A federal judge recently dismissed a lawsuit filed by parents who claimed public school officials in Massachusetts encouraged their children to change their names and pronouns without their consent.
U.S. District Judge Mark Mastroianni ruled Dec. 14 that the lawsuit against Ludlow Public School officials failed to meet the "shocks-the-conscience" legal standard for due-process claims under the 14th Amendment, but he also scolded the school district for its policy to withhold students' gender identities.
Mastroianni deemed that policy "imperfect," "flawed" and not in accordance with nonbinding state guidance regarding transgender students, according to the National Catholic Register.
Parents Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri claimed in the suit, which was filed in April, that their child was encouraged by school officials at Paul R. Baird Middle School in Ludlow to adopt a new name and different gendered pronouns.
...Parents Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri claimed in the suit, which was filed in April, that their child was encouraged by school officials at Paul R. Baird Middle School in Ludlow to adopt a new name and different gendered pronouns.
...But the judge also noted that state law does not require Ludlow officials to keep a child's gender transition at school a secret from parents, adding that "it is disconcerting that school administrators or a school committee adopted and implemented a policy requiring school staff to actively hide information from parents about something of importance regarding their child."
"Students and parents would almost certainly be better served by a more thoughtful policy that facilitated a supportive and safe disclosure by the student, with support and education available for students and parents, as needed and when accepted," the judge wrote....
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