Some school districts in New Hampshire have implemented policies in the last decade allowing students to keep parents in the dark regarding kids’ self-proclaimed gender contrary to their biological sex while also requiring faculty to use their preferred pronouns.
Milford School District and Fall Mountain Regional School District each have policies that allow students who change their self-proclaimed gender to hide it from parents, according to documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests by Parents Defending Education (PDE) given exclusively to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Districts Contoocook, Kearsarge Regional, Somersworth and Oyster River Cooperative permit students to decide on their own their “gender identity” and allow transgender individuals to choose bathrooms and locker rooms based on what they claim their gender is.
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“There is no justification for schools engaging in the deliberate deception of parents,” Erika Sanzi, director of outreach for PDE, told the DCNF. “These policies are wildly unethical and likely illegal.”
Fall Mountain School District’s “Transgender Students” policy requires that school personnel refrain from disclosing a student’s “transgender status” or that they are presenting as the opposing sex to parents and other administrators, according to the documents. The policy indicates that school personnel are only allowed to tell parents or other faculty members about a student’s “gender identity” if there is a legal obligation or the student has granted such permission.
Milford School District’s “Administrative Procedure Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students” policy enables staff members to shield parents from knowing their child’s transgender status or “gender identity,” according to PDE. The policy asserts that parents should only receive this information if the student has given permission to do so or there are legal obligations.
Kearsarge’s “Student Preferred Names and Pronouns” policy notes that not using students’ preferred pronouns can be seen as sexual harassment, according to PDE. A second policy implemented by Kearsarge known as “Physical Privacy of Students” allows students to use restrooms and locker rooms in accordance with their self-proclaimed “gender identity.”
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The “Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Procedure” at Contoocook Valley School District allows students to share their need for a gender transition with staff members, the documents state. Under the same policy, students and faculty are required to use preferred pronouns, and students can choose bathrooms and locker rooms depending on which gender they claim to identify with.
In the Somersworth School District, students and parents have to authorize for information regarding gender to be disclosed, according to the “Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Student Support Procedure,” PDE found. Somersworth’s other policy, “Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students,” requires that for students identifying as transgender, either the student or parents must contact the school counselor to work on a plan with the school regarding confidentiality and other factors.
“An individual student’s decisions that he or she’s making about their gender, that’s their decision and their family’s decision,” John Shea, Somersworth school district superintendent, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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The same “Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students” policy at Somersworth also allows transgender students to use whichever bathroom or locker room they choose, according to PDE.
Oyster River Cooperative School District’s “Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Procedure” policy states that the district is not to disclose private information regarding gender to other faculty members if a student wants it to remain private, the policy noted.
As a part of Oyster River’s same policy, students and faculty are required to use other students’ preferred pronouns, according to PDE. Students are also given the opportunity to use a bathroom or locker room based on their “gender identity.”
Kearsarge Regional School District, Contoocook Valley School District, Fall Mountain Regional School District, Milford School District and Oyster River Cooperative School District did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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