North Cook News

A male student athlete competing on the Conant High School girls’ volleyball team has drawn public attention and raised questions about gender-related policies in Township High School District 211. 

“I think the polls have shown people don't agree with boys being in girl sports,” Joseph Folisi, a Schaumburg Township Republican Committeeman, told the North Cook News. 

Earlier this year a New York Times-Ipsos poll found that nearly 80% of Americans oppose biological males competing in women’s sports. 

Critics argue that allowing men in female sports threatens fairness, safety and privacy, citing biological differences and cases of injury. 

Additionally, 71% of respondents opposed doctors prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy to minors, reflecting growing skepticism about the transitioning of  children. 

“It's bad policy, that's just the bottom line,” Folisi said. “We live in a country where the majority rule with respect for the minority. And if you have 99 girls who feel one way and one person who feels the other way, you should respect that one person, but that doesn't mean you have to yield to all their demands. It just isn't right. It's a detriment to the other 99 in that example.”

Folisi’s remarks come as Township High School District 211, which serves over 12,000 students across five high schools, faces growing criticism for allowing a biological male with no volleyball experience to join the girls’ team, which reportedly led to the removal of experienced female athletes and, eventually, the resignation of coach Drewann Reibel.

While Folisi wasn’t present at the school board meeting held Wednesday, Aug. 20, he said several members of the Township Republican Committeeman organization were among the dozens of parents who showed up to express outrage at the board’s policy.

One mother said her daughter broke down in tears after not making the team, only to learn that the trans athlete did. 

“They're bypassing some young girls who want to play so that this guy can play, and I don't think that's fair,” Folisi said.

The transsexual student quit the team shortly after the season began, following public backlash prompted by a viral social media post from X account D220 Insider. 

“A boy has made the girls volleyball team, cutting an actual female from the team, and now the girls are being forced to share a locker room with the male pretending to be a female,” D220 Insider’s post reads. “No wonder the coach quit, can we please stop with all the gender ‘inclusion?’ FYI, if you see a politician running on ‘inclusion,’ it means they will continue to vote for boys in girls locker rooms.” 

Karen Powers, the mother of a Conant graduate, spoke at District 211's board meeting.

"A longtime beloved coach of the girls' volleyball team quit, and if she is here or watching, I have the utmost respect for you standing firm on your morals and values," Powers said. "It's not a girl's responsibility to feel uncomfortable or unsafe for the sake of a boy pretending to be a girl! He should be participating in sports designated for boys because he will always be one! When do the girls in D 2-11 get to feel safe, recognized and protected!?" 

Folisi believes the root of the controversy goes beyond a single athlete or coach. He points to what he sees as a broader ideological influence shaping decisions within the district’s leadership.

“The fact of the matter is the 211 school board is controlled by the teacher's union,” he said. “They ran candidates in the last election and put a lot of money and manpower into getting their people elected. Now they do the bidding of the union, and the union is very liberal and woke, and so that's the result. That's what you're going to get, and the board basically, maybe with one or two exceptions, have no courage to stand up to this and say, ‘no, it's not right.’ They just go along to get along.”

Folisi added that the controversy reflects a larger trend of ideological influence in public education, arguing that these organizations are promoting a progressive agenda that shapes young minds through classroom instruction.

“The unions obviously have big influence, and they've been taken over by ultra left-wing people,” Folisi said. “And the way you get ahead is you indoctrinate the youth and they come out of school with teachers are very important, and how they're taught is gonna affect their viewpoints. That's just the way it is. It's unfortunate.”