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By last spring, as reported by The Hollander, all nine public schools in Ottawa County had updated their Title IX policy—but hadn’t touched the remaining policies that appear to go against the Executive Order.
To be compliant, nondiscrimination and anti-harassment language is to reflect the "immutable biological truth" of two genders—male and female." Instead of stating, "based on sex" and then adding, "(including gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, etc.),” the language should merely read, “based on sex.” Schools were instructed to fall into compliance or risk losing federal funding.
With 2025 coming to a close, The Hollander checked in again to see if the nine schools were any closer to fully embracing 2020 Title IX. Some schools have made changes similar to what is being requested while others added have language that seems to muddy the waters.
As of last week, Allendale Public Schools (APS) appears to have made the most progress.
During the December 8 APS Board of Education meeting, members reviewed seven board policies that use the phrase "including gender identity or sexual orientation." According to Superintendent Dr. Garth Cooper, the seven policies were vetted by the APS policy writer, Neola, as well as the district’s legal counsel, and that there is no legal issue with removing the phrase. The board voted unanimously to remove the 2024 language from the seven identified board policies.
There are three additional policies that contain the same language. Hopefully the members will continue in their efforts and update those as well.
APS is not the only school district using Neola for policy writing. Coopersville, Holland, and Spring Lake Public Schools are as well. Meaning, they also could remove the language, especially since APS has paved the way.
Following are Neola policies that contain the 2024 Title IX language and can be found on the APS, Coopersville, Holland, and Spring Lake district websites:
1422*
1662
2260*
2266*
3122*
3362
4122*
4362
5517*
8500 – all but Spring Lake have updated this policy
9211*
The asterisks indicate the initial policies that APS will be updating to reflect 2020 Title IX.
Since May, two school districts have switched from Neola to Thrun—Grand Haven and Hudsonville Public Schools—joining West Ottawa and Jenison Public Schools.
Thrun’s Definitions policy (3115A) and Nondiscrimination policy (4101) are the ones that appear to muddy the waters. The policies define “sex” to include sexual orientation and gender identity, referencing Titles VI, VII, 2020 IX, and the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
Thrun defines Title VII of 1964 as including gender identity and sexual orientation. According to the Department of Justice, it does not. The Elliott-Larsen Act—which also includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression—is a State Act that conflicts with the 2020 Title IX.
The Zeeland Public School district continues to be the only Ottawa County public school using Miller Johnson for policy writing. The Discrimination and Harassment policy (8007) has not changed since we last checked back in May. According to the policy, “sex” is to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
In addition to policies, links to 2024 resources remain on many of the Title IX web pages of the schools’ websites.
As recent history has shown, Title IX is not safe from amendments. While the Trump Administration has the Executive Order in place, those who oppose the infiltration of gender ideology have a prime opportunity to remove the language from board policies—which direct the schools.
As Neola and the APS legal counsel have shown, there currently is no legal issue with removing the language.
Krista Yetzke is a native of Ottawa County. A jeep-driving, guitar-playing wife, mom, and everyday adventurer, Krista was raised on the love of Jesus, the great outdoors, the arts, the value of frugality, and the beauty of food as medicine.
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