Tipp City Schools
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Updated – January 29, 2025
During the January 21, 2025, Tipp City Schools board meeting, the district proposed renovation designs showing boys and girls utilizing the same bathroom. Residents claim they never saw building plans for a “group restroom” before voting to pass a bond measure.
One resident addressed the school board at the meeting, stating:
“I, and many others in the community, feel that we were deceived by you. Prior to passing the PK8 bond, you shared with this community a totally different plan schematic than what it is now. And [the plan] certainly never mentioned anything about including group restrooms. The bond was not cheap…Many parents and taxpayers, including myself, worry that group restrooms may compromise [students’] sense of safety and privacy.”
Screenshots of the building design plans are sourced from The Tippecanoe Gazette.
Whole building:
Zoomed in to show unisex bathroom design:
In a compilation video from Moms for Liberty-Stark, Ohio, one resident said school board members knew about the unisex bathroom design several months before the vote but never informed the public.
Several speakers referred to the passage of Senate Bill 104, which was enacted to protect all students “regarding single-sex bathroom access in primary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education.” The legislation was amended to include House Bill 183, which requires school boards and administrators to adhere to biological sex rather than “gender identity” when drafting school policies.
According to Dayton Daily News, “A single-user or unisex restroom concept proposed for Tipp City’s new preschool through eighth-grade building drew some angry comments from residents…Some residents said they felt deceived by the proposal after voters supported a bond issue for the building last year.”
The source also said the building project with the unisex bathroom will cost taxpayers over $81 million. However, Tipp City Superintendent Aaron Moran claims the proposal is subject to change until the plans are approved.
The School Board Watchlist spoke with Tipp City community advocate Kathy Bone who explained that the bond passed by 250 votes in March 2024. At that time, she said the building plans posted on the district website only showed a two-story building with “no mention of non-gendered bathrooms.”
Bone further stated:
“In late November [2024], I heard whispers of a non-gendered bathroom but the plans on the school website [still] did not show that. Not until the plans came out on January 13 did anyone in the community–other than the administration, Board of Education, and those involved with the designs—see the non-gendered restrooms.
“I believe the only reason [Moran] released these plans was because I and a few other community members insisted they be made public. The board and Mr. Moran never said anything about these restrooms at the board meetings.”
According to Bone, the latest building plans appear to have a deadline somewhere near the end of February 2025. However, Board Member Kyle Thompson claimed the project would take at least a year as the district continues to discuss and finalize the design.
The School Board Watchlist contacted the Tipp City Board of Education to confirm the new bathroom project will comply with both President Donald Trump’s Executive Order protecting women in private spaces and Title IX’s original interpretation of biological sex. The following response was received from Board Member Richard Mains:
During the January 21 meeting, Board Member Kyle Thompson stated, “I’m generally in favor of [the bathroom designs]…I think there’s a way to redesign it that will satisfy the efforts to create a safer environment.” Unfortunately, Thompson failed to confirm that allocating separate facilities for male and female students was the solution to the safety issue.
As of publication, the unisex bathroom designs remain part of the building plans and board discussions are ongoing. Community members expect an update from Superintendent Moran at the next meeting on February 12, 2025, at the Tipp City Library.
The School Board Watchlist will continue monitoring this issue. Please send updates on Tipp City Schools to [email protected].
Published – September 8, 2023
During a Tipp City Schools board of education work session, Board Member Anne Zakkour can be seen giving a Nazi salute to former Board President Simon Patry.
Dayton Daily News reports, “Zakkour said her use of the Nazi salute and Sieg Heil in addressing board president Simon Patry was a ‘sarcastic gesture of submission to a board officer acting like a dictator.”
Dayton Daily continued, “Zakkour made the gesture and comment during a heated verbal exchange with Patry…during a board of education work session. The two have engaged in previous heated exchanges often over rules of procedure.”
The video of Zakkour’s gesture can be viewed below:
Patry—who resigned following the September 6, 2023 work session—told reporters at WHIO TV7:
“‘Mrs. Zakkour has shown an inability to act within social norms or minimal expectations throughout her board tenure. I’ve always shown every board member respect.’”
Zakkour responded to the incident by telling members of the media, “I’m not a discriminatory person whatsoever. You know, I wasn’t trying to discriminate. I was just trying to make the point that he’s a dictator.”
Zakkour was also quoted by Dayton Daily News, stating, “I think it was reflective of four years of dictatorial behavior. When you know anything about Sieg Heil, you know when it is done by a civilian it is meant to be a sign of total obedience to a dictator, which at that time happened to be Hitler. That is what I think he is…”
Patry said his resignation was not in response to Zakkour’s gesture but was planned prior to the meeting. He has since denied Zakkour’s accusation and is now calling for her resignation.
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Tipp City Schools has 2,382 students enrolled in K-12 across five schools.
