A Wisconsin school district is defending a training that instructed staff to hide information regarding students’ sexual or gender identity from their parents.
The instructions were part of professional training for staff in Eau Claire Area School District in western Wisconsin that took place on Feb. 25.
“Parents are not entitled to know their kids’ identities,” a slide from the presentation, obtained by the organization Empower Wisconsin, said. “That knowledge must be earned.”
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The slide went viral on Twitter Monday after it was shared by the popular Twitter account LibsofTikTok.
HOLY SHIT. A slide from @ecasdsuper staff training instructs teachers that “parents are not entitled to know their kids’ (gender) identities and it must be “earned.”
They are hiding information about sexual orientation and gender and teaching students not to trust their parents. pic.twitter.com/CYEllfuFlu— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) March 7, 2022
The slide had previously caught the attention of three local school board candidates, who blasted the training last week as a “blatant disregard for parental rights and responsibilities,” according to WQOW, the area’s ABC affiliate.
In a statement provided to the Washington Examiner, district Superintendent Michael Johnson defended the training as “part of our ongoing work to support our students.”
“The Eau Claire Area School District has a responsibility to maintain an educational environment that is equitable, safe and inclusive of all students,” Johnson said in the statement. “Data shows that students who identify within the LGBTQIA+ community have a higher incidence of mental health issues along with a higher sense of isolation.”
“Our staff often find themselves in positions of trust with our students,” Johnson continued. “The staff development presentation shared extensive data and information to assist our staff members in our ongoing efforts to create a safe and supportive learning environment for all students. The ECASD prides itself on being a school district that makes all students feel welcome and safe in our schools.”
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School board President Tim Nordin also defended the training, telling WQOW, “This isn’t about that slide alone. This was a professional development session talking about students who are LGBTQ and the extremely high rates they have of mental health difficulties, suicide attempts, and depression.”
“It’s a parent’s responsibility to help their student become the best person that they can be, to live their true self, but when those students don’t feel safe at home, where are they supposed to go?” Nordin asked the outlet.
Libby Sobic, the director of education policy at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, told the Washington Examiner that “policies such as these disregard parents’ decision about how their children will be addressed at school and violates parents’ constitutional rights.”
“Wisconsin parents have a fundamental and long-recognized ‘inherent right’ protected by the Wisconsin (and United States) Constitution to ‘direct the upbringing and education of children under their control,'” Sobic said. “This means parents are the primary decision-makers with respect to their minor children — not their school, or even the children themselves.”
