Earlier this month, Townhall reported how the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) asked the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to take a case surrounding a policy at a Wisconsin School District allowing teachers to keep their students’ “gender identities” concealed from their parents.
“Thousands of school districts across our country have these policies. If parents cannot challenge them until after their children are harmed, they have no way to protect their kids other than pulling them from public school,” WILL Deputy Counsel, Luke Berg, said in a statement.
In 2022, Virginia’s GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin lashed out at schools that were exposed for transitioning children without parental consent. As a result, he passed policies forbidding this.
Through public records requests, parental rights group Parents Defending Education has revealed that six school districts across Nevada have policies to help students change their gender identity without their parents finding out.
The school districts are Carson City School District, Douglas County School District, Humboldt County School District, Washoe County School District, Elko County School District, and Clark County School District.
At the Douglas County School District, the current gender identity policy includes a flowchart that states that counselors and social workers need to get “get consent from child to talk to parents” about their gender identity. If the student says “no,” the school cannot honor the name/pronoun changes. However, the school will create a “support plan” for the student.
This so-called “Support Plan” does not require parental consent and states, This document states: “Therefore, given the sensitive nature of the information, when speaking with parents, guardians, other staff members, or third parties, school staff should not disclose a student’s preferred name, pronoun, or other confidential information pertaining to the student’s transgender or gender nonconforming status without the student’s permission.”
The Humboldt County School District mandates that the Board of Trustees and all employees of the district will receive training on transgender issues. Not to mention, the policy claims that employees and students will be punished for not using the preferred pronouns and names of “transgender” students.
The Washoe County School District has a policy in place to keep students’ gender transitions concealed from parents. In addition, the school district has a program titled “Brave Space,” where students use a “genderbread person” to teach kids that gender is “on a spectrum.”
The Elko County School District’s guidelines surrounding gender states that “the status of gender non-conforming students must be kept private except necessary to disclose such status to school officials or otherwise. If a student requests that the school not communicate with the student’s parents or guardians about such status, explore the basis of the student’s concern. In all circumstances, the guiding principle is the well-being of the student.”
“Gender non-conforming students shall have the right to be addressed by a requested name and pronoun corresponding to their gender identity or expression,” the policy adds. “Generally, students should be permitted to participate in gender-segregated recreational gym class activities and sports in accordance with the student’s gender identity.”
At the Clark County School District, guidance states that students need to work with school counselors to “build a communication bridge” with parents about their gender identity.
“No staff members should relay the student’s gender identity to the parents/guardians if the student has not approved,” the guidance adds.
“It should come as no surprise that students aren’t meeting basic benchmarks in reading and math when districts are prioritizing race and gender ideology. Any time spent instructing teachers on gender issues is time not spent teaching the basics. When schools go a step further and ask teachers to exclude parents from vital information about a child’s life, open sex-separated spaces based on gender identity, or require the use of preferred pronouns, they threaten the basic rights and safety of students and their families. These Nevada districts should do their job and prioritize learning over gender politics," Alex Nester, investigative fellow at PDE, told Townhall.
"When schools facilitate a child's gender transition, they are engaging in a psychosocial intervention that can have long lasting consequences. The idea that they would hide this intervention from the parents is an ethical abomination and likely illegal," Erika Sanzi, director of outreach at PDE, added.