Middle school is a confusing time to kids. But it is especially confusing when teachers and administrators impose their own woke ideas on kids.
This was the experience of our client’s daughter, who in just the sixth grade was recruited by teachers to join an “Equality Club” where she was told she may be transgender and bisexual—two terms that were foreign to her. Teachers encouraged Jessica Konen’s daughter to change her name to a boy’s name as an expression of her new identity and specifically instructed her not to tell her mother about her new identity because her mother couldn’t be “trusted.”
Then, they gave her articles—and required her to read them—on how to hide her transgenderism from her mother. Still without Jessica’s knowledge, teachers and administrators created a “Gender Support Plan” instructing faculty to refer to her daughter by a new name, male pronouns, and to let her use the unisex teachers’ restroom.
Parents absolutely have a right to know what is being taught in their kids’ school, especially with respect to sensitive issues like gender and sexuality. The Supreme Court has consistently held that parents have the right to direct the upbringing and education of their children. But parents are denied that right when activist teachers think they know better and intentionally hide information from moms and dads.
Undoubtedly, Jessica’s cases is not the only one of its kind. The California Department of Education encourages schools to keep secrets from parents much like the Spreckels Union School District did with Jessica. This usurpation of parental rights cannot go on unchecked.