District lets staff decide if parents should know child’s LGBT status, complaint says

FIRST ON FOX: One of the largest school districts in the country is facing allegations that it allowed teachers to decide whether parents were “supportive” enough to tell them about their child’s desire to change gender.

Pro-Trump America First Legal (AFL) has filed a formal complaint with the Departments of Justice and Education against Montgomery County Public Schools, located in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., for allegedly violating the constitution and other federal laws through its “Gender Identity in Montgomery County Public Schools” handbook. The AFL alleges that the school district repeatedly instructed staff to condition parental involvement based on whether a parent was deemed “supportive” enough.

In a section of the plan titled “Communication with Families,” the handbook instructs faculty to speak with a student to “determine the level of support” they receive at home to help them decide whether to share with parents their child’s requests to change pronouns, be called by a different name, or even sleep with the opposite biological sex during overnight excursions.

Part of the AFL “system” is also described in the handbook’s complaint guidance, which instructs educators to exclude such gender-related information from documents that federal law allows parents to access.

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The Watchdog alleges that Montgomery County Public Schools is violating the Free Exercise, Free Speech, and Due Process Clauses of the Constitution, as well as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), with policies that keep parents in the dark. The district did not immediately comment on the complaint, citing its policy not to comment on pending litigation.

Aimed at ensuring a “culture of respect and equality,” the 14-page “Gender Identity” handbook, which is not classroom-specific, lays out policies for any student who wishes to identify as “transgender” or “gender non-conforming.” The handbook includes a section on developing a “Gender Support Plan” to ensure that students have “equal access and equal opportunities to all programs and activities at school” and are protected from “gender-based discrimination at school.”

One element of creating this plan involves completing an intake form called Form 560-80.

“The completed form should be stored in a secure location and should not be placed in the student’s bulk or confidential files,” the plan states. “While the plan must be implemented consistently by all school personnel, the form itself is not intended to be used or accessed by other school personnel.” In its complaint, the AFL alleges that the district “failed to disclose this directive,” but notes that “the sole purpose appears to be to prevent the form from being placed in records to which parents have a right to access under FERPA.”

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Additionally, the handbook includes a section on students’ permanent records, which parents have the right to access under FERPA.

“All students have the right to be referred to by their first name and/or pronouns,” the plan states. But it also states that “students are not required to change their permanent student records as a prerequisite to being addressed with the name and pronoun corresponding to the name they self-identify.”

“When a change in a student’s gender and/or legal name occurs, the school must preserve the student’s previous identity,” the section continues.

A group of parents from Montgomery County gather outside the MCPS Board of Education to protest a policy that does not allow students to opt out of classes on gender and LGBTQ+ issues during the school board meeting on July 20, 2023 in Maryland, United States. (Celal Güneş/Anadolu Agency, via Getty Images)

In the plan, right after the section on communication with families, students’ privacy is mentioned. “All students have the right to privacy. This includes the right to keep one’s transgender status or gender nonconforming presentation at school confidential,” the plan says.

The handbook goes on to say that information regarding a student’s transgender status constitutes “confidential medical information” and argues that sharing such information with their parents or guardians is itself a FERPA violation.

Meanwhile, in a different section of the handbook titled “Communicating with Families,” educators are clearly informed that “before contacting a student’s parent/guardian,” they should “talk with the student to determine the level of support the student is receiving or expects to receive from home.”

Parents in the Montgomery County Public Schools district speak out about parental rights issues affecting school districts outside the U.S. Supreme Court on April 22, 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“In some cases, transgender and gender nonconforming students may not be able to openly express their gender identity at home due to safety concerns or lack of acceptance,” the department continues.

“Gender identity issues can be complex and involve family conflict. If this is the case and support is required, the Department of Student Conduct and Appeals (DSCA) should be contacted. In such cases, staff will support the development of a student-led plan for family involvement, taking into account the student’s privacy as well as safety concerns, if possible, and recognizing that it is critical to provide support to the student even when the family is not supportive.”

Members who support the Opt-Out policy in public schools have cited Mahmoud v. a religious freedom case involving LBGTQ+ curriculum. He attends a rally to make verbal arguments about Taylor. A diverse coalition of plaintiffs seeks to defend their right to be informed as religious parents and exclude their children from Montgomery County Maryland’s controversial LGBTQ curriculum at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on April 22, 2025. (For The Washington Post via John McDonnell/Getty Images)

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In addition to communication, the plan expands these parental information policies to include the use of private spaces typically reserved for same-sex, including sleeping arrangements for overnight excursions. According to the AFL, the plan effectively states that students will be able to choose which facilities they want to use, including overnight field trips, and that teachers are not allowed to inform parents about this.

“Montgomery County Public Schools has established an elaborate system designed to keep parents in the dark about some of the most important decisions affecting their own children,” said Ian Prior of America First Legal. “Federal law and the Constitution are clear: Parents have the fundamental right to direct their children’s upbringing and to access their children’s educational records. MCPS’s policies subvert both of these principles.”