CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia denies that letters sent this week to local school officials about compliance with a federal directive dealing with transgender students were “warning letters” about potential future legal action.

“More than anything, this was us clarifying what the law is and clarifying the existing obligations under federal law and Title IX,” Jeff Martin said of those letters which went to school board members, principals and superintendents.

In May through the directive, the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education instructed public schools across the country to allow transgender students access to restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity, not their birth gender.

“We would like to have a dialogue with county schools in West Virginia,” said the ACLU’s Jeff Martin of the potential effects of that directive. “I open that up to anyone, including the superintendent from Clay County. If you want to have a conversation with us, we’ll definitely listen and talk about it.”

Clay County is believed to be the first West Virginia public school system to openly defy that directive.

Within a week of the federal directive’s issuance, Kenneth Tanner, superintendent of schools in Clay County, notified students, parents and school staff members that Clay County would not be following it.

“I don’t have the conscience to say to a middle or high school female that I’m going to allow biological males to come into the bathroom with you or into the shower room or to share the same bed on a field trip either,” Tanner said earlier this week.

Martin said people who identify as girls are girls and people who identify as boys are boys. “We’re not talking about boys going into the women’s room. That’s just kind of a sideshow argument that’s been made,” he claimed.

SEE THE PREVIOUS STORY ON THE ACLU’S LETTER HERE.

Going forward, Tanner said transgender students in Clay County would have access to individual restroom facilities, but not shared, sex-segregated spaces.

Martin said that’s not the right move.

“If you start to push transgender students away from public accommodations and the normal restroom facilities, all you’re doing is ostracizing students that just want to go to the restroom,” he said on Friday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”

West Virginia is one of eleven states challenging the directive, which indicated public schools that did not comply could potentially risk losing federal funding based on Title IX, with a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said the directive cannot be legally enforced and represents “a seismic shift in local schools.” He’s pledged to defend any attempts to reduce funding for West Virginia schools based on it.

This week was the last week of the school year for public school students in West Virginia, including students in Clay County’s schools.