Ohio school district adopts policy of hiding gender transitions from parents

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An Ohio school district is the latest to adopt a policy restricting staff from informing parents if a child chooses to adopt a transgender identity unless compelled to do so by law.

The policy adopted by the Olentangy Local School District, near the state capital of Columbus, obtained by the parent activist group Parents Defending Education, expressly instructs staff to avoid notifying parents when their child chooses to express a transgender identity while on school grounds.

“School staff must not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status to others, including parents and other staff, unless legally required to do so,” the district’s guidelines on transgender students say.

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The guidance document also instructs teachers and staff to address students by the “name and pronoun requested by the student or parents that matches their gender identity.”

An email from district Superintendent Mark Raiff indicated that the policy was adopted in order to properly conform to guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice. The email did not specify which government guidance compelled the policy.

In a statement to the Washington Examiner, Parents Defending Education Director of Outreach Erika Sanzi called the district’s guidelines a “red flag.”

“It is a red flag that district officials developed new transgender guidelines without any public process or board vote, especially when the guidelines include changing students’ name on internal rosters and withholding that information from parents and guardians,” she said.

Numerous school districts around the country have adopted similar policies, sometimes with disastrous consequences.

In Florida, a school district is facing a lawsuit after failing to notify the parents of a female middle school student of her wish to be addressed using male pronouns and a masculine name until the child attempted to commit suicide for a second time.

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In Virginia, the school district for Loudoun County adopted a similar policy that approached parental notification on a “case by case basis.”

Olentangy Local School District did not respond to a request for comment.

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