The Education Department (ED) is moving to take action against two school districts that allegedly hid students’ transgender identity from parents.
The school districts being probed are Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland and Ann Arbor Public Schools in Michigan, the ED said in a July 27 statement.
Anne Arundel is accused of improperly classifying information regarding the “gender identity” of students in school records as confidential medical information that cannot be shared with parents, according to the ED.
The ED’s Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) received a complaint from the parents of a girl that the school was secretly helping their daughter pretend to be male while at the institution. The parents learned of this after receiving an email that referred to the daughter using male pronouns.
When parents raised the issue with the school, the principal allegedly refused to provide information regarding the “gender transition,” the ED said. The assistant principal also refused to turn over relevant records, according to the ED.
The ED said that such policies and practices “unlawfully impeded” parents’ rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
SPPO and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Civil Rights Division will take enforcement action against the school district over its failure to comply with FERPA, including judicial proceedings and cutting federal funding.
According to a 2023 policy revision document from the school district, FERPA generally prohibits schools receiving federal funding from disclosing students’ personally identifiable information.
“Accordingly, school staff may not disclose any information that may reveal a student’s gender identity unless legally required to do so with the proper authorization,” the district said.
As for Ann Arbor Public Schools, SPPO determined that its policy requiring school employees to hide a child’s “transgender status” from parents also likely violates FERPA, the ED said.
The district has been given until Aug. 10 to explain why the ED and the DOJ must not proceed with enforcement action.
In addition, the district must justify a policy that allegedly requires school officials to maintain records related to a student’s “gender identity” in a separate filing system, or face “imminent enforcement action,” according to the ED.
A December 2018 policy adopted by Ann Arbor states that personal and medical information of “transgender and gender nonconforming” students must be kept confidential. Staff should not disclose any information that reveals a child’s “transgender status,” even to parents or guardians, unless legally required to do so or unless the student agrees to such disclosure, according to the policy.
The purpose of the policy is to create an educational environment free from discrimination, “regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression,” the policy said.
In the ED statement, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said it was “unconscionable” that school districts would choose to hide sensitive information of students from parents, calling it an “affront” to basic moral principles.
“ED and DOJ are putting districts on notice that we will use every tool available to hold them to account for this egregious behavior,” McMahon said.
“Under the Trump Administration, ED and DOJ are working together to vigorously uphold parents’ federal protections, and we will work to ensure that no parent is ever kept in the dark about important matters relating to their children.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Anne Arundel County Public Schools and Ann Arbor Public Schools for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.
Gender Compliance Probes
In a June 8 statement, the DOJ announced it had launched a compliance review against four California school districts regarding instruction on gender ideology and sexual orientation in pre–K12 grades.
California law requires that sex education cover these topics, the DOJ said, adding that its review will examine whether school districts that receive federal funding have informed parents of their right to opt their children out of such instruction.
The DOJ’s action was criticized by LGBT civil rights group Equality California in a June 9 statement. Executive director Tony Hoang accused the DOJ of continuing its “obsession with targeting LGBTQ+ youth and attacking inclusive education.”
The reviews “are nothing more than attempts to intimidate these districts, and put LGBTQ+ youth at an increased risk for bullying, intimidation, and harassment,” Hoang said. “These politically motivated investigations do nothing to improve educational outcomes or protect students.”
When the review was announced, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said in the DOJ statement that the department will not tolerate local authorities “trampling” over parental rights regarding the education of their children.
