We sent a letter to the USD 233 Olathe School District Board and Superintendent regarding potential constitutional violations in a reported policy or practice requiring teachers to report all students' pronoun and name change requests to school principals and/or counselors and requiring that such requests only be honored if the student's parents provide consent.
The potential violation of transgender students' rights is clear. Mandatory outing of students' gender identity or sexual orientation violates their privacy rights and runs afoul of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Additionally, schools can lawfully and should refer to transgender students by the name and pronouns of the students' choosing, and enying them the right to use their preferred names and pronouns may violate Title IX of the Educational Amendents of 1972 and the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.
USD 233's policy or practice of requiring reporting of pronoun and name change requests and parental permission violates the District's own anti-discrimination policy, which specifically prohibits descrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The ACLU of Kansas calls on USD 233 to promptly adopt a comprehensive LGBTQ+ inclusive policy to ensure directives like this and any others that may harm LGBTQ+ students are not promulgated in the future.
