The Justice Department announced a new lawsuit Tuesday against the public school system in Kansas City, Kansas, to try to stop what it said were “secret gender transitions” taking place at school.
The feds said the school system allows children to adopt a different gender identity at school and shields that behavior from their parents.
That violates a federal law guaranteeing parents the right to access their children’s school records, DOJ said.
The department called the lawsuit a “first of its kind.”
DOJ had been negotiating with the school system since July to gain compliance, but the lawsuit signals those efforts failed.
“This lawsuit should not come as a surprise,” said Ryan A. Kriegshauser, the U.S. attorney in Kansas. “Public education functions effectively only when schools and parents engage in a genuine partnership. When schools withhold information from parents, they undermine trust and disrupt the essential balance between families and public educators.”
The Washington Times has sought comment from the school system.
School policy directs teachers and staff to alert a principal if a student is transgender. That triggers a process of finding “accommodations” that usually involves the parents.
Those accommodations include using preferred names and pronouns, locker room choices and how the children are recorded in school records.
The guidance then states: “If the student asks to exclude the student’s parent(s)/legal guardian(s) from the school planning meeting, that request will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Likewise, if the student does not want his or her transgender or gender non-conforming status disclosed to the student’s parent(s)/legal guardian(s), that request will also be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.”
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