Parents have the right to know when schools change a child’s name and pronouns

Parents have the right to inspect their children’s education records¹, and on Oct. 27 the Justice Department sued the Anne Arundel County Board of Education, alleging that the district secretly facilitated students’ social transitions without parents’ knowledge or consent and blocked their access to information about their children.

Protecting a child from whom?

Parents say the school lied twice

America First Legal and Consovoy McCarthy PLLC filed suit for John and Jane Doe in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland earlier this year, alleging that school staff secretly facilitated the social “gender transition” of their minor daughter, identified as Mary Doe². During the 2025-2026 school year, the Justice Department says, AACPS questioned students one-on-one about their preferred names and pronouns. Then the Does twice received emails from teachers referring to their daughter by a male name and pronouns. Each time they confronted the school system, the complaint says, AACPS lied about helping their daughter pretend to be male at school. AACPS then declined to give the Does details about her transition and refused to turn over her relevant education records¹. When her parents tried to inspect those records, staff told them some required an appointment and others a subpoena³.

The complaint also alleges that AACPS staff gave the male name to other parents, which revealed sensitive information about Mary Doe to third parties³.

Parents—not schools—direct a child’s upbringing

A child belongs to her family before she belongs to a school's files: parents have a natural right, and a responsibility, to direct the care, education and upbringing of their children. The Justice Department's complaint says AACPS has kept policies for students who identify as “transgender” or “gender-nonconforming” since at least 2019. Policy JQ, effective June 16, 2021, guarantees students “the right... to be addressed by a name and pronoun that correspond to the student’s gender identity,” according to the complaint³. The Justice Department alleges the district directs staff to solicit, document and act on a student’s self-identified name, pronouns and “gender identity” without notifying parents. It alleges AACPS designates that information “confidential” and tells staff to withhold it from parents on what the department calls a “unilateral and unfounded assertion” that informing them would pose a “safety concern.” It also alleges AACPS reports “gender identity” information to the Maryland State Department of Education without parental notice or an opportunity to challenge its accuracy¹. The school and the state hold the information; the parents are the only ones left out.

Federal law protects parental access

The Justice Department's complaint alleges that AACPS's gender policies deny parents their rights under FERPA and PPRA. FERPA authorizes parents to inspect and review their children's education records and to correct or delete inaccurate information in them. Under PPRA, parents have the right to give or withhold consent before schools collect sensitive personal information from minor students. Dhillon states the rule plainly: “Schools should not discuss preferred pronouns or ‘gender identity’ with a student without parental notification and consent.”¹ The United States asks the court to declare AACPS's scheme unlawful and enjoin it³. Mary's parents asked to see her records, and federal law already says those records are theirs to see.

The policy changed after federal pressure

An AACPS spokesperson answered the lawsuit this way: “AACPS disagrees with the allegations and stands by its compliance with FERPA and PPRA.” The complaint's timeline answers that claim. On July 22, the complaint says, the Secretary of Education determined that AACPS was out of substantial compliance with FERPA's conditions. On Aug. 18, the School Board revised Section D(4) of Regulation JQ-RA. The revision says nothing in the regulation limits parents' FERPA rights, “including the right to inspect and review their student’s complete education record.” The next day Superintendent Mark Bedell told families that “no policy, guideline, or practice may limit or otherwise interfere with parental rights under FERPA.”³ CBS Baltimore reports the district amended its gender identity policy in August after the Trump administration threatened legal action and the loss of federal funding⁴. A district that was complying all along does not rewrite its rule after a federal finding that it was not.

Districts should stop hiding records

Every district with a “confidential” gender identity rule should read this complaint as a warning. Dhillon has said what comes next: “This Department will end illegal school policies that keep parents in the dark.”⁴

Parents can put this question to their school board before its next meeting: Will the district hand parents their child's complete education record on request, with no appointment and no subpoena?

Sources

1. Office of Public Affairs | Justice Department Sues to Stop Secret Gender Transitions at Anne Arundel County Public Schools | United States Department of Justice
2. U.S. Department of Justice Sues Anne Arundel County Public Schools and Files Statement of Interest in America First Legal’s Parental Rights Lawsuit - America First Legal
3. Complaint - United States v Board of Education of Anne Arundel County
4. Justice Department sues Anne Arundel County schools over transgender student policies - CBS Baltimore