Tallahassee Reports learned that officials at a Leon County middle school interviewed a student and developed a sex reassignment plan without informing the student’s parents.
The plan also included a strategy to hide the situation from parents during school-related communication.
The student’s parents have asked not to be mentioned in TR’s report.
When asked, school officials told parents that due to state law and Leon County School (LCS) guidelines, they did not need to be notified of the intervention.
Superintendent Rocky Hanna, following a meeting with parents, instructed school officials to contact parents in similar situations unless a student is in danger.
However, there has been no official change to the original LCS instructions and parents are concerned that Hanna’s instructions will not be followed by school officials.
The intervention
The student’s parents reached out to Tallahassee Reports to express their frustration with the situation and to highlight what they believed to be an ongoing problem in Leon County schools.
In August 2020, the parents informed the school about gender identity issues with their daughter. The parents believed the problems started during the COVID quarantine and were the direct result of their group of friends.
The parents informed school officials that their daughter was in private counseling on the issue of gender identity.
In September 2020, the mother was told by her daughter that she had a meeting with several school officials and found it funny that they asked her which bathroom she would most like to use due to the name change.
This LCS meeting with the student resulted in an interview recorded in a six-page document entitled “Transgender / Gender Nonconforming Student Support Plan”.
On page 2 of the document (see below) the interviewer stated that the parents were not aware of their child’s gender reassignment. The interviewer noted that the issue should be kept secret from parents.
The mother immediately emailed school officials to raise concerns about their failure to notify or attend the meeting.
The mother was told by a school official that they could not tell them about the meeting as the law requires her daughter to be the one to ask the parents to be present.
The school official added that her daughter was protected by an anti-discrimination law that did not provide for notification or input from parents.
Parents inquire about LCS instructions
In October 2020, the parents contacted the LCS district office and asked about the specific laws or guidelines that allowed the school to meet their daughter without notifying the parents.
In November 2020, parents were notified that the Florida bylaws and LCS guidelines allowed the school to meet with their daughter without her attendance.
In particular, officials said Florida law requires LCS staff to keep a student’s LGBTQ + status confidential and to give students control over confidential information about their identity.
In addition, parents were told that the LCS guideline states that parents should not be notified if a student has shown behavior on the school management or with teachers who believes the student is LGBTQ +.
The guidelines indicated that some “students cannot be home because their parents do not accept LGBTQ + people”.
In December 2020, the family met with Superintendent Rocky Hanna and let him know from start to finish what had happened to their daughter.
They told Hanna that “parents will be excluded from this very important meeting that can have lifelong consequences if the child chooses to make social transition without an adequate process.”
Hanna agreed and apologized for the way the situation was handled.
Advice remains unchanged, parental commitment “encouraged”
In a follow-up meeting in January 2021, Hanna informed the parents that the instructions would be adjusted. Hanna said the new language would require parents to be notified if gender issues were identified, unless there is evidence that the child is in physical danger.
However, it seems that the guidelines have yet to be formally changed.
In March 2021, LCS officials notified parents that they had discussed the guidelines with school principals, assistant principals for administration, and deans that they are encouraged to notify and convene parents unless there is one imminent danger to the well-being of the student (physical injury, abuse, etc.). a meeting.
However, during this period, the LCS website still provided guidance on disclaiming parents from addressing gender identity issues.
At a parenting meeting in July 2021, LCS retrieved the guideline language from the district website and notified parents that they were working on revised guidance. Parents were also told that any new policy would have to go to the school board for approval with a forum for public comment.
Parents told TR this week that aside from Hanna’s comments at a principals meeting, no official change to the guidelines – which allowed parents to be excluded from the meetings – is currently in effect.
Hanna told TR that the language of the official guidelines on the matter is being developed.
from Daily Florida Press https://dailyfloridapress.com/leon-school-officials-develop-gender-reassignment-plan-without-parental-consent-tallahassee-reports/
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