An Arizona school district for 55,000 children used a “parent hiding cheat sheet” to learn the names and pronouns of 17 trans students and keep “unsupportive” parents in the dark, court papers show.
Emily Wulff, a counselor at Kino Junior High, in Mesa, created the spreadsheet to record whether parents were aware of a child’s decision to change gender at school and to keep it secret from them. so it is claimed.
The revelations come from public records requests as part of a lawsuit against Mesa Unified Schools, which accuses teachers of violating protected parental rights by secretly helping children transition.
It is the latest in a series of lawsuits targeting teachers, schools and therapists who help and in some cases encourage children who identify as something other than their biological sex.
A redacted version of the “parental confidentiality cheat sheet” was obtained through a records request
Emily Wulff, a counselor at Kino Junior High, in Mesa, created the spreadsheet, the papers show
“Mesa Public Schools Superintendent Andi Fourlis has consistently denied that school district employees assist in the gender transition of students without their parents’ knowledge,” said James Rogers, the attorney leading the case.
“The evidence strongly suggests the opposite.”
Neither the school district nor Wulff responded to our requests for comment.
The 79-page lawsuit, backed by the conservative America First Legal (AFL) group, includes emails from Wulff and a redacted copy of the spreadsheet, titled “Pronoun Preference,” for 17 students between the ages of 12 and 15.
It lists their names, preferred names and pronouns such as ‘they/them’ and ‘liquid’. This states whether parents and family members were ‘aware’ of the transition, and whether they ‘support’ it.
When dealing with parents who were skeptical or unaware, teachers were instructed to remain silent about the children’s new names and pronouns, the papers show.
AFL, a legal group founded by former Trump administration officials, filed the case in Maricopa County Superior Court last year, but adjusted this week with documents and emails obtained through public records requests.
The case was filed on behalf of Rachel Walden, a member of the MPS board of directors, and against the school district and Superintendent Fourlis over secret trans policies at schools in suburban Phoenix.
Kino Junior High is part of the 55,000-student Mesa Unified Schools district in suburban Phoenix
The district’s online registration system is set up to include alternate names without alerting parents
Andi Fourlis, superintendent of Mesa Public Schools, is accused of misleading parents about district policies
Under the MPS policy, which dates back to 2015, teachers can discuss gender and identity with students — and which bathrooms and locker rooms to use — without communicating any changes to their families.
The updated case details the mother of a girl at an MPS school who experienced confusion about her gender in late 2022 — calling them Jane and Megan Doe in the papers to protect their identities.
In mid-October, Jane heard from a friend that Megan was called “Michael” in class. The alarmed mother checked the school’s orchestra programs and discovered that her daughter was indeed secretly transferring.
Teachers and the school principal refused to answer Jane’s questions about the child’s gender transition, citing MPS policy, it is claimed.
Still, after the revelation, Jane and Meghan began discussing her problems and seeking therapy.
Within weeks, she had dropped the pseudonym “Michael” and her problems were “completely resolved,” the papers say.
“If MPS staff had immediately contacted Jane – as required by law – she could have had those important conversations with her mother and her mental health counselor sooner,” the papers say.
Parents are clashing with teachers in the US over whether transgender teens can transition in classrooms without their knowledge – and most cases aren’t always resolved in the principal’s office and often end up in court
That would have “avoided many months of needless suffering,” they add.
The lawsuit does not seek damages, but asks MPS to change its policies and “ensure that parents’ rights are respected and students are protected.”
“No parent should have to go through what Jane and Megan Doe did,” said attorney Rogers.
“AFL is helping to bring attention to the transgender policy that MPS has tried hard to keep hidden from the public.”
Whether or not children are mature enough to make decisions about gender transitions is a hot topic in America’s culture wars.
Transgender activists say young people are best placed to say whether they feel male, female or non-binary.
Parents, teachers and medical experts have a duty to reinforce this, by using preferred pronouns, changing the way they dress and even accessing sex hormones and surgery, they say.
But critics warn that more and more young people are being radicalized by peers and online trans influencers and making medical decisions they may later regret.