Seattle Public Schools offering 'gender reaffirming care' to students at 'no cost'
SEATTLE (CITC) — Two health centers at the largest school district in Washington State are operated by a nonprofit which provides, among other things, gender transition medications and referrals for gender transition surgeries.
The Nova Wellness Center and the Meany Health Center are available to middle and high school students in Seattle Public Schools (SPS). Both centers offer "gender reaffirming care" to students, according to documents obtained by parental rights advocacy group Parents Defending Education (PDE).
SPS notes on its website that the Nova Wellness Center offers the services at "no cost" and takes a "trauma-informed" approach.
The two centers are operated by Seattle-based nonprofit Country Doctor Community Health Centers (CDCHC). CDCHC provides several services to "transgender, non-binary and gender diverse patients," according to its website.
Some of CDCHC's services include hormone therapy, gender transition medications and referrals for gender transition surgeries. The nonprofit states on its website that it does not currently provide puberty blockers, and it says hormone therapy for "younger patients" requires "speciality referrals."
Crisis in the Classroom (CITC) reached out to CDCHC to learn whether it works directly with SPS students seeking "gender reaffirming care" and, if so, to what extent. A spokesperson for SPS told CITC that "community healthcare agencies independently operate School-Based Health Centers in spaces provided by Seattle Public Schools" and the district does not "supervise or participate in the provision of health care services in these clinics."
"It's bad enough that medical professionals are prescribing cross-sex hormones and cutting off breasts and genitals of minors," Erika Sanzi, Director of Outreach for PDE, told CITC. "It is a whole new level of awful and terrifying for schools to be involved."
It is not immediately clear if SPS notifies parents if their child is seeking "gender reaffirming care" at either the Nova Wellness Center or the Meany Health Center. In separate documents obtained by PDE, SPS states that staff "should not disclose a student's transgender or gender X status" unless legally required to do so, and the school district says staff should "avoid using gender pronouns" if "it is unclear whether the student asserts the same gender identity at home."
"Schools aren’t parents, and they aren’t doctor offices," Alex Nester, an investigative fellow for PDE, told CITC. "The combination of the district’s parental exclusion policies, and its provision of dubious medical interventions to change a child’s sex, creates a really troubling situation for Seattle families."
"These clinics provide students with access to comprehensive primary care and behavioral health services," a spokesperson for SPS told CITC. "Access to these services enables the early intervention, prevention, and treatment of health-related barriers to learning with the goal of promoting school attendance and improved academic performance. School-Based Health Centers follow all applicable laws and regulations pertaining to the provision of health care, including those relating to parental consent and patient confidentiality."
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