The parents of an 11-year-old girl reported that a Colorado school district forced their daughter to share a room with a student of the opposite sex during a field trip and are now demanding answers about policies related to children who identify as transgender.
This Monday, the nonprofit Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announced that it sent a letter to the Jefferson County School Board (JCPS), based in Colorado, representing Joe and Serena Wailes, the parents of a minor who had to spend the night with a transgender student during a trip sponsored by JCPS.
The legal group claims that JCPS has a policy stating that transgender students must be assigned housing based on the sex with which the student identifies.
“This policy violates the Waileses’ religious beliefs, the parental rights of all parents in the district, and the privacy rights of all students,” indicates the ADF, highlighting that as if this were not enough, this information was hidden from the girl’s parents.
“That put the Waileses’ 11-year-old daughter in a very challenging situation where she had to choose between sleeping in the same bed with a biological boy and advocating for her privacy in front of her teachers and peers. Understandably, the Wailes family is asking JCPS to cease its practice of intentionally withholding information about rooming accommodations from parents. Every parent should have the information needed to make the best decision for their children,” added Kate Anderson, director of the ADF Parents’ Rights Centre.
Schools should never lie to students and hide information from parents. ⬇️ @DailySignal : EXCLUSIVE: School Assigned Girl to Sleep With Boy Who Identifies as Trans Without Parental Notificationhttps://t.co/ImuIh2sBO8
— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) December 4, 2023
The young girl’s journey
The uncomfortable trip for the Wailes’ daughter occurred in June 2023. The plan was for students to travel to Philadelphia and Washington, DC. JCPS told parents that boys and girls would be housed on different floors. However, Wailes found out that she was assigned a room with a biological male because the student told her that he was transgender on the first night of the trip.
The school district not only tried to hide the information from both the parents and the girl, but after the Wailes’ daughter expressed her discomfort, school officials’ response was to move her to a different bed instead of a different room, and they asked the girl to lied to her other roommates.
However, the Wailes’ daughter continued to feel uncomfortable, so after speaking with her mother and other district representatives, JCPS was able to make the change and move the student to another room without telling the rest of the female students the truth.
“The Waileses have two younger children (...) who are registered to attend the same overnight school trip next year. The Waileses are requesting JCPS clarify its policy regarding room assignments for students and state whether parents of all students will be informed that children will be roomed by gender identity rather than sex before a trip begins so every parent has the opportunity to make the best decision for their child and, if desired, opt their children out of such a policy,” states the ADF.
