parenting

DOJ Sues Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools Over ‘Transgender’ Secrecy Policies

The U.S. Department of Justice announced it had filed a lawsuit against Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (KCKPS) for “facilitating secret ‘gender transitions’ for children at school without their parents’ knowledge or consent.” 

The complaint, from the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. attorney for the District of Kansas, alleges: 

The District maintains policies that direct staff to help students socially transition to a different gender at school and to withhold this information from parents as confidential.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon posted about the lawsuit on X, saying it was a “first-of-its-kind suit.” 

While parents and teachers have filed lawsuits against school districts that force educators to lie and hide information from parents, this is the first time the DOJ has sued a district over a “transgender” policy. 

In one such case, Mirabelli v. Bonta, the U.S. Supreme Court said parents are likely to succeed because secrecy policies violate their rights. That case remains ongoing.

Dhillon stated the significance of the suit in the DOJ’s press release: 

Parental rights are paramount in the operation of America’s public schools, and Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools does not know children better than their own parents. 

The Department will not tolerate school districts playing fast and loose with federal law in the service of radical gender ideology.

The complaint says KCKPS’ transgender policy violates the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which guarantees that “parents can see their children’s school records, seek correction of those records, and prevent disclosure of identifying information without consent.”

The secrecy policy also violates the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), the DOJ alleges. This federal law prohibits schools from requiring minor students to submit to any survey, analysis, or evaluation revealing sensitive information without prior written consent from their parents.

Schools that talk with students about sensitive, serious mental health issues like “gender dysphoria,” then help them “transition” and hide this from parents, are definitely violating these federal laws. 

In 2017, the school district implemented a policy, “USD 500 Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students Internal Guidance Document,” but does not post this on its website. The DOJ quotes from the current “Transgender Guideline,” showing how schools work with students to create a plan to change their “sexual identity” and hide this information from their parents: 

If the student asks to exclude the student’s parent(s)/legal guardian(s) from the school planning meeting, that request will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Likewise, if the student does not want his or her transgender or gender non-conforming status disclosed to the student’s parent(s)/legal guardian(s), that request will also be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Kansas City, Missouri’s KSHB reported the complaint “is the latest development in a months-long dispute between the district and DOJ.”  

KCKPS Superintendent Anna Stubblefield disputed the allegations, saying, “It also is not policy, it is guidance.” 

The NBC affiliate reported, “KCKPS receives almost $70 million from the federal government and stands to lose this funding over the dispute,” adding that Stubblefield could not recall any instances of the district hiding information from parents.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon explained why lawsuits like this are important, applauding the DOJ for its actions: 

For decades, schools operated with little accountability as federal parental rights laws like FERPA and PPRA went unenforced, allowing some districts to cut parents out of deeply personal matters involving their own children. 

She emphasized, “That era is over,” adding: 

The Trump Administration is enforcing these laws at an unprecedented scale and making clear that schools cannot hide sensitive information from parents and expect to operate with impunity. We are grateful to the Department of Justice for taking this next step and for its continued partnership with the Department of Education to enforce federal law and protect the fundamental rights of parents.

The case is U.S. vs. Unified School District No. 500.

Related articles and resources: 

Barrett v. Kagan: Key Takeaways From Supreme Court Ruling on ‘Transgender’ School Policies

BREAKING: Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction Says California School District Cannot Force Teachers to Lie to Parents About Their Children’s ‘Gender Identity’

California Teachers Told to Hide Information About Students’ ‘Gender’ From Parents – They’re Suing

California Schools May Not Hide Students’ ‘Gender Identity’ From Parents

Exclusive Interview: Colorado Parents Expose ‘Gender Cult’ at Public School in New Documentary

Moms for Liberty Sues New Jersey School District for Hiding ‘Gender Transitions’ From Parents

Supreme Court Affirms Parents’ Rights Over California’s ‘Transgender’ School Policies

What’s Your School District’s ‘Transgender’ Policy?

Student Walkouts: When Activism Hijacks Education

Student-led walkouts weren’t always received favorably by the left.

When Civil Rights leaders in 1964 announced plans to organize a widespread student-led boycott of New York City schools to protest racial segregation and alleged inequality, the otherwise liberal New York Times Editorial Board denounced the tactic and accused its champions of having “a stubbornly closed mind.”

“What do they hope to prove with a boycott?” wrote the Old Grey Lady. “That children can be persuaded to stay out of school? What do they really hope to attain? We do not claim to know, but we do know that by their unreasonableness these civil rights leaders are going to alienate public opinion rather than win sympathy for their cause.”

They continued:

It is, under the circumstances, utterly unreasonable and unjustified. It is the violent, illegal approach of adult‐encouraged truancy. The children should be in school getting the best education they can to cope with a world in which they are bound to be at a regrettable disadvantage anyway.

In the 62 years since that massive walkout involving 464,361 pupils, the disruptive and counterproductive tactic has become a staple of radical protesters for all kinds of causes – most recently, to push back against the legal enforcement of the country’s immigration laws and policies.

Extremist operatives recognize that in far too many situations, America’s students are vulnerable prey and helpful tools for the spread of coercive and destructive ideologies.

For example, Colorado parents will want to know about a statewide “Walk Out for ICE Out” spectacle. As of Wednesday morning, the group “Libs of Tik Tok” is reporting that 71 schools are planning to participate.

That means thousands of students could feel pressured to go along to get along — and many will merrily oblige.

While the group organizing the protest hasn’t published a list of demands or clearly articulated what it hopes to accomplish by disrupting classes, similar protests have centered on opposition to the actions and policies of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the deportation of those who are here illegally.

To date, the Colorado organizing group has simply stated, “Students, we want your voices to be heard.”

Would that include those students who support government officials protecting our country’s borders? What about young women and men who don’t appreciate the public schools being co-opted by radical propagandists who are attempting to brainwash those who are still developing their ability to think critically for themselves?

Our friends at the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network (CPAN) have created and published an excellent resource to help mothers and fathers talk with their child ahead of time about “protests, politics, and what they’re hearing at school.”

CPAN leads with a refreshingly blunt and clear-minded objective: Education should trump activism. They state, “Instructional time should prioritize academic learning and critical thinking, not political mobilization.”  They also note classroom lessons should be balanced and not driven by highly emotional rhetoric.

Although created for Colorado parents facing the bullying tactics of groups both outside and inside the school system, the resource has broad applicability for mothers and fathers of students everywhere. The group does an excellent job of offering suggestions for age-appropriate questions parents might ask their children during the school year:

Elementary age students: “What did you hear today?” “How did that make you feel?”

Middle school students: “What information might be missing (from the lesson)?”

High School students: “What’s the argument on the other side?” “Who benefits from this message?” “What facts can you verify?”

Sadly, radicals who target the nation’s public schools see students as pawns in their game. They capitalize on the “herd mentality” of many young people and exploit the willing and cooperative accomplices in public education systems.

Fathers and mothers must not cede their authority nor remain silent as radical activists attempt to flex their collective muscle in schools. Courageously, boldly and prayerfully, moms and dads can and must retain their parental rights and resist any and all efforts to hijack their God-given roles inside and outside the home.

Michelle Obama vs. Tim Challies on Dropping Children Off at College

When former President Barack and Michelle Obama’s children left for college, the two had very different reactions to their daughters leaving home.

During an interview last week on her podcast, “IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson,” the former first lady told guest Jon Stewart:

“Barack cried when they went to college … I was like, BYE!”

Stewart shared that he and his wife missed “the energy and excitement of the kids being around” after they became empty nesters.

Mrs. Obama didn’t share the same sentiment. 

“I don’t,” she said. “I love them … Now Friday nights aren’t wrecked with terror and fear about, ‘Where are you? Where are you?’”

Jon Stewart respectfully pressed the former first lady and attempted to clarify what he was getting at.

“The thing I miss, though, is the job,” he shared. “Like, don’t you miss … it gave meaning and a pattern to my life.”

“I’m good,” replied Mrs. Obama. “Look at all this meaning. I have a wonderful pattern. I love my schedule. I have a great schedule, and it’s all mine.”

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh suggested that kind of response qualified Michelle Obama for being a “total raging narcissist.” He noted, “Michelle had only two kids. She was rich and famous for most of their childhoods so she would have had a fleet of nannies and assistants doing most of the grunt work. And yet she still couldn’t wait for the kids to leave because the minor demands they made on her time and energy were still too much for her.”

Taking Mrs. Obama’s comments in full, she went on to emphasize that she had spent considerable family time with them and loved to see their “emancipation and growth.”

“I’ve spent my children’s entire lives raising them to be independent, confident young women who are ready to build great lives for themselves,” she added.

Since Focus on the Family’s founding nearly a half-century ago, from Dr. Dobson to Jim Daly, and via our counseling and parenting experts, the ministry has regularly emphasized that mothers and fathers shouldn’t just be focused on raising great children – but raising up future adults who love and seek to serve the Lord.

Parenting is a high and sacrificial calling that can be challenging, of course. But letting go and watching our children spread their own wings can be both satisfying and terrifying – and sometimes all at the same time.

Michelle Obama’s seemingly cavalier and caustic reaction to her daughters going off to college may strike many of us more sentimental fathers and mothers as cold. We may find it difficult to relate to – especially when we pass by empty rooms and see their chair at the table empty, too.

Christian author Tim Challies recently summed up the competing and even conflicting emotions he and his wife experienced when dropping their children off at college. As many may know, the Challies’ son, Nick, who he mentions below, wound up dying suddenly while at college. An autopsy found it was due to an undetected heart defect:

We knew this marked the beginning of the end of our family as we had always known it. It was not like Nick was leaving the family or seceding from it, but we knew that from this point forward, things would never be the same. He would come home after this, but this would no longer be his home in the same way. He would return, but return as a changed man. Other people would now be forming him, and other people would enjoy his company more than we would. There would be no going back after this. Our family would be different and soon enough, his sisters would follow. It was almost like facing the reality of death, though it wasn’t a life that was ending, but a phase of family life—a phase we had very much enjoyed and were loath to end.

But we knew this was right and good. We firmly believed that we had taken Nick just about as far as we could and that it would be best for him to continue growing in a different context. He needed to step away from the safety nets of home, he needed to become his own man, he needed to begin to make his own way through this world. We knew that, and he knew that, though in the moment such knowledge did little to assuage our grief.

Christian parents will likely find far more solace and comfort from Tim Challies’ reaction to children growing and going than from Michelle Obama’s interview with Jon Stewart. Here’s how he concluded his reflections on dropping children off at school:

“So, my friend, as you glance in the rearview mirror and see emptiness where just a few days ago you saw a familiar face, as you sit in the silence, and as you miss that one who owns so large a piece of your heart, trust that the pain will lessen in the days to come. And as you trust, entrust that sweet child to the care of the Lord.”

Thank you, Tim.

Moms for Liberty Sues New Jersey School District for Hiding ‘Gender Transitions’ From Parents

Moms for Liberty filed a lawsuit challenging a New Jersey school district policy of hiding a student’s “gender transition” from his or her parents. 

The suit, filed by Thomas More Society, involves the School District of the Chathams’ (SDOC) “Gender Identity and Expression Policy,” which allows school employees to hide a child’s sexual identity confusion from parents. 

As Thomas More Society pointed out in both a letter to the district and its lawsuit, the policy violates parents’ constitutional rights, as affirmed by two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings: Mahmoud v. Taylor and Mirabelli v. Bonta. 

But the SDOC Board of Education thumbed its nose at those decisions. After parents’ expressed concern about the legality of the “gender” guidance, Policy 5145.7, Board President Ann Ciccarelli responded:  

The Board of Education is required to adhere to State and federal law. The United States Supreme Court decision, Mirabelli, is not binding on public school districts in New Jersey. 

The Catholic legal aid firm argued and won the Mirabelli case, in a 6-3 per curiam decision where the Court ruled against similar “transgender” school policies in California. 

The organization said the school board is flat-out wrong. 

The Court ruled that parents have “the right not to be shut out of participation in decisions regarding their children’s mental health.” This would include serious issues like sexual identity confusion – where a child rejects his or her sex and fantasizes that they can somehow become the opposite sex. 

Since then, Thomas More Society has pledged to help enforce the ruling “across the country by taking legal action and giving parents the tools to protect their families today.” 

In announcing this case against the SDOC Board of Education, the organization has launched its nationwide campaign to shut down transgender secrecy policies, as Senior Counsel Christopher Ferrara stated: 

When Thomas More Society prevailed at the Supreme Court, we made a promise: any school board or district that kept hiding a child’s so-called ‘gender transition’ from parents, or that punished kids for refusing to bow down to an ideology they don’t believe,would be held accountable.  

Thomas More Society explained that SDOC’s Policy 5145.7 “violates the First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause by”:

• Permitting school counselors to withhold a student’s asserted “gender transition” from parents.

• Permitting mixed-sex participation in sports, locker rooms, and changing facilities without advance notice to parents.

• Compelling students and parents to use a classmate’s chosen name and pronouns.

• Allowing students to be referred to outside “pro-LGBTQ” advocacy organizations without parental notice or consent.

The lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to stop the gender policy: 

Moms for Liberty is asking the court to declare Policy 5145.7 unconstitutional and to enjoin its enforcement unless the district amends it to require parental notice and consent before any social transition, name or pronoun change, mixed-sex sports or use of facilities, or referral to outside advocacy groups.

More than 12,300 schools across the country have transgender secrecy policies, affecting more than 12.3 million students, the parents’ rights organization Defending Education reported. 

Tina Descovich, CEO and co-founder of Moms for Liberty, explained what’s at stake when schools usurp parental rights: 

Parents are the primary educators and caregivers of their children, not school boards, not counselors, and not ideologues pushing secret gender transitions behind closed doors. The Chathams Board of Education’s open defiance of the Supreme Court’s clear rulings in Mirabelli and Mahmoud is an assault on the constitutional rights of every family in that district. 

She added: 

Moms for Liberty will not stand by while schools hide life-altering decisions from parents or persuade children to affirm an ideology that violates their conscience and faith.

Thomas More Society offers a model letter which parents can use to notify their school district of a sincerely held belief and identify the instruction or materials they want their child excluded from. 

Parents with children in districts with “Parental Exclusion Policies” can request legal help from Thomas More Society, which also provides guidance for school districts.

To find out if your district has a “Transgender/Gender Nonconforming Policy” that violates parents’ and children’s constitutional rights, check out this list at Defending Education, or search your local district’s website. 

Related articles and resources: 

Barrett v. Kagan: Key Takeaways From Supreme Court Ruling on ‘Transgender’ School Policies

Blockbuster Supreme Court Ruling: Girls Sports Are for Girls

BREAKING: Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction Says California School District Cannot Force Teachers to Lie to Parents About Their Children’s ‘Gender Identity’

California Teachers Told to Hide Information About Students’ ‘Gender’ From Parents – They’re Suing

California Schools May Not Hide Students’ ‘Gender Identity’ From Parents

Exclusive Interview: Colorado Parents Expose ‘Gender Cult’ at Public School in New Documentary

Legal Aid Groups Demand Virginia Schools Comply With Title IX, Supreme Court Decisions

Maryland Teacher to U.S. Supreme Court: Strike Down Policy ‘Requiring Educators Lie’ to Parents

Supreme Court Affirms Parents’ Rights Over California’s ‘Transgender’ School Policies

Supreme Court Defends Religious Freedom, Parental Rights Over ‘LGBT’ Curriculum

What’s Your School District’s ‘Transgender’ Policy?

One in Eight Young Men Watch Porn, Gamble and Play Video Games Daily

Help and resources to achieve freedom from pornography.

Around one in eight young men ages 18 to 29 watch pornography, gamble and play video games every single day, the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) reports.

Brad Wilcox, professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, a fellow at IFS and author of the book Get Married, recently highlighted this troubling trend on X.

“We have a generation of young men trapped in the ‘addiction economy’ – and the numbers are staggering,” he said. IFS reports,

  • 11.9% of young men use porn, gamble and game daily.
  • 23.3% gamble daily.
  • Over 25% use porn daily.

Grant Bailey, a research fellow at IFS, pointed out only 2% of young men never watch pornography, gamble or play video games. Ninety-five percent of young men play video games, 70% watch pornography, and 57% gamble at least sometimes.

These statistics demonstrate a frightening reality. Many of our young men today are engaged in harmful and destructive behaviors when they should be becoming responsible adults, focused on their faith and starting a family.

The negative behaviors above are certainly part of the reason many young men are “unmarriageable” today.

In fact, the number of unmarried men between the ages of 20 and 39 is surging – growing from 20.7 million in 2000 to 30.4 million today.

It’s also not good that over 7 million men between ages 25 and 55, the traditional prime of working life, are unemployed and no longer even looking for work.

But it isn’t all bad news for young men. While some may look at the facts above and immediately conclude men are the primary source of society’s problems, there are heartening statics about young men returning to church and prioritizing family life.

Young men today are more likely to desire positive important life decisions – like going to church regularly, getting married and having children – than young women are.

According to Gallup, more young men today (42%) say religion is “very important” to their lives than at any point in the last 25 years. Young men are now more likely than young women (29%) to say religion is “very important” to them.

For the first time in American history, more men attend church than women – with the disparity especially pronounced among 20-somethings.

In terms of marriage, IFS reports that 68% of unmarried young men want to get married someday, and 62% of childless young men aspire to be fathers.

“What stood out was not indifference or a lack of worthy aspirations but the trying circumstances facing today’s young men,” said Joseph E. Davis, lead researcher at IFS. “They are not where they want to be, often feel trapped, and are unsure of what to do.”

Young men in 12th grade today are more likely than young women to say they want to marry and have children someday. While 74% of young men say they want to get married, just 61% of young women say the same.

More young men than young women identify as conservative (29% vs. 22%) while more young women than young men identify as liberal (37% vs. 28%).

Of young men who voted for Donald Trump in 2024, two of their top four life priorities (out of 13 options) included getting married and having children, NBC News reported. Of young women who voted for Trump, those priorities ranked numbers six and nine.

For young women who voted for Kamala Harris, being married and having children ranked in the bottom three (11 and 12, respectively) out of 13 options.

As NBC News summarized, “Gen Z men who voted for Trump rate having children as the most important thing in their personal definition of success. Gen Z women who voted for Harris ranked having children as the second-least important thing in their personal definition of success.”

In our day of declining marriage and fertility rates, both young men and young women face their share of challenges.

It could be said that while the problem with many young men is substantially behavioral; the problem with many young women is largely ideological.

At the same time, both sexes may share one source of the problem: social media.

As Maria Baer and Brad Wilcox write at IFS, “We live our lives online, and we decide how to live, in part, by watching what everyone else is doing (online). The result is pushing both men and women away from marriage, by making it harder for men to rise to the occasion of becoming marriageable and by making it harder for women, especially the liberal women who spend the most time online, to see the point of marriage in the first place.”

“Big Tech is degrading men’s marriageability even as it divides the sexes from one another ideologically.”

Young men must be willing to do the hard work of becoming men worthy of the marriage and family they desire. Young women must remember that marriage and parenthood are a source of some of life’s greatest blessings.

Rob Jackson, a counselor in Focus on the Family’s Counseling Services Department, told the Daily Citizen that young men engaged in negative behaviors must aim for worthier callings.

“Pornography, video games, and gambling waste time, energy, and money, and leave the young man with self-neglect and indifference to others,” Jackson shared. “Such things lead to a double life mixed with shame, regret, and addiction.”

“I encourage young men to realign their hearts, minds, bodies, and relationships with God and the greater purposes he has for them.”

Jackson also encouraged the parents of struggling young men to support them and pray for their children.

“Parents must face the reality of what they cannot change, take their grief to the Lord, and focus on loving their sons well without enabling them.”

To speak with a family help specialist or request resources, please call us at 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459).

Related articles and resources:

Counseling Consultation & Referrals

Young Men Need Your Help

Raising Boys to be Godly Young Men

Training Sons to be Confident, Capable Men

Parenting Resources: How to Stop Failing Young Men

Brad Wilcox: The Correlation Between Marriage, Happiness, and Wealth

Religion Increasingly Important to Young Men, Gallup Finds

Research Shows Young Men Want Marriage Yet Lack Confidence in Dating

Young Women Take ‘Anti-Nuptial Turn,’ Interest in Marriage Drops Greatly

Young Men Are Returning to Church

Are Government Policy and Culture Making Men Weak?

Photo from Shutterstock.