The front-page article in your January 28th Edition rightfully reports on the very important issue of parental rights versus their child’s rights and a school’s duty. Boiling it down, it becomes a question of who is best suited to guide a minor regarding a life altering decision to change his or her gender. In this case, whether the thoughts of a 5th grade female that she might really be a boy, should be immediately shared with her parents versus withholding that information. In my opinion, the information should be immediately shared with the parents, and the student be told that it will be. The only exception would be where there are clear facts of an abusive parent in which case the matter should be referred to child protective services.
Parents have the privilege and responsibility of raising their own child. The school employee should give this the priority rather than thinking the child is better served by keeping that information from the parent. Why would we believe that a school employee knows what’s best for our child. Will the school employee be there in five or ten years when the child changes her mind? But it may be too late because she has set herself on a path that is not easily reversed. Perhaps she even had surgery which in some locals has been done on minors without parental consent. Who will pick up the pieces for that broken child? It certainly will not be that school employee who thought he or she had the best answers.
