ROCHESTER, Mass. — A Rochester father whose daughter was involved in a bathroom incident with a transgender classmate at Rochester Memorial School last spring accused the superintendent Thursday of misleading the town about what happened. He demanded that the district retract its public statement and apologize to his daughter.

Luis Rivera spoke during public comment at the Rochester School Committee's Nov. 12 meeting. He said he had made the same request last month and that Superintendent Michael Nelson "remained silent."

"Your public explanation describing something that could have happened in any busy elementary school is a lie," Rivera told Nelson.

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Rivera then read what he said was the conclusion of the district's own Title IX investigator. According to his reading, the investigator found that the other student knew Rivera's daughter was in the stall, having seen her feet and recognized her blue shirt, and opened the door without knocking while she was using the toilet. Rivera said the investigator described the conduct as "inappropriate" and a violation of expected bathroom privacy.

"How does knowing someone in the stall and pushing a door open is an accident?" Rivera asked. "Why did your public statement leave out findings that are essential to understanding what happened in May 1st?"

Rivera said the district's handling of the case "has torn this community apart." He also argued that the district was relying on state guidance rather than federal law. "Title IX supersedes guidance," he said. "Guidance is not a law."

Near the end of his remarks, Rivera said a committee member had stuck her tongue out at him at the previous meeting. He also criticized her posts on social media. The committee then took a brief recess. When the meeting resumed, the chair warned that anyone who could not "keep control over your voice or your body" would be asked to leave and escorted out.

Complaint and the district's response

Rivera and his wife, Kerri, filed a federal Title IX complaint in May against the Old Rochester Regional School District, Sippican Week reported. The complaint alleges that a biologically male classmate who identifies as a girl pushed open their 9-year-old daughter's stall door in the girls' bathroom. The family is represented by the Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center, Fox News Digital reported.

In a message to parents, Nelson said a Title IX investigation found that school staff and district administrators had acted in compliance with the law, according to Fox News Digital.

Residents divided

Several speakers Thursday defended the school.

Jane Bergeron, a Rochester parent who said she is a licensed mental health counselor, said the Title IX investigation found that the school handled the matter appropriately. "Boys are not using girls' bathrooms. Transgender girls are using girls' bathrooms," she said. "If you disagree with the state law, take that to the state, advocate for a change."

A woman commenting online said the state had reviewed the school's investigation and "found no reason to question the findings." She said the state attorney general's office had found the school's bathroom policy to comply with state law. "RMS can't change, repeal, or create laws. It can only follow them," she said. She added that school administrators have been "threatened and bullied" over the issue.

Others backed Rivera.

Another speaker said the district "did not protect all students" and that the family was being "portrayed as the problem." "Nobody is objecting to the inclusion of transgender students and families," she said, "but recognizing that girls have legitimate interests in privacy, safety, and fairness on the basis of biological sex is not discriminatory or bigoted." She challenged the committee to name the law it says it is following. "DESE guidance is not the same as a statute," she said, referring to the state education department.

A Westerly, R.I., man who described himself as Rivera's friend called the district's handling of the incident "a blatant display of sex-based discrimination and a violation of Title IX." He said he hoped the U.S. Department of Justice would act against the district and "cuts your funding off at the knees." The same man warned the Tiverton School Committee last month that it could face a federal complaint over its transgender student policy, The New England Signal reported.

Under the committee's policy, public comment is not a dialogue, and members did not respond to the remarks. At the start of the comment period, the chair said the committee reserves the right to address incorrect information at its next meeting.

Bus complaints

Two parents also used public comment to complain about Bus 7. They described late arrivals since September, including one day when they said the bus was more than 30 minutes late and parents were not told. Later in the meeting, the committee approved Operation Yellow Bus, a Rochester Police Department plan that puts officers on school buses and in unmarked cruisers along bus routes to catch drivers who illegally pass stopped buses.