Parents in Massachusetts are suing their kids’ school alleging that teachers and staff encouraged students to change their pronouns and names without parents’ knowledge or consent.
According to the lawsuit, parents claim that Ludlow Public Schools had a “protocol and practice of concealing from parents information related to their children’s gender identity” in middle school.
“[Efforts] to affirm a discordant student gender identity at school violates parents’ fundamental rights under the United States and Massachusetts constitutions and violates children’s reciprocal rights to the care and custody of their parents, familial privacy, and integrity,” the lawsuit reads. It was filed in a Massachusetts federal district court.
In the lawsuit, parents Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri claim that a teacher at the school shared concerns that their 11-year-old daughter, “B.F.,” was struggling with self-image and had low self-esteem. Silvestri was “grateful” the teacher had contacted her. The parents then sent an email to the school asking employees to refrain from private conversations with their daughter and explaining they would get her the help she needs. The parents believe the school disregarded their instructions.
In the lawsuit, Foote and Silverstri claim that their daughter “changed her preferred name at least twice since December 2020 without Plaintiff’s knowledge or consent, and to this date they [school staff] continue to address B.F. by whatever iteration of her name she has indicated she prefers.”
