When state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa last month struck down Massapequa\u2019s school-board resolution enforcing Title IX in our schools, it wasn\u2019t just an example of Albany\u2019s bureaucratic overreach.<\/p>\n
It was a direct hit on girls \u2014 and a warning shot to families across New York state.<\/p>\n
Last fall, the Massapequa Board of Education passed a resolution clarifying that our policies bar biological males from using female spaces in local schools, in keeping with President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order on Title IX<\/a>.<\/p>\n In our Long Island school district, it wasn\u2019t a controversial question; polling consistently shows that most Americans, across party lines, believe boys don\u2019t belong in girls\u2019 sports<\/a>, locker rooms or bathrooms.<\/p>\n But the New York Civil Liberties Union filed suit with the commissioner<\/a>, and her April ruling aims to force the district to violate federal law and override the will of the community.<\/p>\n That should concern every parent.<\/p>\n Women fought for decades for equal opportunities, for privacy and for fairness in sports and spaces.<\/p>\n Now those gains are being stripped away by one-party rule in Albany, as Gov. Kathy Hochul and her allies push an agenda that weakens the role of the family and elevates ideology over common sense.<\/p>\n They insist that any student can choose which locker room or bathroom to use, regardless of biological sex.<\/p>\n And if girls are uncomfortable, if they feel exposed, anxious or pushed aside?<\/p>\n They\u2019re told to accommodate, to take a seat and accept their second-class status.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all part of an effort to replace the authority of parents with the authority of the state.<\/p>\n After all, the State Education Department\u2019s official guidance document on transgender students tells schools that \u201csafety concerns or lack of acceptance\u201d mean kids and teens \u201cmay begin their transition at school without parent\/guardian knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s instructing schools to keep secrets from parents<\/a> \u2014 as if a child\u2019s own family is a threat.<\/p>\n And the state\u2019s overreach doesn\u2019t stop at locker rooms or parental rights.<\/p>\n Rosa is forcing New York\u2019s schools to degrade their academic standards, redefining \u201csuccess\u201d by dressing up lower expectations as progress.<\/p>\n They\u2019re not even trying to hide it.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cThose districts that have put an exceeding value on high performing tests . . . are going to struggle,\u201d Rosa declared last year, as the Board of Regents ditched high-school exit exams <\/a>in favor of project-based \u201cPortrait of a Graduate\u201d requirements.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are going to go through a mind shift, a value shift.\u201d<\/p>\n Think about that: In New York schools, high standards are a thing of the past.<\/p>\n