Many are surprised to learn that Mesa Public Schools (Unified District #4) has had a co-ed option for restrooms, locker rooms, and overnight facilities since 2015. The district leadership at the time quietly developed a Transgender Support Plan for children. This includes choosing which facilities the child wants to use along with a new name and new pronouns. This plan involves no parental consent or parental notification.
Due to public comment and internal questions, Board President Hutchinson, under the guidance of Superintendent Fourlis, asked for a legal opinion from the Board’s counsel, Udall Shumway. A brief memo was placed on the agenda for the meeting May 9, 2023, and Udall Shumway determined that the Transgender Guidelines stand.
In the meeting I asked about the criteria for a child to be placed on this plan. Kacey King, the district’s counsel said, “for younger children a teacher or counselor might suggest that they put it into writing.” I was shocked at this statement. This is absolutely not the role of teachers or counselors. I have been told that school counselors are simply there to determine what barriers exist that may prohibit classroom learning.
To have a counselor or teacher help put a child on a Transgender Support Plan is simply wrong, particularly without any communication with the parents. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that parents possess the fundamental right to direct the upbringing, education, and health care of their children. This right does not belong to any school or staff. Public school offers a service to the community—a service to teach children the academic standards to prepare them for a future to be able to be confident and self-reliant adults. Schools need to stay in their lane if they are going to retain public trust.
Opportunities exist for children to develop personal relationships with counselors and without parental consent. In one such example, the district had an elementary school student who was struggling in math. She would ask to see the counselor during the math lesson. Her mother was never notified because they weren’t official counseling sessions. The mother eventually found out when she confronted the school about her daughter’s below average math performance. No one previously told her that her daughter was behind in math or that she was visiting with a counselor.
Counselors may also have informal visits with children who don’t want to go to lunch or recess with their classmates and decide to visit with a counselor instead. Perhaps a child opens up about personal struggles, then the option exists for that trusted authority figure to guide the child to complete a private Transgender Support Plan. How would the parents know?
There is no other program or plan in the district that is comparable in secrecy or purpose to the Transgender Support Plan. Specialized learning plans, after school clubs, field trips, photographs, all require parental consent. Yet, a student can be given a new identity, and no one will notify the parents?
The main legal justification for these guidelines right now stems from the 9th Circuit case Parents for Privacy v Barr. The court ruled against parental rights, ruled against freedom of religion, and ruled against privacy. I have spoken to attorneys who believe this ruling will be overturned. In the meantime, one of the best courses of action is to make sure our parents are informed. There is no legal argument against notifying parents about a child discussing “gender identity” or any other such topics at school. In fact, the law is on the side of the parents. I will continue this fight for parental rights and transparency.
Rachel Walden is a member of the Mesa Public Schools Governing Board. You can follow her on Twitter here.
This past week, Pima County began offering mental health services for minors without parental consent required, through a new program called “Not Alone.” Arizona law requires written or oral consent of a parent or legal guardian prior to a minor receiving mental health screenings or treatments.
Children under 13 years old must have their parents reach out to join the program. However, the program states that children 13 years old and older may obtain services without parental consent.
The program also will withhold information from parents. Clinicians won’t disclose information about a minor’s sexuality or gender identity, or any “consensual” sexual activity for minors aged 14 through 17, and will only inform parents if their child engages in a new form of self-harm.
Only in cases of suicidal intent, sexual or physical abuse, or expressed intent and planning to harm another then the program disclosed that a clinician will break confidentiality — but the program’s confidentiality protocols didn’t explicitly state that clinicians would inform parents.
According to the Parents’ Bill of Rights, the “liberty of parents to direct the upbringing, education, health careand mental health of their children is a fundamental right” (emphasis added). Statute also dictates that attempts to “encourage or coerce a minor child to withhold information from the child’s parent shall be grounds for discipline[.]” Pima County’s webpage for the new program encourages those 13 years old or older to independently contact the program partner, COPE Community Services, for help, information, or “just to talk.” The program also offers to come meet minors wherever they’re located to assist them, or to work with them virtually.
The Pima County Health Department announced the program, “Not Alone,” last Thursday. The program receives existing Epidemiology Laboratory Capacity (ELC) K-12 Schools Reopening Grant funding provided by the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS).
The program specifically offers mental health services for both students and teachers diagnosed with COVID-19 after May 2021. Initial public statements on the program implied that the threat and experience of disease itself, and not the mitigation strategies such as forced school closures and distance learning, caused mental duress.
Theresa Cullen, the department director recently rejected by the Arizona legislature in her nomination by Gov. Katie Hobbs to lead the Department of Health Services, described the program in a letter as necessary to not only combat suicidal ideation in students but “compassion fatigue” for teachers.
“According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide remains the third leading cause of death for adolescents and 1 in 3 high school students reported that their mental health was not good. Teachers and staff often experience compassion fatigue, stress, and anxiety,” stated Cullen. “The ‘Not Alone’ campaign is designed to provide brief intervention treatment services for K-12 students and school faculty who have tested positive for COVID-19 since May 1, 2021,” stated Cullen.
Cullen was first appointed to the Pima County Health Department in June 2020. Senate Republicans called Cullen’s administration “repressive,” citing the curfew she imposed as one example, and noting that her policies to mitigate COVID-19 weren’t supported by science.
Overseeing the program is Matthew Schmidgall and Michael Webb, part of the department’s Youth and School Communities program. The program will also partner with several school districts to deploy an advertising campaign through social media, movie theaters, billboards, and radio.
The program also receives partnership assistance through pop star Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation. The nonprofit offers a free mental health course online that awards a certificate upon completion, the “Be There Certificate,” which asks an individual which gender they “identify with,” with the option to select multiple genders and identities and if they’re transgender.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
A bill prohibiting the interference or usurpation of parents’ rights to direct their child’s upbringing, education, health care, and mental health passed the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday. The bill, HB2161, drew in a number of both parents and LGBTQ activists to speak — parents were for a bill to ensure transparency concerning information about their children, and LGBTQ activists against.
The sponsor, State Representative Steve Kaiser (R-Phoenix), explained that the main purpose of his bill was to further secure parental rights, noting that he supported an amendment brought forth by Chairman Paul Boyer (R-Glendale), which removed portal access, mental health language, and parental consent concerning medical treatments. The bill still empowers parents to take legal action against governmental entities or officials and receive relief.
State Senator Christine Marsh (D-Phoenix) criticized that the bill was vague. Marsh said educators would err on the side of caution due to all the negative publicity surrounding them currently, leading them to underperform.
“This has got a little bit of potential for a little bit of chaos,” said Marsh.
Kaiser responded that parents are frustrated with the lack of responsiveness concerning information about their children in educational and medical settings.
Marsh pressed further what the interference of parental rights to bring up a child would look like. Kaiser said he didn’t have a specific example handy, deferring to parents lined up to speak.
A former Saguaro High School English teacher and department chair with Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD), Caryn Bird, discussed how her classroom was considered a “safe space,” and how she would allow a group of young female students who claimed to be transgender males to come into her classroom and discuss their personal problems with her — issues not relayed to the parents.
“In my time as a high school teacher, my classroom became known as a ‘safe space’ for students. In particular, I had a group of trans male students who would meet in my classroom, none of whom were actually students in my class, for some reason, but they would meet in my classroom at lunchtime to share with one another their experiences,” said Bird. “This peer group in my classroom allowed these students time to explore who they were without fear or retribution or fear of being outed.”
Although she didn’t mention it during her committee testimony, Bird also served previously as the co-chair of Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) Phoenix chapter until the end of 2020. GLSEN is a national organization dedicated to pushing LGBTQ ideologies and activism onto minors. For years, GLSEN has attempted to install their Gender and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) clubs in K-12 schools; some educators are successful in establishing those clubs, and often adopt other names like “Student Alliance for Equality” (SAFE) clubs. Last December, GLSEN Phoenix advised educators to incorporate “secret libraries” in their classrooms to smuggle in LGBTQ and social justice curriculum.
Early last month, a GLSEN lobbyist and co-chair named Andi Young persuaded lawmakers to strike down a bill to oppose gender transition surgeries for minors. As AZ Free News reported, Young, like Bird, didn’t identify herself as a GLSEN Phoenix leader during her testimony about how the bill would harm minors like her daughter, whom she encouraged to transition genders after a decline in mental health. Based on the timeline of Young’s GLSEN involvement, it’s unclear the extent of influence GLSEN and Young’s work had on her daughter.
Parents in support of the bill insisted that these children aren’t the children of the government or teachers, but of their parents. Several schools were called out by name: Altadena Middle School for a teacher pushing gender identity ideology onto her class, and Cocopah Middle School for a teacher who persuaded the district to allow students to replace their legal birth names, dubbed “deadnames,” for their preferred names, all while earning awards for her work leading the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) club at her school.
An Arizona State University (ASU) political science student Jordan Harb opposed the bill, arguing that the bill would “denigrate” and “endanger” students and their individuality. Harb received ASU’s highly-competitive Flinn Scholar award: a full-ride scholarship given to the top 20 students in Arizona, with additional perks like mentorships, study abroad funds, and a scholar trip to China.
The House passed the bill last month along party lines.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Senate Government Committee is scheduled on Monday to consider HB2616, a bill requiring governments to receive parental consent in order to require a minor to wear a mask. That applies to political subdivisions and entities like public and charter school districts as well.
The masking choice bill passed the House last month along party lines, 31-28.
House Democrats insisted that the bill worked against science. State Representative Marcelino Quiñonez (D-Phoenix) cast Republicans as those inviting discrimination by not normalizing mask-wearing.
“There seems to be a hesitancy to accept the science and go with the science. Instead of doing that, we continue to create barriers to ensure that people feel othered by wearing a mask, instead of following the science,” said Quiñonez. “The legislation to create another barrier, another bureaucracy, is overdue. And so with that, I encourage my colleagues to follow the science and vote ‘no.’”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.