Dozens of local districts maintain gender secrecy policies despite Supreme Court ruling
Beth Ann Rosica’s writings are a blend of news, opinion, and analysis.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with California parents challenging a 2025 state law that, in some cases, allowed — and even required — schools to withhold information from parents about their children’s gender identity.
That law, the Support Academic Futures and Equality for Today’s Youth Act, or SAFETY Act, which took effect on January 1, 2025, prohibited schools from adopting policies requiring staff to inform parents about a student’s gender transition.
“A school district … shall not enact or enforce any policy, rule, or administrative regulation that would require an employee or a contractor to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent, unless otherwise required by state or federal law.” [emphasis added]
The high court ruled a little over a year later, “these policies likely violate parents’ rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children….The State argues that its policies advance a compelling interest in student safety and privacy. But those policies cut out the primary protectors of children’s best interests: their parents.”
Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, at least 21 local school districts and one intermediate unit still have policies in place similar to California’s, according to a review by Broad + Liberty.
Most of the local policies are entitled, “Transgender and Gender Non-Comforming Students,” and contain language similar to California’s including this statement, as quoted from the Chester County Intermediate Unit.
“Therefore, Intermediate Unit personnel should not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status or gender nonconforming presentation to others, including the student’s parents/guardians and/or other Intermediate Unit personnel, unless legally required to do so or unless the student has authorized such disclosure.” [emphasis added]
According to a teacher employed by the Chester County Intermediate Unit, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, the IU’s student information database has a section to list the student’s “given name” and “preferred name.” Additionally, a “notes” section lists students’ preferred pronouns and instructions about communicating with parents regarding their name and pronouns.
“We are aware of the case, and our solicitor continues to monitor it,” said Chester County Intermediate Unit Director of Communications Christa Fazio. “If need be, we will revise our policies to comport with state and federal law and judicial precedent.”
The School District of Philadelphia policy includes a similar statement regarding disclosure to parents and also notes that staff must refer to students based on their gender identity.
“The intentional or persistent refusal to respect a student’s gender identity (for example, intentionally referring to the student by a name or pronoun that does not correspond to the student’s gender identity) is a violation of this policy.”
School District of Philadelphia Director of Communications Monique Braxton hinted that the changes due to the ruling could be coming but did not commit to anything specific.
“The District revises its policies on a rolling basis, and includes in its review an analysis of any changes in state, federal and local law.”
Residents in two other local school districts, upset over the policies, recently filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR).
A year after Great Valley resident and former school board director Bruce Chambers filed a complaint, OCR announced in January it is investigating the district for potential Title IX violations.
Great Valley’s policy contains similar language to California’s and other local districts about keeping gender transition information from parents.
“When contacting the parent/guardian of a transgender or gender expansive student, school personnel should use the student’s legal name and the pronoun corresponding to the student’s gender assigned at birth unless the student has specified otherwise.”
Chambers said he filed the complaint against Great Valley after reviewing its “Transgender and Gender Expansive Students” policy and comparing it to similar policies in Virginia school districts that were under OCR investigation.
“I sent emails to the Great Valley school board informing them about the similarity of their policy and the Virginia ones, and they only responded once, stating that they are basically following the guidance of their attorneys,” said Chambers when asked why he filed the complaint. “Common sense is absent from the Great Valley School District, and I don’t want my tax dollars to be used to fund this morally bankrupt policy,” said Chambers .
Similarly in Haverford Township, Alexis Pasternak, a parent in the district, lodged a complaint with OCR regarding its policy which includes instructions for the nurse and specific staff training.
“…a school nurse should use the student’s chosen name and should use the student’s birth name only when necessary to ensure the student receives appropriate care and to enable the school nurse to coordinate care for the student with other health care providers or licensed professionals as well as to file health insurance claims.”
The policy lists the related topics for professional development, including: “Terms and concepts related to gender identity, gender expression, and gender diversity in children and adolescents and appropriate strategies for communicating with students and parents about issues related to gender identity and gender expression, while protecting student privacy.”
Pasternak filed the complaint in September 2025, and it was assigned to an OCR attorney last month.
“I suggested to the school board and Superintendent in the past that this policy, and its regulations specifically, could be a liability for the district which is why my request has always been to simply reexamine and revise the policy and regulations like they do with countless others,” said Pasternak. “I’ve gotten the impression they’re just trying to avoid it altogether so I filed a complaint.”
It remains to be seen whether any of the districts will make changes to their policies as a result of the court ruling, as none, other than the School District of Philadelphia and the Chester County Intermediate Unit, responded to a request for comment.
Links to each district policy:
Abington, Bristol Borough, Cheltenham Township, Chester County IU, Colonial, Great Valley, Haverford Township, Interboro, Jenkintown, Lower Merion, Marple Newtown, Norristown Area, Penn-Delco, Philadelphia, Radnor Township, Rose Tree Media, Southeast Delco, Springfield Township (Montco), Upper Dublin, Upper Moreland Township, Wallingford Swarthmore, Wissahickon
Beth Ann Rosica resides in West Chester, has a Ph.D. in Education, and has dedicated her career to advocating on behalf of at-risk children and families. She covers education issues for Broad + Liberty. Contact her at barosica@broadandliberty.com.
Most coaches are required to take training to learn skills to mitigate child abuse. Adults “grooming” children to keep secrets from other adults (parents, etc.) is a huge red flag and there are mandated reporting requirements. How is this allowed to happen?
The HR departments of Big Corporations, and all of these School Districts are simply mechanisms to achieve a larger agenda. The people at the layer above that, the ones that control these institutions, have a very intentional agenda. Here it is:
What is the goal for pushing anti-meritocratic approach to education? There is an ongoing, very intentional multi-decade effort to destroy the US culture of family, faith, and self-reliance. Various ideas such as Critical Race Theory, Hyper-feminism, and other Communist-like ideas such as having children keep secrets from parents (reliance on the state like the Nazi’s did – it is literally perverted and abusive that other adults are encouraging keeping secrets from their parents ) they all basically push this idea: unequal RESULTS are unfair. Your group identity determines your victim status, not your competence, effort, or life choices. And the state is the only power that can fix it; so give us your freedom and we will make things better for you.
The international oligarchs want power. The religion they push is communism, in various forms. And victim status is their tool. They want us to be weak, stupid, and rely on them and have us willingly give away all of our freedoms. It is that simple. These school boards along the East and West coasts and in major cities are populated with religious zealots for communism now. They took over the Democrat Party. Haverford Township has no chance in the near future because there isn’t even a Republican Party there. They barely have any committee people or Ward leaders or anything. Ten years from now Haverford Township will look like Upper Darby. It is very vexing because it is like watching a terrible car crash in slow motion. And it is happening slowly enough that we don’t see ourselves getting boiled, like frogs.