More Secret School Gender Transitions
“If any staff member learns a student is transgender or gender non-conforming,” the document says, according to the lawsuit, “that information should be relayed to the school principal without delay.” The principal can discuss accommodations and schedule a meeting to go over pronouns and locker rooms. If the student doesn’t want to tell the parents, “that request will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis,” factoring in age, grade, welfare, “and any other relevant information.”
The Justice Department argues this violates two federal laws: First, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which requires schools to respect the ability of parents “to inspect and review the education records of their children.” Second, the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, which requires parental consent before a student submits to a “survey, analysis, or evaluation” on sensitive topics, including “sex behavior or attitudes.”
If the Justice Department has the authority to go after these bad policies, it could take some of the litigation burden from busy parents, who might not realize what schools are doing or the importance of objecting in advance. In the case that reached the Supreme Court, Mirabelli v. Bonta, one set of parents said they didn’t know that their daughter had changed genders at school until she attempted suicide.
The Kansas City district has denied breaking the law, and in a letter to the government last month, it offered a narrow interpretation of deception as a rare exception. “There are very few limited circumstances where a school district might, depending on the circumstances, not be able to notify the student’s parents,” it said, including if the student has already turned 18 or if there’s an active investigation into “abuse or neglect by the parent.”
