A growing number of parents in Colorado school districts are coming forward with claims that their children were forced to share a room overnight, including a shower, with a student of the opposite sex.
Christian parents Joe and Selina Wales said their 11-year-old daughter Allegedly forced to share bed During an overnight trip with Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) in December, she was with a biological male who identified as a girl.
Since the Waleses spoke out, more parents have come forward with similar reports.
ADF said a group of middle school girls locked a student who identified as transgender in a hut without telling her parents at the district's Outdoor Lab retreat, where sixth-graders went on a science trip to the mountains. Additionally, the high school counselor, a girl who identified as a boy, was placed in charge of a cabin for sixth-grade boys.
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The Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter of demand to Jefferson County Public Schools, calling the transgender policy “unconstitutional.” (Alliance to Defend Freedom)
In December, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) sent a request to JCPS on behalf of the Waleses, arguing that the school's policy of “withholding information from parents and lying to students is unconstitutional.”As further information was received, ADF second letter They told the district their request was “misunderstood” and that JCPS still “has not stated whether parents can opt their children in from policies that select children based on gender identity rather than sex.” expressed concern.
Kate Anderson, ADF Senior Advisor and Director of the ADF Center for Parental Rights, said parents, not the government, have the right to direct the care and education of their children, including making informed decisions to protect their children's privacy. Stated.
“As we explain in our second letter to Jefferson County Public Schools, the school district is committed to ensuring that parents like our clients Joe and Selina Wales choose to treat their children based on gender identity rather than gender. “They have not yet said whether children can be excluded from the policy of selecting children,” she said. “Such opt-outs can be done in a variety of confidential ways to protect the privacy of all students.”
“The Wiles family's troubling experience is not isolated. We have spoken with other parents who had similar incidents occur during their district-mandated 6th grade outdoor lab trip,” she added. Ta. “If Jefferson County Public Schools intends to continue to require students of the opposite sex to room together on overnight trips, which is confirmed to be the case, the district will notify parents of this policy and make decisions in the best interest of families. Children should be allowed to opt out in case “for their families''. ”
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Joe Wales said in a December interview with Fox News Digital that he felt “powerless” to protect his daughter from the situation. According to ADF, she learned that the student her daughter was sharing a bed with was transgender because he told her on the first night of her trip.
“I was a little shocked. I felt helpless,” he said. “Here I am…she was calling and texting me from the bathroom because she didn't want the other kids to hear what she was talking about. So, my daughter hid in the bathroom and… I feel pretty helpless when I'm there. My daughter is trying to tell me.'' I want to send you a message, but you're 2,000 miles away and I can't do anything. ”
Selina Wales happened to be traveling and intervened in the situation.
“It was very frustrating because even when we were planning the trip, we were told that boys would stay on one floor of the hotel and girls on the other, and that they wouldn't be allowed to mix,” Serena said. Said. “So it never even crossed our minds that something like this could happen.”
Fox News Digital previously reported on Jeffco Public Schools' gender support plan. (Jeffco Public School)
“She was concerned about sharing a bed with a male student,” the ADF said. “The school chaperone asked Mr. and Mrs. Weil's daughter if she could be moved to a different bed rather than a different room. Her daughter was still uncomfortable with this arrangement, but she agreed to try it out for just one night.”
“The girl and her parents then made multiple requests to move the girl to another room,” the ADF letter said. “Yet, the chaperones told the girl to lie about the reason for her transfer, citing the district's overnight boarding policy, which allows students to board based on their gender identity and pass that information on to others. “This policy violates parents' rights and students' privacy by hiding it from parents and students.” ”
“The JCPS employees then decided to lie to the roommate and instructed Ms. Wales' daughter to do the same and tell her that she needed to change beds to be closer to the air conditioner,” ADF alleged. . The other girls in the room were not informed about the presence of a biological male in their room, but were eventually moved to a separate girl's room by an escort.
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In a second letter, ADF's lawyers explained that they had been consulted by other parents with similar concerns.
“There have been reports of sixth grade elementary school students of the opposite sex being placed in the same cabin,” the letter reads. “What is even more concerning is that parents spoke with an 11-year-old sixth-grade student who was placed in a cabin with an 18-year-old heterosexual high school counselor.”
Similar transgender policies are being challenged across the country. (Fox News Digital)
In addition to staying in the same cabin as the sixth-grade students, Outdoor Lab's high school counselors are also responsible for monitoring students to ensure they do not take too long in the shower, ADF said.
“Given that Outdoor Lab students are unable to contact their parents while traveling, it would be up to the 11-year-old to face this invasion of privacy alone,” the letter continued. “In this case, the child was reluctant to talk during the trip, and the parents did not realize the violation of the child's privacy until the end of the trip.”
fox news digital previously reported JCPS' equity policies include a systematic system in place to ensure that parents are kept in the dark about their child's gender transition at school, and that students' gender, rather than gender, is used to award overnight trips. Among other things, the place of assignment will be decided.
JCPS policy states that students who identify as the opposite sex should be “assigned to share overnight accommodations with another student who shares the student's consistently asserted gender identity at school.”
“Under no circumstances will a transgender student be required to share a room with a student whose gender identity is inconsistent with his or her own gender identity,” the policy states.
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ADF attorneys believe such a policy would not only violate the Weils' religious beliefs, but also the parental rights of all parents in the district and the privacy rights of all students.
“The district has not answered our key question: Will parents be informed of this policy and allowed to opt out of their children before traveling,” Anderson told Fox News Digital. “Current policy does not allow parents to choose what is best for their child when attending a district-sponsored overnight trip.”
“Once again, parents were left in the dark and unable to make the decisions that were best for their children,” she added. “Everyone should be concerned if information is being hidden from parents.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Jefferson County Public Schools for comment.
FOX News' Hannah Grossman contributed to this report.
