Michigan Department of Education tells teachers: "Schools don't have a legal obligation to tell parents that a student goes by a different name and pronouns than is their legal name"
They also tell teachers to use whatever name the student tells them to in parent teacher conferences to "keep kids safe."
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Do teachers have to tell parents if students are using a different name and/or pronouns at school than is on their legal record?
In 2021, the Michigan Department of Education hosted a series of workshops as a part of the LGBTQ+ Student’s Project.
In one of those workshops - titled “Laying the Foundation: Understanding the Identities and Experiences of LGBTQ+ Students in Michigan - teachers in attendance asked trainer Kim Phillips-Knope if they had a legal obligation to inform the parents if students were using different names and/or pronouns at school.
Her answer was a resounding no.
In fact, even if the parents tell the school they do not want them to use the different name and pronouns with the child, the school is legally free to ignore that advice and do what the child wants.
This clip is a bit long, but I encourage you to listen to all of it. Here’s a breakdown of what you are going to hear:
Kids use nicknames in school that are different than their legal name (for example, a boy name Robert may go by Bob in school) and you don’t call the parents to check and see if that’s ok. Therefore, why would teachers do so when kids use the name and pronouns of a different gender?
All students have privacy rights. Therefore, schools don't have a legal obligation to tell parents that a student goes by a different name and pronouns than is their legal name.
The law firm representing most school districts in the state of Michigan is telling them they have no legal obligation to tell parents if students are using different names and pronouns.
The latest interpretations of Title IX at the federal level also support this practice.
Teacher: “I did have a question about the obligation factor that comes up…I work with Teach for America with the LGBTQ affinity group…the question the teachers often share or ask is what's the obligation if a student is sharing their Identity or asking for different pronouns…be it the district's policy or the school's policy…but what would be the obligation in which teachers have to share information with parents?”
Kim Phillips-Knope: “What I know from working with districts is that when it comes to students using a different name and pronouns…first of all you all have students who use different names and pronouns than are different names than their legal name that's on their roster, it happens all the time. My guess is it almost every classroom that you teach has students who don't go by the legal name that's on your roster and if and most schools, if not all schools, have no practice of reaching out to a parent to say ‘hey it says Robert here on the legal name…your kid is telling me they go by Bob. Is that going to be okay with you? And they use he him pronouns is that going to be okay with you as well?’
We don't have a practice of how we handle things when a kid says this is the name I go by unless it's a transgender kid we don't even think twice about it and our practice should be no different for our trans kids as it is for our cisgender students.
So that's I sort of want to start there because I want to make sure that we're not differentiating unnecessarily between our trans kids and our cisgender kids when it comes to names.
When it comes to sharing names and pronouns…all students have privacy rights…schools don't have a legal obligation to tell parents that a student goes by a different name and pronouns than is their legal name.
There's nothing in the law that prevents or precludes schools from using the name and pronouns that students go by and in our work with law firms including, Troon which is the law firm that represents most districts in the state, we've done a number of trainings with them and work with them quite closely and what they tell us is that if a school can say that they are using names and pronouns that they're acting in the best interest of the student by doing so that they are on really solid legal ground…using the name and pronouns that students go by it mitigates things like anxiety and depression even suicidality and it allows students to be more present for school they're more likely to do well academically…we are acting in the best interest of our students by using the name and pronouns that they go by.
You also have now guidance the office of civil rights at the federal level in regards to the current interpretations of Title IX that schools should be using the name and pronouns that students go by so there are a number of things that are in place that are that support schools using the name and pronouns that students go by.”
If you missed my first piece about the Michigan Department of Education’s teacher training, make sure to catch up here. This is a must-read for all families who have students in public schools in Michigan:
But what about parent-teacher conferences?
Following up on this question, another teacher asks Kim Phillips-Knope how to handle the parent-teacher conference if the student is using a different name and pronouns at school than they are at home.
Kim replies that the teacher should ask the student what name and pronouns they would like the teacher to use with the parents so they don’t “out” the student to their family.
She also advises the teacher to do “safety planning” with the student just in case the parents find out the child is using a different name and pronouns and kicks them out of the house.
Teacher: We have parent-teacher conferences coming up. When I'm talking to the parent, do I use the name in PowerSchool (the school information system) or do I refer to the student by the name I've been calling them in class? Secondary to that, I have had students come to me who are called by their chosen name at school and then classmates find out that they identify a different way and their parents don't know, so they're panicked and they have shared with me ‘my classmates are going to tell my parents, my parents don't know’, so I'm just wondering how we can navigate that to keep them safe?
Kim Phillips-Knope: So the first question I would say ask your students…let your students guide that process, so checking in with them to say ‘Hey you know parent-teacher conferences are coming up…I want to make sure that I'm using the name and pronouns that you want me to use when I'm talking to your parents. Can you let me know let me know how you'd like to do that?’
Then, you know as the person leading that conversation that you know when you're with the parents making sure that you know that you do what you need to do to make sure that you're not unintentionally outing a student to their family.
The second part of it, too, I would again like be working with the student…and sort of trying to talk them through what that might look like how you can support them in that if they need to do some safety planning like doing safety planning with them:
‘If your parents did find out how do you think they might react? Is there somebody…a place where you can get support if you need it? Do you have a friend you can turn to if you don't have a place to sleep that night? You know, where would you go?’
Trying to do some of that safety planning with them and then also talking through with the student themselves: ‘How do you want me to handle that? How can I be a support?’
Is the Gender Unicorn better than the Genderbread Man?
Regular readers of this substack will be very familiar with both the Gender Unicorn and the Genderbread Man (I’m sorry, the Genderbread Person…we can’t use those gendered pronouns): Theses are tools very frequently found in schools to teach children about gender identity and sexuality.
Just a funny aside from this presentation: Kim tells one teacher that the Gender Unicorn is preferable to the Genderbread Man because the Genderbread Man was “created by a straight white cisgender guy.”
“So the Genderbread Person was created by a straight white cisgender guy and there's some historical concern that he took those the concepts that are in it from folx within the trans community and that’s problematic. The Gender Unicorn that you're talking about was created by trans folx and so from a social justice perspective that’s the version that we want to use.”
Watch the full presentation
If you would like to watch this full presentation from the Michigan Department of Education, I recently watched it on my weekly Happy Hour stream. You can also find the source files linked in this Google doc hosted by the Michigan Department of Education.
What do you think?
Is this training something you would be comfortable with your kid’s teachers learning?
Leave a comment and let me know! And please share this with your friends and family who need to learn this information.
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