District officials said the suit contains ‘allegations that are untrue or based on partial truths’
Three Mt. Lebanon parents filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday alleging misconduct by their children’s first-grade teacher and claiming the children were taught about several social issues involving gender in a manner that violated district policy and precedent, the Constitution and state law.
They claim that their rights as parents were not respected by Jefferson Elementary School teacher Megan Williams, nor the Mt. Lebanon school board and administrators, during teaching on gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning. The parents — Carmilla Tatel, Stacy Dunn and Gretchen Melton — say the suit is not anti-transgender or about “politics,” but instead making sure their parental rights are respected.
The lawsuit seeks that either the district is prohibited from teaching about gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning, or it’s required to allow the parents control over the teaching of such subjects through existing policies. The suit comes amid a growing trend across the nation of more attention focused toward school boards and officials.
The lawsuit alleges the district did not comply with its policies in several ways, including that it did not list gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning as part of the curriculum posted online. It also allegedly did not allow for parents to excuse their children from certain instruction if it did not conform with their beliefs which, according to the lawsuit, the district had previously allowed with topics such as the Holocaust, slavery, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Black Lives Matter, among others.
While the lawsuit said Ms. Williams may have “unique perspectives and views,” given that she is the mother of a transgender child who is the same age as the students she teaches, it added that this “does not give her the right to impose those views on a captive audience of six and seven-year-old children.”
According to the suit, Ms. Williams provided “direct classroom instruction” about gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning on March 31, the International Transgender Day of Visibility. She allegedly got approval to use several books and videos on an “ad hoc basis” from Brett Bielewicz, the school principal.
When one parent met with Ms. Williams about her instruction, the teacher allegedly said they would “need to agree to disagree.”
Kristen James, a district spokesperson, said in a statement that the parents’ lawsuit contains “allegations that are untrue or based on partial truths that mischaracterize events for sensational effect.” She added that the district “looks forward to the opportunity to set the record straight.”
The parents also listed other examples of behavior that concerned them.
The students in Ms. Williams’ class did not recite the Pledge of Allegiance for the first 52 days of the academic year, according to the lawsuit. Mr. Bielewicz told parents that “the expectation of a daily Pledge of Allegiance has always been a standing practice,” but “sometimes the morning gets away from Williams.”
On Valentine’s Day, Ms. Williams played a cartoon for her class and had one student watch it, even though that student had told her before the video began that their parents did not permit them to watch the particular show.
Jon Moss: jmoss@post-gazette.com; Twitter: @mossjon7; 412-263-1542.
First Published June 9, 2022, 11:54pm SOURCE: post-gazette
