Pennsylvania School Reverses Policy That Kept Parents in the Dark
A Pennsylvania school system has rescinded a policy that kept information about students' social transitions from their parents, according to a September 28 announcement from the Independence Law Center and Alliance Defending Freedom. The organizations challenged the policy at Chester County Intermediate Unit 24, which includes Brandywine Virtual Academy.
The reported reversal is welcome. Parents cannot guide a child through a deeply personal struggle if school employees are instructed to conceal what is happening during the school day. A school should support the relationship between a child and the people responsible for raising that child.
The Policy Put Parents Outside the Conversation
The lawyers' May 11 demand letter reproduced language restricting disclosure of a student's transgender status to parents unless the student authorized it or disclosure was legally required. It also quoted instructions about using the child's legal name and birth-sex pronouns when contacting parents unless otherwise specified.
Those directions could leave a parent hearing one account at home while school employees followed a different practice. A mother or father trying to understand a child's difficulties needs an honest picture. Schools should make that understanding possible instead of managing what parents are allowed to discover.
A School Day Is Part of a Child's Life
Parents remain responsible for their children when those children are in class. A school cannot reasonably ask a family to provide support while withholding information central to the child's experience.
Social transition concerns how a child is identified and addressed by the people around them. Parents should be involved before school employees establish those arrangements. The family may know about circumstances that a teacher has never seen. Excluding parents deprives the child of the guidance that knowledge can provide.
Teachers Should Be Able to Speak Honestly
The policy language quoted in the demand letter treated inappropriate disclosure of a student's status as a policy violation. That placed teachers in the position of navigating restrictions on what they could tell a parent about the parent's own child.
Teachers need a school administration that supports straightforward communication with families. Their responsibility to help a student should never become an expectation that they maintain a separate account of the child's life for use in conversations at home. An honest relationship between school and family gives both a better chance to understand what the child needs.
Missouri Families Should Expect Openness
The Pennsylvania announcement shows that a policy can be challenged and changed. Missouri parents should expect the same respect for their role without having to begin a legal fight.
School leaders should make parental involvement part of their everyday practice. A child's questions about identity call for careful attention from the adults who know and love that child. Her Health Her Future stands with parents seeking that opportunity. Schools should help families meet their responsibilities and tell them the truth about what happens during the school day.
Link to story: Independence Law Center announcement of the policy reversal
Link to story: May 11 demand letter quoting the challenged policy
