A federal judge ordered a California school district to reinstate teachers who were forced to conceal the transgender status of young students from parents.
Ms. Mirabelli and Ms. West are devout Christians. They objected to the K–8 school district’s policies regarding transgender students.
The policies compelled teachers to assist in a student’s transgender “social transition” by accepting a child’s assertion of a transgender identity and using any pronouns or a gender-specific name requested by a student during school hours.
At the same time, the policies also required teachers to revert to biological pronouns and legal names when speaking with parents to cover up information about a child’s purported gender identity from the child’s parents, in line with a statewide directive issued by the California Department of Education.
Keeping Secrets From Parents
The teachers objected on moral and religious grounds to the policies and said they were uncomfortable at the prospect of keeping secrets from parents about their children’s gender identities at school. They asked the district to exempt them from the policies but were denied.
The teachers who filed suit received a partial accommodation from the school district that allowed them to use the children’s last name instead of their preferred pronouns, but the district refused to change its parental exclusion policies, which it justified by saying they protect the privacy of the minor children.
EUSD requires all elementary and middle school teachers to “unhesitatingly accept a child’s assertion of a transgender or gender diverse identity, and ... [to] ‘begin to treat the student immediately’ according to their asserted gender identity,” according to the complaint filed with the court.
“There is absolutely no room for discussion, polite disagreement, or even questioning whether the child is sincere or acting on a whim. Once a child’s social transitioning has begun, EUSD elementary and middle school teachers must ensure that parents do not find out,” the complaint said.
“EUSD’s policies state that ‘revealing a student’s transgender status to individuals who do not have a legitimate need for the information, without the student’s consent’ is prohibited, and ‘parents or caretakers’ are, according to EUSD, individuals who ‘do not have a legitimate need for the information,’ irrespective of the age of the student or the specific facts of the situation.”
The teachers’ attorney, Paul Jonna, Thomas More Society special counsel and partner at LiMandri and Jonna, weighed in on the latest legal development.
“When the case was first filed, there was retaliation and harassment directed at teachers Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West,” the attorney said.
“They had learned about this policy that was being enforced that would require them to hide material information about their students from parents, and to lie to the parents. These teachers just wanted to continue their jobs without having to comply with an illegal and unconstitutional policy.”
Shortly after the complaint was filed, the school district placed Ms. West on involuntary administrative leave. The investigation was supposed to be over in 30 days, but it ended up taking five months, her attorney said.
Then the district claimed that a new complaint had been made against Ms. West and that she would be placed on leave again.
“The nature and timing of the new complaint was highly suspect,” the attorney said.
“Yet, even in the face of a federal court order, the district decided to take additional adverse employment action against our clients—in direct violation of the terms of the order—leaving Lori on administrative leave for another three months. Fortunately, the court addressed this issue on January 10 by ordering the district to immediately reinstate our clients.”
The teachers previously told The Epoch Times that gender transition, especially among girls at the district’s middle school, is a “social experiment” that has morphed into a social contagion.
When girls approach school counselors claiming a new gender identity, they’re celebrated and affirmed as “brave” and “honest,” Ms. West said.
Until recently, it was rare to have even one child identify as transgender, but it is becoming increasingly common, she said.
“I had seven girls in one class that wanted to be trans all of a sudden,” she said.
The Epoch Times contacted the Escondido Union School District for comment but didn’t receive a reply by press time.
