A Michigan public school district is being sued by two seething parents after allegedly referring to their autistic daughter in the eighth grade using male pronouns.
Jennifer and Dan Mead have filed a lawsuit against the Rockford Public School District after finding out the school referred to their child as ‘he/him’ last year without telling them.
Their daughter has autism spectrum disorder and previously met with a school counselor for extra support.
The parents claimed the counselor never informed them that their child requested to identify as a different gender at school.
They allegedly only found out in October 2022 when a school psychologist failed to change their daughter’s masculine name in a section of an evaluation that was sent home.
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Their daughter’s name had been changed back to her original name in the remainder of the document.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday, alleges the parents had their First and 14th Amendment rights violated by the school by using the “wrong” pronouns for their daughter.
It seeks a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represents the Meads, said: “At first, the Meads thought this was a mistake — that another child’s information had been included in their daughter’s documents.
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“But they soon learned the truth. When the Meads asked district employees to refrain from using the masculine name and male pronouns, the district refused to comply with their wishes. District policy required such actions from the employees.”
The school had been complying with its policy by using the child’s chosen name and pronouns, court documents show.
Their daughter has since been pulled out of the Rockford Public School District.
She had been enrolled there ever since kindergarten. But now, the Meads are home-schooling her.
The lawsuit states: “Homeschooling has required Mr. Mead to remain out of the workforce, which has caused the Meads to lose his income.
“These and other damages were caused by the District’s actions treating G.M. as a boy named F.M. while concealing those actions from the Meads.”
The ADF has even claimed that the school district altered official records to cover up its actions.
It wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter): “ When schools make it a policy to lie to parents, kids get hurt.”
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Kate Anderson, senior counsel for the ADF, said: “Parents, not the government, have the right to direct the upbringing, education and health care of their children.
“Schools should never deliberately hide vital information from parents, yet that’s exactly what the Rockford Public School District did.”
Daily Express US has approached the Rockford Public School District for comment.
