A lawsuit filed on Monday by the Alliance Defending Freedom claims that the Rockford Public School District of Michigan has violated the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of two parents.
Dan and Jennifer Mead, on whose behalf the ADF is filing the lawsuit, discovered last October that school district staff had been referring to their daughter using masculine pronouns and a new, masculine name without informing them.
The only reason they became aware of this fact is that a staffer accidentally included a note from one their daughter’s teachers in an official report, in which the teacher referred to the child using the new name and pronouns.
Dan and Jennifer Mead thought they had a great school and counselor at Rockford Public School District.
But then they learned the school was using a masculine name and pronouns for their young daughter and hiding the information from them.
We're suing.https://t.co/QGmf98pVTs pic.twitter.com/pTg5AMUhhx
— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) December 19, 2023
The Meads had been sending their daughter to schools within the district for years, so when she started falling behind academically and concerns were raised about her mental health, they felt they could trust the school counselor to help them. They kept in regular contact with the counselor, not only learning what was discussed with their daughter, but sharing sensitive information of their own in an effort to help.
Such was their trust that Jennifer Mead even personally thanked the counsellor for their help, stating her daughter felt “safe talking with her”. It wouldn’t be long before they learned this trust was horribly misplaced.
According to the Alliance Defending Freedom:
That May, however, the counselor withheld a critical piece of information from the Meads. One day, the counselor received a message from the Meads’ daughter asking that teachers begin referring to her by a new masculine name. Despite the trust the Meads had placed in the school district, the counselor did not tell them about this request.
When the Meads’ daughter began eighth grade in the fall of 2022, the school district was already referring to her by the masculine name. By early September at the latest, district employees were regularly using that name and male pronouns to refer to her. All the while, no one asked the Meads for permission to make this change or even informed them about it. Instead, they continued using their daughter’s correct name and female pronouns when talking with the Meads.
When the Meads confronted the school district over the issue and demanded their daughter be addressed by her proper name and pronouns, the principal of her school denied them and insisted they would continue addressing her as they pleased, regardless of parental input.
Though the principal claimed it was a matter of state law, the lawsuit claims the Michigan Department of Education makes it clear its guidelines regarding students who identify as transgender are voluntary and that any application of them is a deliberate choice made by the school district.
As devout Christians, the transitioning of their daughter violates their religious beliefs, and as Americans, it violates their constitutional rights. Unsurprisingly, the Meads have since removed their daughter from the school and are now homeschooling her.
I pray the family can heal from this and that no lasting damage has been done to their daughter by educational institutions which increasingly see themselves as the primary authority in the lives of our children, rather than public servants meant to assist us in their development.
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