Lake County Gazette

Candidates vying for seats on the Deerfield School District 109 school board have remained silent on a contentious issue involving a group of girls who refused to undress in front of a boy in their locker room at Shepard Middle School.

Incumbents Kelly Jakymiw and Kate Joyce who are up for re-election, alongside newcomers David Murav and Remoun Abraham, are all running unopposed for four open positions on the Deerfield School District 109 board in the April 1 Consolidated Election. 

None of the candidates, all of whom were endorsed by the District 109 School Board Caucus, responded to inquiries from the Lake County Gazette regarding the controversy, which has ignited emotions in the community.

With candidates refusing to take a stand, voters may face a choice shaped more by silence than substance on April 1. The incident in question surfaced during a District 109 School Board meeting on March 13, when parent Nicole Georgas detailed how administrators Joanna Ford, Cathy Van Treese and Ginger Logemann allegedly pressured her daughter and other girls to change in front of a boy in the school locker room. 

Georgas raised concerns over the violation of privacy and safety for female students and called for separate facilities for biological males and females after she said school administrators pressured her daughter and other girls to change into uniforms despite their objects to a boy being present. 

She recounted that the administrators reprimanded the girls for refusing despite their continued protest to undress in front of the male student. 

This ongoing pressure ultimately prompted Georgas to file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice on grounds that her 13-year-old daughter was nearly forced to change in front of a transgender student.

School Principal Rob Wegley has defended the district’s policy, asserting that any male student identifying as female has the right to use girls’ facilities, a position backed by the district’s legal counsel. The policy has drawn sharp criticism from some parents and praise from trans activists. 

The March 13 meeting attracted a vocal contingent of cross-dressing activists from the Chicago area, including Kerrick Goodman-Lucker, who argued that teen girls should be mandated to undress in front of boys identifying as girls. 

Jesse Holzman, a self-described queer activist and recruiter for an HIV study among cross-dressers, claimed such policies enhance girls’ academic and social development, though he offered no specific evidence. Other activists, Kristal Larson and Charlee Friedman, lauded the boy’s “authenticity” and highlighted Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s support for cross-dressing teens’ rights, respectively.

Local resident Tina Nelson, who identified herself as a lesbian, countered opposition by labeling it “white supremacist” in motive.