A Utah school district informed its employees that they are not legally obligated to tell parents whether their child identifies as “transgender,” according to documents obtained by Parents Defending Education (PDE) and shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Weber School District advised teachers that they do not need to inform parents if their child wants to use different pronouns than what matches their biological sex, according to the documents. The documents also encourage teachers to refer students to administrators and to be supportive of students who want to change their gender identity. (RELATED: ‘A Discouraging Story’: Teachers Continue To Flee Profession Years After Pandemic)
“Weber School District is training teachers to hide a child’s gender identity from their parents. The district is intentionally violating parental rights by informing teachers that they aren’t ‘legally required’ to tell parents about their child’s gender identity. This is a farce that intends to breakdown parent/child relationships in the district,” Caroline Moore, vice president of PDE, told the DCNF.
One document, titled “Responding to Transgender Students’ Requests,” informs teachers that they are not “legally obligated” to inform parents if a student says to be transgender, nor are they “legally prohibited” from doing so.” It also states that teachers do not need parental consent to use a student’s “preferred name or pronoun,” but reminds that “the procedure is to contact” the administration.
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One PowerPoint, titled “Practices and Procedures” and dated August 2022, noted that staff must abide by parents’ requests to not refer to a student by anything other than their “legal name and legal pronoun,” as well as advised on how to handle parents who may disagree on the subject.
“If parents are still together, let the parents know that in the best interest of the student, you will default to the wishes of the parent who supports the student’s gender identity and that this is a family matter that needs to be worked out between them,” the PowerPoint reads. “If parents are divorced, refer to court documents first to determine which parent, if any, has educational decision-making authority. If not specified, do the same as you would with married parents.”
Administrators are advised to “encourage students to involve their parents,” according to the PowerPoint. Several lines are suggested for opening the conversation, such as “‘I’ve found it’s always best when parents are on board, and we can work as a team to support you at school.'”
“‘I’ve found that transgender students have a lot to figure out at school, like a different name, pronoun, use of facilities, and it’s always helpful to have a parent support you and the school through these questions,’” another line reads.
It is also noted that staff are to inform parents about a student’s gender identity should they be able to “articulate that the student is in danger,” such as by being suicidal or harming themselves, but clarifies that “a student’s disclosure of their preferred pronoun alone does not rise to the level of a student being in danger,” according to the slide deck.
Several schools across the U.S. have policies to hide students’ “gender identity” from parents.
Southern Lehigh School District in Pennsylvania advised staff to hide students’ preferred names or pronouns from parents in 2021 and, in one instance, withheld information about one student’s “gender identity” who was being bullied in May 2022. Several school districts, including Los Angeles Unified School District, Chicago Public Schools and New York Public Schools, have policies to hide “students’ transgender status from parents.
Weber School District did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comments.
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