AZ Appeals Court Restores Lawsuit Against Mesa School District for Transitioning Student

A state Court of Appeals ruling is being praised for allowing parents to sue public schools that fail to inform parents when a child intends to identify as a sex other than the one to which they were born.

A watchdog organization, America First Legal, filed  the lawsuit against Mesa Public Schools, on behalf of a mother whose daughter was clandestinely transitioned to a male by school officials.

The mother, named Jane Doe in the complaint to protect her daughter’s identity, is suing because school officials at her daughter’s junior high in Mesa, Arizona helped her socially transition her gender in school and keep it hidden from her parents.

The daughter, named Megan Doe in the suit, had been going by the name “Michael” in school for months when her mother found out by chance. On Halloween, the mother of Megan’s friend asked Jane if she was “Michael’s” mother. Surprised by the question, Jane looked back at some recent school programs and realized that her daughter had been listed as “Michael Doe,” rather than “Megan Doe.”

Jane met with the school principal, who confirmed the name change and that the school had intentionally been keeping it hidden from Jane. The principal refused to provide much additional detail about what school officials had been saying to Megan. Despite Jane’s requests, the school has never released any records or information to Jane about what school employees did or said to encourage Megan’s transition.

Once Jane found out about Megan’s struggles, they were able to talk about them with love and empathy. Megan was able to talk to her therapist about them as well. Within a month, Megan’s gender identity issues were resolved. Megan is now very comfortable presenting herself as a female and using her given name and is thriving in high school. If MPS employees hadn’t concealed Megan’s gender identity issues from Jane, Megan would have avoided many months of needless suffering and angst.

Records obtained by local community member Ed Steele through a public records request show that the school counselor at Kino Junior High, an MPS school, was actively hiding students’ gender transitions from parents. Those records include a spreadsheet maintained by the counselor that tracked which students’ parents knew about their in-school gender transition, and whether school employees needed to use the students’ new names and pronouns or their birth names and pronouns with parents ignorant of the change. The spreadsheet was essentially a “parental concealment cheat sheet” to make sure all school employees knew which parents to deceive and how to do it.

The suit alleges that MPS maintains a policy of hiding from parents when a child socially transitions to a different gender in school. This policy is directly contrary to Arizona’s Parents’ Bill of Rights, which makes it illegal for government employees “to encourage or coerce” a child “to withhold information from the child’s parent.” A.R.S. § 1-602(C). The Parents’ Bill of Rights also gives parents the right “to direct the” “education,” “upbringing,” “moral or religious training,” and “health care decisions” of their children.

The complaint alleges that MPS’s trans policy violates all of these provisions. Arizona law also prohibits school employees from providing sex education or having any other type of discussion with students “regarding sexuality” without parental permission. Any policy that involves school officials helping students to transition their gender without their parent’s knowledge also violates these common-sense parental notification laws.

“Schools are not substitutes for parents and they have zero right to withhold information that parents are entitled to know. Arizona law is very clear on the right of parents and they should be informed when a child expresses a desire to be identified as a sex other than the one to which they were born,” said Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne. “The Court of Appeals was unanimous in their decision allowing a lawsuit filed against the Mesa school district by a parent to proceed. I am very pleased that the Court made the correct ruling to defend parental rights and remind schools they should follow the law or risk legal action.”