WASHINGTON — An upscale school district in Connecticut was hit with a federal complaint Friday alleging that educators are wrongly allowing students to keep their transgender status from their parents.
America First Legal, founded by current White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, accused Amity Regional School District No. 5 in Woodbridge of violating parental rights enshrined in federal law.
“[The school district] has taken the position that FERPA [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act] requires concealing student records from parents, but that reading turns the statute on its head,” America First Legal wrote in its complaint.
“FERPA restricts disclosure of student records to third parties; it does not restrict disclosure to parents — the primary holders of rights under FERPA.”
The district has a policy that was most recently modified last year, stipulating that schools “should not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status or gender nonconforming presentation to others including parents/families/legal guardians.”
The policy instructs staff to “use the student’s legal name and the pronoun corresponding to the student’s gender assigned at birth” unless instructed otherwise.
However, it also states that any “student has the right to be addressed by a name and pronoun that corresponds to the student’s gender identity,” regardless of whether a legal name or gender change has been made.
“Parents are the primary decision-makers for their children,” America First Legal senior counsel Ian Prior said in a statement. “ARSD’s gender identity policies are plainly unlawful. Federal intervention is needed to reverse these policies and restore parents’ rightful role at the center of these decisions.”
The group filed a complaint with the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department and the Department of Education’s Division of Student Privacy Policy Office, demanding an investigation.
FERPA, first enacted in 1974, permits parents or guardians access to their children’s educational records while controlling accessibility by public entities — such as potential employers, publicly funded schools, and foreign governments.
America First Legal has also demanded remedial measures including rescission of the district’s policy, FERPA training for staff, and possible removal of federal funds.
In March, the Supreme Court upheld a California federal judge’s ruling that concealing a student’s gender identity from their parents likely violates the 14th Amendment.
ARSD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
