Which of the following three choices best matches your opinion?

🗣️ Schools should disclose gender status to parents (44%) – "Parents are held accountable for the behavior of their children. They need to know if their child is having identity issues. Teens instinctively shut their parents out for a season of life, and yet they still need them. The community needs to support parents as they support their children through this most challenging transition period in life. Parents can’t do that without this information."

• "We are talking about a condition that potentially requires the attention of psychologists, physicians, is a MAJOR change in a child’s life, and is an indicator of increased risk of mental health problems and suicide. Of course parents should know or at the very least shouldn’t be prohibited from being told. These are children. If my kids teacher can send me an email to let me know about friend drama at school or a bloody nose, surely this is far more important to convey."

"Your brain doesn't fully develop until 26. How can CHILDREN be responsible for choosing a different gender than the one they were born under? Parents are the legal guardians - there to protect their children. Schools are there to teach kids - not gatekeep them from their own families. This world has got it upside down."

• "As a teacher, I am extremely uncomfortable having to lie to parents about my students. It can also be difficult to remember which name to use in parent communication since the name the student has chosen often has nothing in common with their given name. Finally, we don't currently allow students to do many things in our nation due to age - and with very good reasons (i.e., drive a car, rent a car, vote...). Making a decision for gender change before the brain has fully formed is a recipe for disaster. Not telling parents - the very people who care most and financially support that student - is just plain wrong."

"Schools should not be keeping any secrets from parents. Not disclosing gender information would just be the start! If we let them continue this way, who knows what they will be able to hide in the future. Parents should have a right to know what is going on with their child at school. If the child feels unsafe to tell their parents that kind of thing, there should be people at the campus that are there to help students work through their feelings and have a safe place to go."

🙊 Schools should keep gender status private without permission (38%) – "Gender identity is extremely personal and should not be used as a weapon against the person. If a student feels safe sharing a gender identity with those at school but not at home, educators should respect their decision to do so. It’s high time in this country that children are given the dignity to decide who they actually are, not who their parents want them to be."

• "I imagine that this affects a very small group of children— those who are experiencing a possible gender transition AND those children who don’t seem to want to bring the subject up with their parents. These kids may be testing out their changing ideas of gender in a safe space: among teachers and friends. Unfortunately, some children may hide their changing gender identity from their parents due to fear of unacceptance and possibly unsafe responses. Are schools to be held responsible for a student that they outed being abused, kicked out of home, or attempting suicide? Let parents know their children through involvement and communication. Let teachers teach math, science, reading, and other important subject areas that they are highly trained to teach."

"Children deserve to be treated with dignity and to be safe, and to choose when to let their parents or other people know. School administrators can’t possibly know what the consequences could be to the child of outing them against their will."

• Gender identity is a challenging issue for people. In all likelihood, if someone is open about it at school but not at home, their parents are probably not creating a welcoming environment for them. A substantial portion of the non-cisgender folks I know have had major breaks with their families because of a non-welcoming environment."

🤷 Unsure/other (18%) – "On the one hand, schools hiding gender identity feels presumptive, as though the schools think they care about students more than the parents do or even that they know better than the parents. On the other hand, some students feel safer at school than at home (for a variety of reasons), so that privacy is important. Either way, hiding a kid's gender identity would require (a) some serious word gymnastics during parent meetings and (b) school staff to continue to hold both the a kid's biological AND chosen gender in the front of their minds. That seems to work against what a student desires when they move away from the gender they were assigned at birth."

• "I feel like this is hard because kids might be comfortable using pronouns at school but not at home for fear of retribution from their parents, but i feel like schools do have the duty to report things back to the parents concerning their kids, but they could also keep this just a school thing? I'm not sure. School's shouldn't have to keep things secret from parents, but then there's also cases of abuse. It's very hard for me to say which is best."