Rochester Public Schools superintendent knew that district’s position on transgender issues would cause controversy months in advance

Parents Defending Education previously reported on an internal transgender policy used by staff at Rochester Public Schools. PDE sent a public records request to the district seeking contracts with organizations that provide LGBTQ training or consulting, any training to staff on LGBTQ issues, and emails from the superintendent and board members on LGBTQ issues. The district provided PDE with numerous documents in response to the request. The district charged PDE over $15,000 for the request.

The district’s internal transgender policy was controversial when PDE published it. In emails obtained through the public records request, PDE found that Superintendent Kent Pekel knew not notifying parents could be an issue in the future. In an email to board members dated January 22, 2023, Superintendent Pekel stated that “we should begin a discussion at the board level about issues of parental notification of student gender identity issues so that we can be ahead of the curve on these issues in RPS.” He added that “we haven’t yet encountered any of the really sticky situations described in the article, but we should be ready for them.”

In another email dated September 7, 2023, the superintendent discussed how he believed the district needed a transgender policy. He stated that “a number of issues have occurred that have convinced me that we need to disseminate administrative guidelines quite quickly to head off what otherwise would be difficult situations regarding locker room use and, to a lesser extent, bathroom use in a few of our schools — one in particular (Kellogg) where the teacher’s union has become quite involved.”

As a result, he created his own internal policy “based upon guidelines developed by the Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA), as well as information provided by the school district’s legal counsel.” The internal policy was to be “implemented and enforced” immediately. This appears to be the internal policy that PDE previously uncovered that was dated September 8, 2023.