LAND O’ LAKES, FL — Pasco County Public Schools personnel have adopted a harmful, unauthorized “policy” and practice of promoting LGBT ideology in violation of the rights of students, parents, and teachers, all without school board approval. Liberty Counsel has offered assistance to the Pasco County School Board, urging it to take immediate action and stop the harmful behavior at Chasco Middle School and elsewhere in the district resulting from a so-called “Gender Support Plan” and “Best Practices Guide.”
Jackie Jackson-Dean, a school psychologist, credits herself as lead author of a “Gender Support Plan” (Plan) and “Best Practices Guide” (Guide) adopted without school board approval. Page two of the Guide credits her as “lead content developer.” The documents encourage improper locker and bathroom access, the use of false gender pronouns, and withholding of information from parents. The unauthorized Plan imposes one person’s beliefs about gender over the beliefs of teachers, other students, and parents. The Plan and Guide require teachers to refer to some children by false gender pronouns, rather than pronouns consistent with biological gender, and to promote false ideas about gender to other children.
Pasco County administrators have threatened and silenced two P.E. teachers who objected to this Plan in order to allow a gender-confused girl into the boys’ locker room and open showers. The female student had full access to disrobe and even shower alongside unsuspecting boys. Administrators tried to force the male teachers to directly supervise and observe the girl in her use of the space. Both teachers objected to administrators’ refusal to inform minor boys and their parents beforehand, so their sons’ privacy could be protected. The girl remains free to enter the boys’ locker and open showers at any time.
The school psychologist also abused her position as the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) club advisor, in directing students from Pasco GSA clubs to non-district, outside “resources” and “support groups” like METRO. Without parental permission, METRO is providing contraception, HIV/AIDs “PrEP” drugs, and sexual activity counseling to children, and encourages them toward homosexual behavior. METRO also arranges meetings for “youth” ages 13-22 years old, again without parental permission. Despite having no policy of written parent permission for these referrals, Pasco has failed to subject all METRO personnel or affiliates having contact with Pasco children to background checks.
When a parent objected to Pasco County’s failure to require written parental permission for all clubs, including the GSA, school administrators stated they could not “expect school staff to keep track of parental consent for each and every activity they are operating before or after hours.” However, school board policies expect staff to ensure children have parental consent to join the after-school care program, participate in athletics, take medicine, or go on a field trip.
Jackson-Dean has also refused a parent’s public records request to review the contents of her “LGBTQ Lending Library” she maintains in her capacity as a school psychologist and “LGBT Liaison.” According to her website, the “library” consists “of over 60 books, as well as several magazines, brochures, and pamphlets which can be “checked out by students, parents, or educators.” This material constitutes “public records,” which must be disclosed consistent with Florida law and school board policy for parental access. If not “public records,” it should have been directly approved by the superintendent before being given to students, consistent with other school board policies. The district provided no records indicating superintendent review and approval.
The explicit intention to violate parental rights is clearly seen throughout the Guide, and in the Plan, developed by Jackson-Dean:
– Refrain “from talking to anyone else about the student– including their
parent(s).”
– School staff are not authorized to disclose information about transgender
students with “the student’s parents/guardians.”
– Staff members must “not assume the parents/caregivers know and support the
student’s gender identity/expression.”
– Schools “have an obligation to not disclose the student’s transgender status to
other students or parents unless the student has provided explicit permission to
do so.”
“The Pasco County School Board must take action to reign in these rogue school employees and administrators and reject their unauthorized LGBT policies and practices that violate parental and employee rights and the privacy rights of students,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “The Pasco County Schools must take charge to bring its employees into compliance with the law,” said Staver.
Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics. Liberty Counsel provides broadcast quality TV interviews via Hi-Def Skype and LTN at no cost.
About The Author
