Florida School District Instructs Teachers to Keep Parents in the Dark on Their Children’s Transgender Identity – Opinion

Here’s yet another story about what the left says isn’t happening in America’s classrooms. The Broward County (Florida) Public Schools’ district issued a support guide on LGBTQ students that instructed teachers to conceal details about a child’s transition to another gender from their parents.

The school district’s website features a document titled “Transgender and Nonbinary Student Guidelines and Procedures,” which tells the reader “supporting transgender students and families of transgender youth gives young people in our schools the equal opportunity that all students need.”

The document continues, explaining that “[t]he expression of transgender identity, or any other form of gender-expansive behavior, is a healthy, appropriate and typical aspect of human development.”

Parents Defending Education (PDE), which originally reported on the guide, noted that it defined the term “transgender” as an “umbrella term” that includes “nonbinary, gender expansive, and gender nonconforming youth.”

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Between the ages two and four, children usually begin to express their gender identity. Children who identify as transgender often share their identity with their caregivers and family around the same age. Not all transgender teens identify early. For some youth, the transition to gender identity can take longer, and may be more complicated, for many personal, social and developmental reasons. Creating a more welcoming environment for students’ gender diversity is a more effective and lasting strategy. Broward County Public Schools are working hard to create more inclusive spaces for students of all genders. We also know that this is creating affirming environments for young transgender people.

According to the guide, teachers are required to use student’s preferred names or pronouns. It then notes that school staff can conceal the “gender transitioning process of students” from the parents:

School personnel should privately ask a transgender student how they want to be addressed in communications to the home or at conferences with the student’s parent(s)/ guardian. School staff must also work closely with students to determine if parents/guardians will be informed about the transition process. They should consider safety, health and well-being of transitioning students.

The document also states that a “Gender Support and Transition Planning Guide” can be used by school staff to decide “when and how this is communicated to students and their parent(s)/guardian.” It reads:

If the student requests, and in the case of an elementary-aged student, the student and parent(s)/guardian requests, the affirmed name shall be entered into the District’s Student Information System to inform staff of the name to use when addressing the student. This addition to the Student Information System is facilitated by the Assistant Principal, along with a trusted adult (see Gender Support and Transition Planning Guide) and communicated to the Data Entry Clerk/IMT at the student’s school. The A-03 panel in TERMS will have a field entitled “Affirmed First,” denoting the student’s affirmed first name.

Students identifying as the opposite gender will “have access to the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity asserted at school,” according to the district, which also mentions that on overnight field trips, “[i]f students are to be separated based on gender, the transgender student should be allowed to room with peers that match their gender identity.”

The document even instructs teachers not to use terms like “boys and girls” to describe the children, but to use terms like “students” and “scholars.” The reasoning is that using gendered terms might make some students feel alienated if they identify as “non-binary,” meaning they do not identify as either gender.

PDE also has disturbing information about the guide in their report. But as is always the case, the most alarming factor in this story is that yet another school district is actively working to make sure parents remain in the dark when it comes to their child’s gender identity and sexuality. These children want teachers, counselors and other school personnel to win their trust without parents ever having to speak.

Even more concerning is the fact that this method prevents parents from learning about their child’s transition to another gender until too late. This has made it almost cultish. Teachers are conditioned to make transgender children believe that they can do anything.

These consequences could be catastrophic. Gabrielle Clark, who is a podcast host, recently shared how she handled this issue with her daughter. She had to endure a lot of painstaking work to remove this condition from her child. But if parents don’t assert their rights and push their governments to protect them, this scenario will become even more common.