Chicago, San Francisco, DC suburban school districts accused of hiding students’ gender ID from parents ahead of House hearing
Three major school districts have been accused of allowing students to hide their gender from parents as their administrators prepare to go before Congress on Wednesday.
Chicago Public Schools, the San Francisco Unified School District, and Loudoun County (Va.) Public Schools were all hit with complaints to the Department of Justice and the Department of Education about their gender policies from the conservative watchdog America First Legal (AFL).
“These school districts have developed extensive programs to hide what is happening to children from the people who have the most basic right to know: their parents,” AFL senior counsel Ian Prior said in a statement.
“Parents are not the enemy, and the era of school districts secretly preparing life-changing decisions for children without their parents’ knowledge must end.”
The complaints allege that all three districts allow students to change their pronouns and pronouns without asking parents.
They have also been accused of allowing transgender women to compete in girls’ sports and have access to women-only facilities, including bathrooms and locker rooms.
The AFL is urging the Trump administration to consider federal funding in all three states, citing its publicly stated policies.
“All students have the right to choose. This includes the right to keep their sexuality and gender identity, including transgender, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming, private at school,” Chicago Public Schools policy states.
The Windy City district’s policy kit also specifies that parents should not be informed of any gender-related changes unless the child consents.
Similar to other cases, the AFL cites the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibit schools that discriminate based on sex from receiving federal funds.
The AFL also accused three school districts of inappropriately pushing “gender stereotypes” in the classroom without proper input from parents.
“These burdens are compounded by the District’s promotion of gender stereotypes in classroom teaching … without parental notice, consent, or opportunity to opt out,” the group said in its complaint against San Francisco.
“And because the policy promotes the interests of some students while providing opposing families with comparable accommodations, it may be in violation of the Freelance Clause.”
The Post has reached out to all three school districts for comment.
On Wednesday, the House Committee on Education and Labor is expected to hold hearings with the superintendents of the three schools to investigate their handling of parental rights and inappropriate content in the classroom.
“Congress and the executive branch must take a close look at these schools,” Prior said, “and take every step possible to correct these violations.”
