richmond School District to immediately reverse its policy following reports that male students are permitted to use girls’ bathrooms.
“Concerns escalated after a school board meeting last week, during which numerous parents spoke out, with some stating that their daughters feel unsafe under the current policy,” Tiffany wrote in a news release. “Parents reported that the district’s approach allows male students to use the girls’ bathroom, while girls who are uncomfortable are directed to use a single-stall restroom,”
Representative Kreibich called on the New Richmond School District “to reverse course on male students using female bathrooms and locker rooms.”
“My office has been receiving a flood of emails and phone calls since last Thursday’s school board meeting,” Rep. Kreibich said. “Their first mistake was not notifying parents about this situation. Their second mistake was implementing a new policy without first revisiting the Title IX provisions they tabled in 2024.”
Ben Engelhart, a New Richmond, Wisconsin, school board member, told Wisconsin Right Now on January 31 that “the superintendent and principals are allowing biological males in the school bathrooms” for girls. His comments followed multiple parents and community members slamming school board members over the issue at a contentious board meeting on January 29. See our story here with video from the meeting.
“Title IX was created to protect girls and women, and schools have a responsibility to uphold its original purpose by ensuring safety, dignity, and fairness for girls across Wisconsin. As governor and a father of three daughters, this nonsense will end, and common sense will win. Men will not compete in girls’ sports or use girls’ spaces, period,” said Congressman Tiffany.
“The New Richmond controversy follows similar incidents across Wisconsin. Last year in the Racine Unified School District, a 64-year-old man with prior lewd exposure charges was allowed to repeatedly use a girls’ aquatic center locker room due to district policy,” Tiffany added. “In the Westosha Central High School District, reports show that the district allowed a male student to share a locker room with female students, and in the Sun Prairie Area School District, an 18-year-old male student was reportedly permitted to shower in a girls’ locker room and exposed his male genitalia.”
“Federal leadership under the Trump administration has made clear that policies undermining the protection of female-only spaces will no longer be tolerated. As governor, Tom Tiffany will ensure Wisconsin law protects female spaces and sports for biological girls, which Governor Evers has vetoed in past years,” continued Tiffany.
In the current legislative session, Kreibich noted, the Wisconsin State Assembly “passed bills to ban biological boys from playing women’s sports and using women’s locker rooms.”
Rep. Kreibich wrote that he “fears New Richmond’s current policy will lead to an exodus of students in the district, resulting in a loss of state school aid that is tied to student enrollment. This move could also affect federal funding because of a Presidential Executive Order prohibiting what New Richmond schools are alleged to be doing.”
Rep. Kreibich says “the simple solution here is to allow the student(s) in question to use the available single-stall private restrooms. Instead, school officials are asking female students to use that option if they are uncomfortable sharing a restroom with a male student.”
He added: “The first-term lawmaker is urging the New Richmond School Board to follow the lead of board member Ben Engelhart, who raised this issue at the last school board meeting. The bottom line is Rep. Kreibich wants New Richmond schools to be known for their great academics and athletics, not a woke policy that will lead to statewide recognition, similar to what happened in Sun Prairie several years ago.
“What New Richmond board members need to remember is St. Croix County is not Dane County,” Kreibich said. “Reverse this policy on February 10th or face the outcry of your constituents—students and parents.”
Representative Rob Kreibich represents Wisconsin’s 28th Assembly District, consisting of parts of St. Croix, Pierce and Dunn Counties.
