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Oct 16, 2024

Colorado parents sue school district after their 11-year-old daughter 'was made to sleep in a bed with a biological boy who identified as a girl' on overnight trip

By Natasha Anderson 11:20 06 Sep 2024, updated 11:33 06 Sep 2024 Comments Comments A group of parents are suing their Colorado school district over an alleged policy that allows overnight

By Natasha Anderson 11:20 06 Sep 2024, updated 11:33 06 Sep 2024

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A group of parents are suing their Colorado school district over an alleged policy that allows overnight accommodations to be assigned by gender identity instead of biological sex.

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit Thursday against Jefferson County Public Schools on behalf of three families who allege a district policy forces children to bunk with students of the opposite sex while on school trips.

Joe and Serena Wailes, two plaintiffs in the case, allege their 11-year-old daughter had to share a bed with a transgender student who identified as a girl while on a cross-country trip to Philadelphia and DC in June 2023.

Serena claims her daughter, who called her in a panic from a hotel bathroom after discovering her roommate was a biological male, had to repeatedly ask for a different room, and was then told to lie about the reason she was going in order to protect her classmate's privacy. The trans student was in 'stealth mode' with their sexual identity protected by school board policy, the lawsuit claims.

Since that incident with the Waileses' daughter, two other Jefferson County families have come forward with similar concerns.

The three families are now suing the district for allegedly violating their constitutional right to 'decide the upbringing, education, and healthcare of their children', according to the court filing obtained by DailyMail.com. The complaint further alleges the district's policies have violated the parents' religious beliefs.

The lawsuit alleges the district tells families that 'girls will be roomed together on one floor, and boys will be roomed together on a different floor'.

But the ADF claims Jefferson County Public Schools 'fails to mention is that they have redefined the words "girl" and "boy" to mean a student's asserted gender identity rather than sex', the complaint states.

The attorneys argue the district refused to provide parents with 'truthful, pertinent information' about their children's overnight accommodations and in turn hindered their ability 'to make informed decisions about their children's education and privacy.'

Jefferson County Public Schools policy on transgender room accommodations states that, when it comes to sleeping arrangements, the needs of a transgender student will be assessed on a 'case-by-case basis with the goals of maximizing the student's social integration, providing equal opportunity and minimizing stigmatization of the student'.

'In most cases, students who are transgender should be assigned to share overnight accommodations with other students that share the student's gender identity consistently asserted at school,' the policy states.

'Under no circumstance shall a student who is transgender be required to share a room with students whose gender identity conflicts with their own.'

It adds: 'Any alternative arrangement should be provided in a way that allows the student's transgender status to be kept confidential.'

The Waileses sent two letters to the district appealing that parents should be able to opt out of any policy rooming children together by gender identity prior to an overnight trip, but according to the ADF their request was denied.

The district in December last year sent a letter to the ADF, stating in part that 'Jeffco Public Schools will not knowingly assign students of different birth sexes to share a bed, and it did not do so here'.

The letter added: 'At no time prior to June 25, 2023, did either the supervising chaperones or the private tour operator (EF Tours) know that Jane Doe was transgender.'

But despite the explanation, ADF has accused the district of violating the law.

'Parents, not the government, have the right and duty to direct the upbringing and education of their children, and that includes making informed decisions to protect their child’s privacy,' senior counsel Kate Anderson, director of the ADF Center for Parental Rights, said in a press release.

'This fundamental right is especially vital for parents to protect their children from violations of bodily privacy by exposure to the opposite sex in intimate settings, like sleeping arrangements or shower facilities.

'If Jefferson County Public Schools is going to continue placing students of the opposite sex in the same room on overnight trips - as it confirmed it would - the district must let parents be the ones to make decisions about their children's privacy. And they must provide the information necessary and inform parents about the policy so parents can make the best decisions for their children.'

Anderson added: 'The district must grant our clients' reasonable request for accommodations that can be accomplished in a number of confidential ways that protect the privacy of all students.'

The lawsuit further claims that under the current policy, parents will not have the information they need to protect their children's privacy until it is 'too late', meaning when when 'the parents are not there; when the burden falls on the child to ask her roommates about their sex; and when there is a greater risk of causing all students discomfort or embarrassment'.

According to the Waileses, their daughter called her mother - who was accompanying her daughter on the trip to the nation's capital - in a panic from a hotel bathroom after discovering that the girl she was expected to share a bed with on a school trip was actually a biological male.

No-one had informed the student, the mother or any other parent at Governor's Ranch Elementary School because the transgender pupil was in 'stealth mode' with their sexual identity protected by school board policy.

'Her bedmate informed her that he was a boy who identified as transgender,' Serena told Fox31 last year.

'She was terrified and really upset about the idea of sharing a bed with a biological boy, even though she had a good relationship with this other student.'

Serena said she was repeatedly assured that the boys' rooms would be on a different floor to the girls' and that permission would be needed to travel between them.

But she demanded to see a chaperone in the hotel lobby after receiving the whispered phone call from her daughter.

'The school chaperone asked the Waileses' daughter if they could merely move her to a different bed rather than a different room,' reported the ADF in a letter to Jeffco superintendent Tracy Dorman.

'While she was still uncomfortable with this arrangement, she agreed to try it for one night.

'Jeffco officials then decided to lie to her roommates, and instructed the Waileses' daughter to do the same, telling her to say she needed to switch beds to be closer to the air conditioner.

'It then took the girl and her parents multiple requests to get her moved to another room.

'And even then, chaperones told the girl to lie about the reason for her move because of the district's overnight rooming policy— a policy that violates parental rights and student privacy by rooming students based on gender identity while hiding that information from other parents and students.'

The ADF claims that the other girls in the room were not informed about the biological male in their room, and were ordered to keep quiet about it when they found out.

Similarly, after learning of the Waileses' experience, Bret and Susanne Roller revealed that their 11-year-old son shared a cabin with a 'non-binary female' while on the district's annual sixth grade camping trip.

The couple, also plaintiffs in the suit, allege they were told their son would be rooming with six to 30 other boys, including a male high school counselor.

They claim it wasn't until the boy was in the mountains, 'away from home for the first time and without any way to contact his parents', that they became aware the district had 'lied'.

The Rollers claim the 18-year-old counselor supervising their son was 'not male but was instead a "non-binary" female'. They also allege the counselor slept and changed in the cabin, as well as supervised the boys' showers.

Rob and Jade Perlman joined the lawsuit with the Waileses and Rollers after learning of the incidents and becoming 'concerned about their own children'.

Their son is meant to go on the annual camping trip this year and their daughter is a student-athlete playing multiple sports, according to the ADF.

'The Perlmans are concerned about where and with whom their daughter will sleep while on JeffCo athletic trips, the press release states.

'The Perlmans don’t want their children to miss out on academic and extracurricular activities, especially those that could help them secure college scholarships, simply because JeffCo cannot assure their children privacy on school-sponsored trips.'

According to the ADF, Jefferson County Public Schools has said it will continue to assign students to hotel rooms, cabins, and other overnight accommodations by gender identity - as district policy states.

The legal advocacy also alleges the district has refused to provide accommodation for students if they are 'uncomfortable' or it 'violates their religious beliefs to stay in an intimate setting with a student of the opposite sex'.

The ADF further alleges that the district has said 'it will not agree to notify parents, or students, in advance that this is district policy, thereby preventing parents from making informed decisions for their children'.

DailyMail.com has approached Jefferson County Public Schools for comment.

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