{"id":67115,"date":"2023-02-09T00:21:12","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T05:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=67115"},"modified":"2023-02-09T00:21:12","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T05:21:12","slug":"rights-of-transgender-students-and-their-parents-are-a-challenge-for-schools-courts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rights-of-transgender-students-and-their-parents-are-a-challenge-for-schools-courts\/","title":{"rendered":"Rights of transgender students and their parents are a challenge for schools, courts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

As an\u00a0increasing number<\/a>\u00a0of elementary, middle and high school students in the U.S. have begun to identify as transgender, school leaders have struggled to figure out how to respond, and how \u2013 and whether \u2013 to communicate about their actions to parents.<\/p>\n

In Maryland, for instance,\u00a0three sets of parents filed a federal lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0in 2020 that challenged school guidelines allowing students to express their gender identities at school. In some situations teachers and other school staff are asked not to notify parents they are doing so.<\/p>\n

The federal trial court ruling, which has been appealed, determined that parents did not have a fundamental right to be informed promptly if their children chose to identify as another gender while at school.<\/p>\n

The judge tried to balance both parents\u2019 rights under the\u00a0due process clause<\/a>\u00a0of the Constitution and states\u2019\u00a0rights to regulate public education<\/a>, even if they conflict with parental wishes.<\/p>\n

The judge found that while school board officials intended to ultimately inform parents, if educators had concerns about a child\u2019s safety they would hold off on doing so.<\/p>\n

The board\u2019s rules, the judge wrote, \u201ckeep a student\u2019s gender identity confidential<\/a>\u00a0\u2026 out of concern for the student\u2019s well-being.\u201d The rules also call for a \u201ccomprehensive gender support plan that anticipates and encourages eventual familial involvement wherever possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, parents have a general right to know about their children\u2019s activity in school. However, parental rights can be limited by students\u2019 rights to privacy and personal safety.<\/p>\n

The Maryland case is by no means the only case in which school officials have been caught between students\u2019 right to privacy and parents\u2019 right to know. As\u00a0researchers<\/a>\u00a0who<\/a>\u00a0specialize in education law, we have analyzed similar cases in\u00a0Iowa<\/a>,\u00a0Massachusetts<\/a>,\u00a0Wisconsin<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Virginia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Regardless of how the cases from Maryland and elsewhere play out, this issue is likely to continue to generate additional controversy and litigation.<\/p>\n

Parents\u2019 rights vs. schools\u2019 obligations<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Disagreements between parents and schools over education are not new. In 1925, in\u00a0Pierce v. Society of Sisters<\/a>, a dispute from Oregon, the Supreme Court upheld the rights of parents to send their children to schools run outside the public education system.<\/p>\n

The justices famously wrote: \u201cThe child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.\u201d This signaled clearly that parents have rights over how their children are raised and educated.<\/p>\n

But the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet decided clearly where the rights of parents end and the rights of their children begin. As a result, an appellate court in New Jersey observed that courts have held that \u201cin certain circumstances<\/a>\u00a0the parental right to control the upbringing of a child must give way to a school\u2019s ability to control curriculum and the school environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Courts have even decided that there may be times when school or other public officials have legitimate interests in intervening where parents would typically have free rein, to assist or protect children. For example, educators might choose to keep information about students\u2019 gender identity from parents if school staff members have reason to believe the students would be kicked out of their houses, physically abused, or forced to participate in abusive counseling programs, such as\u00a0conversion therapy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The role of students\u2019 rights<\/strong><\/h4>\n

At the same time, school officials must ensure protection of students\u2019 rights. In particular, many states have laws requiring school board officials to\u00a0protect their students from discrimination<\/a>\u00a0and violations of privacy.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in\u00a0Bostock v. Clayton County<\/a>, interpreting\u00a0Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964<\/a>\u00a0as applying to people who are gay or transgender, the U.S. Department of Education told school boards across the country that they\u00a0cannot allow discrimination<\/a>\u00a0on the basis of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity.<\/p>\n

School staff members have legal obligations to protect students\u2019 privacy. According to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, \u201cIt is difficult to imagine a more private matter than one\u2019s sexuality<\/a>\u00a0and a less likely probability that the government would have a legitimate interest in disclosure of sexual identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, schools often want\u00a0parents to be involved<\/a>\u00a0in their children\u2019s education and the wider school community. This regularly puts educators in the sensitive position of having to protect student privacy while respecting parental rights to raise their children in accordance with their values.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen how courts will balance parental rights to direct the lives of their children and the role of educators in safeguarding the privacy rights of students \u2013 and whether the Supreme Court can, or will, ever set clearer rules in this important topic.<\/p>\n

Author Bios: <\/strong>Charles J. Russo is the Joseph Panzer Chair in Education in the School of Education and Health Sciences and Research Professor of Law at the University of Dayton, Maggie Paino is a Ph.D. Student in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Suzanne Eckes is the Susan S. Engeleiter Professor of Education Law, Policy and Practice also at the University of Wisconsin-Madison<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As an\u00a0increasing number\u00a0of elementary, middle and high school students in the U.S. have begun to identify as transgender, school leaders have struggled to figure out how to respond, and how \u2013 and whether \u2013 to communicate about their actions to parents. In Maryland, for instance,\u00a0three sets of parents filed a federal lawsuit\u00a0in 2020 that challenged […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[429086],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-67115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-transgender-students"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRights of transgender students and their parents are a challenge for schools, courts - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/rights-of-transgender-students-and-their-parents-are-a-challenge-for-schools-courts\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rights of transgender students and their parents are a challenge for schools, courts - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As an\u00a0increasing number\u00a0of elementary, middle and high school students in the U.S. have begun to identify as transgender, school leaders have struggled to figure out how to respond, and how \u2013 and whether \u2013 to communicate about their actions to parents. 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