‘Volunteering known information about a student’s sexuality with parents is not advised,’ one policy manual states.
Two Utah school districts are encouraging staff to conceal students’ gender transitions from parents, internal documents obtained by National Review reveal.
Policy manuals distributed to teachers and staff by the Nebo and Alpine school districts instruct teachers and staff not to notify parents or guardians after a student asks to be referred to by a name or pronouns of the opposite sex, outside of certain limited circumstances.
Nebo instructs staff to heed the ACLU’s guidance, which is “very protective of a student’s right to privacy in his/her sexuality,” and adds that school employees should only notify parents if “‘a situation exists which presents a serious threat to the well-being of a student,'” pursuant to Utah state laws. Otherwise, “volunteering known information about a student’s sexuality with parents is not advised,” the district’s “Practical Tips for Interacting with Transgender Students” resource states.
The district also instructs its staff on how to create inclusive environments, referring teachers and administrators to a document titled “Tool: Recognizing Microaggressions and the Messages They Send.”
According to the document, micro-aggression include, but are not limited to “color blindness (statements that indicate that a White person does not want to or need to acknowledge race.),” “pathologizing cultural values/communication styles (the notion that the values and communication styles of the dominant/White culture are ideal/normal),” and “sexist/heterosexist language (being forced to choose Male or Female when completing basic forms [or] two options for relationship status: married or single).”
Alpine’s “Guiding Principles for Respecting Gender Diversity in Alpine School District” details how teachers and staff should “partner with families to support students academically, socially, and emotionally,” yet notes that “there is no requirement under the law to report the gender identity to a parent or guardian unless the student is asking for a change to their educational record or program.”
Although educators should give students an option to inform his parents about a gender change, “there may be circumstances wherein students’ parents or guardians should not be contacted,” due to safety concerns, the district says. In that case, teachers are instructed to notify counselors, social workers, psychologists, and the Division of Child and Family Services.
The documents were first obtained by the watchdog group Parents Defending Education (PDE) via a Freedom of Information Act request.
“America is in the midst of a parental exclusion crisis taking root in schools across the country,” PDE senior advisor, Michele Exner, said. “Parents Defending Education has tracked nearly 1,100 school districts that have policies in place meant to keep information from parents – this is unconscionable. These misguided policies are anti-parent and anti-family and run the risk of withholding critical information from parents regarding their own children.”
More than 18,000 schools have adopted policies that encourage public school staff to conceal a child’s gender identity from his or her parents.
Nebo and Alipine school districts did not respond to requests for comment.