Maryland, My Maryland

 From the Balmer Sun, Trump administration sues Anne Arundel schools over gender policy

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Anne Arundel County Public Schools over its gender policy, a move the Trump administration had forecast amid a separate lawsuit by parents and hints at potential federal funding cuts to the district. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, comes after AACPS updated its gender policy at the start of this school year to clarify that it may not infringe upon parental rights.

In its complaint, the DOJ alleged the school system is “facilitating the secret ‘transitioning’” of students’ gender identities without parents’ consent. The suit claims the district allows staff to “exclude parental involvement.” “These policies require staff to facilitate a student’s social transition at school, to memorialize that transition in education records, and to obscure or withhold this information from parents,” the DOJ wrote in its complaint, filed in U.S. District Court.

Tuesday’s lawsuit claims the district violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment when it applied its policies to a specific student, who is referred to as Mary Doe in the lawsuit. The DOJ alleges eight counts of district violations in the suit, including failure to obtain parental consent before asking students for “protected” information.

AACPS “illegally obtained” Mary Doe’s preferred male name and withheld it from Mary Doe’s parents, the DOJ alleges in the lawsuit. “When Mary’s parents tried to exercise their rights to their daughter’s education records, AACPS staff told them some records required an appointment and others a subpoena,” the lawsuit claims.

AACP denies the charges, and claims that their policies reflect the current regulations that came in under Trump. Of course, that doesn't mean everybody is abiding by those policies.