OAN Staff Blake Wolf
5:58 PM – Monday, February 24, 2025
A panel of U.S. Circuit judges upheld a Massachusetts school district’s policy, allowing staff to use a different name and gender pronouns for a student — without notifying the child’s parents.
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A lawsuit filed by the parents of a middle school student was dismissed in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The parents had brought attention to how staff at Baird Middle School in Ludlow, Massachusetts, “violated their constitutional rights” as guardians by concealing the fact that their 11-year-old daughter had asked to be identified by a different name and pronouns.
The parents, Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri, argued that the school’s “non-disclosure policy” effectively violated their 14th Amendment fundamental parental rights to “direct the upbringing of their children.”
The incident took place during the 2020-2021 school year.
The underage student sent staff members at the school an email notifying them of the name change and “genderqueer” pronoun change, according to the parents’ lawsuit.
School officials responded by allowing the student to use both male and female restrooms while “actively concealing” the change to the student’s parents.
Nevertheless, the parents eventually became aware of the situation after their daughter informed another teacher that she was suffering from feelings of depression and very low self esteem.
The student had also reportedly told a teacher that she did not know how to effectively discuss vulnerable matters with her own parents, so the teacher told the student that she would inform them on her behalf.
The appeals court justices, all of whom were appointed by Democrat presidents, reflected on the ruling, writing: “Courts nationwide have faced all manner of important litigation involving matters of gender identity and gender expression, including use of folks’ preferred pronouns.”
“Today’s case falls under that broad header,” the justices continued. “More specifically, it presents for our review challenging issues arising from the Ludlow School Committee’s protocol requiring its staff to use a student’s requested name and gender pronouns within the school without notifying the parents of those requests unless that student consents.”
“Parental rights are not unlimited,” they added. “As per our understanding of Supreme Court precedent, our pluralistic society assigns those curricular and administrative decisions to the expertise of school officials, charged with the responsibility of educating children.”
The parents are now considering asking the Supreme Court to take up the case after the appeals court “wrongly apprehended the fundamental parental right at issue.”
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