According to the letter, the girl “was immediately uncomfortable with the prospect of sharing a room and a bed with a male, regardless of the student’s gender identity” and “snuck into the bathroom, which did not lock, and quietly called her mother.” The girl “met her mother in the lobby to share her concerns” and her mother asked a teacher and the principal if her daughter could be moved to another room.
The trip chaperones asked the girl “if they could merely move her to a different bed rather than a different room” and even though she was still uncomfortable, she “agreed to try it for one night because she was tired after a long travel day,” the letter asserts. Yet, once she moved to the other bed, another girl “offered to let [the transgender student] also switch to the bed near the air conditioner,” which forced the girl to go “into the hall and again [and tell her mother] she was uncomfortable.”
“Despite [her] continued uneasiness with the arrangement, she was scared to speak up in front of the other students on such a contentious subject,” the letter states.
According to the letter, the girl and her mother “returned to the school chaperone and again asked for [her daughter] to be moved to a different room [and], this time, the chaperones agreed to move [the transgender student] and one other girl to a different room.”
The letter also asserts that the chaperones lied to the other roommates about why the sleeping arrangements were being changed and instructed the girl to lie as well because the transgender student’s parents said their child “was to be in ‘stealth mode,’ meaning students on the trip would not know about their child’s transgender status.”
“After JCPS disregarded [the girl’s] privacy and the Waileses’ parental rights, JCPS then silenced [the girl], thus infringing on her freedom of speech, when a JCPS teacher told the three girls that they were not allowed to tell anyone that [the student] was transgender, even though [the student] voluntarily chose to share this information,” the letter states.
The parents also have two fourth grade children who are registered to take a school trip to New York; Washington, D.C.; and Philadelphia next year, according to the letter. The attorneys are asking the school district to respond to their letter by Dec. 16 with clarification on opt-out options in the policy and assurances that such clarifications are included in the written policy going forward.
This article has been updated to include a statement from the school district.
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