Christian teacher refuses to kneel to district's gender policies
Jessica Tapia, a California teacher, said she was released from her contract after refusing to comply with the district's directives to hide students' gender transitions from their parents.
A Colorado school district has a methodical system in place to keep parents in the dark on their child's gender transition in schools, according to documents reviewed by Fox News Digital.
Leslie Mecca, a counselor at Bear Creek – a K-8 school in the district – sent an email to the Jeffco Public School district's equity office on August 29, 2022, asking clarification on its recommendations regarding flagging an in-school social transition of a child's gender. Jeffco defines "transition" as "the steps a transgender person takes in order to align aspects of their life to be consistent with their gender identity."
In the email, Mecca said that teachers in the school wanted to tell parents about kids' social transition, including their use of a different name and pronouns.
Mecca said, "In one grade we have about 10 students who identify as a different name and pronoun. They ask teachers to call them by their preferred name and pronouns and our teachers do so. However, our teachers are concerned with parents not knowing."
Jeffco Public Schools District toolkit on dealing with parents. (Jeffco Public Schools)
"The question is whether as a school we have a due diligence to inform parents. In my opinion and from what I have gathered from diversity and LGBTQIA trainings is that… it is detrimental if we 'out' them to their parents," Mecca continued. "So, we call them by their prefered pronouns and names at school and if parents do not know...we call them by their given name to parents? Can you please provide advice?"
The counselor said she would follow up with teachers on the district's recommendation. "I want to provide them with some answer of advisement of what they should do."
Leslie Mecca is a K-12 counselor in Jeffco Public Schools district. (Leslie Mecca)
The district's equity office's Nimita Weiss and the district's chief of family, school, and community partnerships, Tara Pena, then discussed Mecca's query, according to their emails reviewed by Fox News Digital.
"Your opinion and gathering of what you learned from your training is correct: student safety is your highest priority," Weiss wrote to Pena as possible response to Mecca's questions. "Most importantly, we would like to celebrate that your students feel safe enough to share names and pronouns with their teachers. It means staff are doing a great job modeling what it looks like when an adult is trustworthy, and this should be shared with your staff."
The drafted response provided a gender-affirming toolkit used by the district which discussed how to deal with parents and how the district was aiding in the transition of kids.
Jeffco Public Schools' toolkit on social transition of students. (Jeffco Public Schools)
"When a student elects to transition during the school year, the school should schedule a meeting with the student and parents/guardians (provided they are involved in the process), to ascertain their desires and concerns," the toolkit states. "The school should discuss a timeline for the transition in order to create the conditions supporting a safe and accepting environment at the school. The principal should discuss with school administrators and any educators that interact directly with the student on the support plan, timelines for transition and relevant legal requirements."
The toolkit specified how parents should be considered in the process for various grades.
Starting as early as elementary school, the district appeared to leave the option open to keep parents in the dark about their kids' gender expression. Fox News Digital requested clarification from the district on the wording of its toolkit but did not immediately receive a response.
Nimita Weiss is an equity specialist at Jeffco Public Schools (Nimita Weiss )
The toolkit's policy about elementary students states, "If school staff believe that a gender identity or expression issue is presenting itself and creating difficulty for the child at school, approaching parents/guardians about the issue is appropriate at the elementary level. Together the family and school can then identify appropriate steps to support the student."
For secondary school, the district works with the student to determine whether notification should be sent to parents "to assess the degree, if any, the guardian will be involved in the process and must consider the health, well-being and safety of the student in transition."
Jeffco's toolkit instructed staff to "Remember to emphasize our responsibilities to keep their student safe and this information confidential (shared on a need to know basis) if that is their preference."
Jeffco Public Schools's confidential gender support plans, reviewed by Fox News Digital, allow for careful planning to keep parents out of the loop. The plan solicits information whether the student's parents are "aware and supportive of their child’s gender status" and "what considerations must be accounted for in implementing this plan" if parents would not be supportive.
Jeffco Public Schools gender support plan (Jeffco Public Schools)
The support plan goes so far as to specify how students should be identified on various types of documents in the school, including enrollment and standardized tests, and how to deal with a situation where the student has siblings in the school.
The plan lists the students siblings and said, "Are there specific social dynamics with other… siblings… or family members that need to be discussed?" the support plan stated.
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The document creates a pre-formulated response in advance if parents ask questions and assigned a "trusted adult" to the student in case they feel "unsafe" in school.
The student's gender would be used to determine where they would be placed for overnight trips.
"Under no circumstance shall a student who is transgender be required to share a room with students whose gender identity conflicts with their own," the policy said.