After hearing that a Florida girl, 12, attempted suicide after she had been told by her school to change her gender, a pair of Republican congressmen wrote Miguel Cardona, Education Secretary. Republican legislators Sen. Richard Burr and Virginia Foxx of North Carolina wrote a Thursday letter to Cardona regarding Clay County, Florida student’s suicide attempt. They had spoken with Cardona about becoming a boy.
Foxx and Burr wrote that the father of the girl had spoken to Foxx about the girl’s gender transition and that the school had started calling her a boy and given her a new name. They did this without informing the parents.
Foxx stated that parents have the right to access vital information about their children, which Foxx said to Fox News Digital on Thursday.
“The alarming trend of school districts withholding information for parents continues at an alarming rate, and there is little to no accountability from this administration. How many children are at risk if schools districts don’t hold them accountable? She continued.
“Unfortunately these decisions by school districts are part of a disturbing tendency,” they said, pointing out a report on several school districts that hide these talks from parents.
The lawmakers urged the secretary to clarify Title IX and Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) requirements “with respect to school districts’ policies and “proliferating attempts to conceal vital information from parents regarding minor children.”
The lawmakers stated that they believe it was crucial for the Department to quickly clarify these implications. “For instance, we are concerned that the Department might support Clay County’s Florida actions to hide critical information from parents.”
“Not only that but we are concerned that the Department may believe that such policies are required by Title IX,” they said, pointing out Obama-era guidance, which “stated their belief” that Title IX applies “to sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Cardona was asked by the lawmakers to answer a number of questions. One question was whether “the Department’s interpretation of Title IX requires school districts to conceal to a minor child’s parents information about that child’s interest in gender transition” or if the Department of Education endorsed the Florida school district’s approach.
The father of the elementary school student who tried to commit suicide at school filed a lawsuit against Child & Parental Rights Campaign. He claimed that a school counselor had secretly met with his daughter about questioning her gender.
According to the counselor, the father was told by the counselor that his daughter didn’t want to discuss the matter because her Catholic parents were involved.
“I took offense because that was not related to it. The father stated that she doesn’t understand our faith and I didn’t know what to do. “That showed she wasn’t knowledgeable about it. Our faith is one that shows unconditional love for our children.
