Eau Claire School District - Photo by WQOW
EAU CLAIRE, WI (WSAU) – The announcement of a teacher’s gender change to students as early as in elementary school without parental consent has led to a parent suing the Eau Claire Area School District.
According to the Daily Wire, Leah Buchman, a parent in the Eau Claire Area School District, filed a complaint on Monday accusing the district of failing to inform parents about the teacher’s gender transition announcement and breaching the open records law.
All orchestra students at Northstar Middle School were gathered in the orchestra room on June 5, the second-to-last day of the school year, along with the orchestra teacher, Jacob Puccio, a school counselor, and the district’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) director, Dang Yang, according to the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, Puccio, the orchestra teacher, informed the kids that he would be transitioning from a male to a female.
Additionally, students say that a scripted statement announcing the teacher’s gender transition was read to classes at three elementary schools and one high school in the district.
Buchman says that she first asked for a copy of the prepared statement but was turned down. Both the middle school orchestra and the high school band include members of Buchman’s family.
“All I am asking is for the school district to provide what was told to my children and their peers in the classroom. As a parent, it’s my responsibility to help my kids understand all that life throws their way, and I do not understand why it has taken the school district so long to update parents,” Buchman said.
Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty Associate Counsel, Cory Brewer, stated, “It’s ridiculous for a school district to refuse to produce a statement that was read out loud to dozens of minor students in several district classrooms. What was told to these kids should be readily accessible to parents.”
The Eau Claire school district also made headlines last year when, during a February 25 staff training, it instructed teachers to keep their student’s gender identity transitions from their parents.
“Parents are not entitled to know their kids’ identities,” read a slide from the training. “That knowledge must be earned.”
According to reports, a lawyer for the school district stated that the document could not be made public because an investigation was ongoing to see whether any school personnel had acted unlawfully about the June 5 statement.
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