PA School District Violates Parental Rights

JOHNSTOWN, PA – In a victory for parental rights, a federal judge recently ruled that Mt. Lebanon School District in Pittsburgh violated the rights of parents by allowing a first grade teacher to give gender ideology instruction without notice or means for the parents to opt their young children out of the class. The decision came after three parents sued because the district allowed the teacher to lead students in a celebration of “Transgender Awareness Day” and read them extracurricular story books about “gender transition” without their consent. The Court ruled that the district’s conduct violated the “fundamental constitutional right” of parents “to control the upbringing of their young children.”

According to the judge’s ruling, teacher Megan Williams at Jefferson Elementary School read several noncurricular books to her young students that conveyed the message that “when children are born, parents make a guess whether they’re a boy or a girl. Sometimes parents are wrong.” When a male student became “upset,” he told Williams, “But I’m a boy. I don’t want to be a girl.” She responded, “Yes, you are. Talk with your parents about that.”

The judge stated Williams created “actual confusion” among the students after teaching their parents could be wrong about gender while encouraging them to talk to them about gender.

Senior Judge Joy Flowers Conti of the Western District of Pennsylvania wrote, “Telling the students to talk to their parents about the child’s gender – after telling the first-graders their parents might be wrong – did not eliminate the students’ confusion in this case.”

Judge Conti stated the teacher “showed intolerance and disrespect” for the authority, moral, and religious beliefs of parents. 

“A teacher instructing first-graders and reading books to show that their parents’ beliefs about their children’s gender identity may be wrong directly repudiates parental authority,” wrote Judge Conti. “Williams’ conduct struck at the heart of Plaintiffs’ own families and their relationship with their own young children. The books read and Williams’ instruction to her first-grade students taught that gender is determined by the child – not, in accordance with the Parents’ beliefs, by God or biological reality.” 

“The students’ confusion in this case illustrates how difficult it is for a first-grader when a teacher’s instruction conflicts with their Parents’ religious and moral beliefs,” Judge Conti continued. “The heart of parental authority on matters of the greatest importance within their own family is undermined when a teacher tells first-graders their parents may be wrong about whether the student is a boy or a girl.”

Judge Conti concluded the U.S. Constitution does not give schools or teachers “unbridled discretion” to teach on any topic and to not provide notice or a means to opt out. Judge Conti stated that parents have “a constitutional right to reasonable and realistic advance notice” to gender-related topics as well as a right “to opt their elementary-age children out of noncurricular instruction” on gender issues just like with any other sensitive topic.

The Court’s ruling now obligates the school district to give parents advance notice and the ability to opt their children out of noncurricular instruction.

According to a recent Pew Research Center report, more than two-thirds of teachers, parents, and students believe that gender identity should not be taught in schools. In addition, more than half of parents and nearly half of teachers indicated parents should be able to opt their children out of this instruction.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Confusing first graders about gender and undermining their relationship with their parents is reprehensible. The U.S. Constitution gives parents the right to direct their children’s education. Parents deserve the right to know what their children are being taught and an opportunity to opt them out of it. Gender ideology has no place in the classroom and every parent should be able to opt their children out of this fiction.”