Westerly schools must tell parents when they change a child’s name and pronouns

America First Legal has asked federal agencies to investigate Westerly’s 2017 protocol, which lets administrators decide whether parents learn about school identity changes.

A school that decides on its own whether a mother and father may know who their child is becoming has stopped serving families and started replacing them. On Tuesday, Oct. 20, America First Legal asked the Justice Department and the Department of Education to investigate Westerly Public Schools in Rhode Island¹. America First Legal’s complaint says the Westerly School Committee adopted the “Transgender, Gender Nonconforming & Transitioning Students Protocol” in 2017.

America First Legal Senior Counsel Ian Prior said: “Westerly Public Schools' policy blatantly violates federal law, tramples on parents' rights, and embraces radical 'gender ideology.' Male students claiming to be female receive every privilege while actual female students are shoved aside.” The complaint charges violations of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and Title IX. Westerly did not write this rule from scratch, according to the complaint, which says the policy expressly adopts the Rhode Island Department of Education’s guidance and incorporates model definitions drawn from advocacy organizations². Fox News Digital reported the Justice Department spokesperson said: “The Department has received the complaint and will review it. As a matter of policy, the Department does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”

“Male students claiming to be female receive every privilege while actual female students are shoved aside.”

Ian Prior

The mechanism is simple. According to the complaint, the policy lets school officials change a student's name, pronouns and school records without notifying parents or obtaining their consent¹. AFL says the protocol directs staff to keep the transition from parents unless the student agrees³.

The bar for staff to accept a new identity is low: the complaint quotes the policy as asking for “a consistent and uniform assertion of the student’s gender identity” or other evidence that it is “sincerely held.” The complaint adds that the concealment reaches the file itself².

A child can be known by a new name in class and in school documents while the mother and father who enrolled her learn nothing unless the minor chooses to tell them. When a school hides a child's transition from the child's own parents, it commits a parental-rights violation, and this policy makes that concealment the default. Who is raising this child, the family or the front office?

Administrators decide how much family is involved

Westerly's protocol gives its own reason for keeping parents out of the loop at the secondary level: “Generally, notification to a student's parent(s)/guardian(s) about their gender identity, expression, or transition is unnecessary, as they are already aware and supportive.” For everyone else, it hands the decision to administrators: “If the administration determines that notifying the family carries risks for the student, it should work closely with the student to assess the degree to which, if any, the family will be involved in the process.”¹ The complaint says such situations are “addressed on a case-by-case basis.”²

Read the words “if any.” AFL also alleges the policy runs students through evaluation of mental or psychological problems and sex behavior or attitudes with no consent step, noting that “nothing in the Policy requires WPS to obtain prior written parental consent before subjecting a student to this analysis or evaluation.”² AFL’s complaint says an Oct. 5 letter from the Education Department and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to state attorneys general stated that any form, screening or survey “that can be used to evaluate the student’s mental health requires prior written parental consent.” Who gave an administrator the power to decide whether a mother and father are a risk to their own child?

Girls who object must seek separate spaces

The protocol also reaches the rooms where girls change and the teams where they compete. The complaint says it assures students “of their right to use any locker room or restroom that aligns with their gender identity,” and AFL says it lets students join sex-segregated gym classes and sports teams by gender identity rather than biological sex³.

The burden lands on the girl who objects, since AFL says the protocol will “Force students who object to find separate accommodations.”³ What she is offered is “use of a private area, or a separate changing schedule, or use of a single stall restroom.”²

The complaint also cites a 2026 Supreme Court decision that the term “sex” in Title IX “cannot plausibly be interpreted to refer to anything other than biological sex.”² Biological reality is the law's reading of the word, and in Westerly's policy the girl who objects gets the single stall.

Westerly should tell parents every time

Washington has the complaint. A Justice Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital the department “received the complaint and will review it.” AFL points to the Trump administration's lawsuit against Kansas City Public Schools over undisclosed student gender transitions and FERPA and PPRA violations, and says it is seeking a similar outcome in Westerly¹.

The complaint asks the departments to “Require WPS to rescind or revise any policies that direct staff to conceal material student information from parents.” It asks for corrective action so that records on a student's identity, name, pronouns and social transition are “fully accessible to parents.” It also lists stronger remedies, “including enforcement proceedings and the termination of federal funding.”²

Federal officials should open the investigation now. The Westerly School Committee does not need to wait for them: it can rewrite its 2017 protocol so that whenever staff change a child's name, pronouns or school records, the parents are told, with no screening of parents and no “if any.” Will the School Committee vote to tell parents every time, yes or no?

Westerly schools must tell parents when they change a child’s name and pronouns

Parents may learn about changes only with consent

Administrators decide how much family is involved

Girls who object must seek separate spaces

Westerly should tell parents every time

Sources