By AlaskaWatchman.com

When it comes to the controversial practice of affirming a students preferred gender identity, Alaska’s largest school district is careful to keep parents out of the loop.

In fact, the Anchorage School District provides no role for parents in the official document it uses to establish a “gender plan” for kids while they are in school.

The one-page document from the district’s Compliance/Equal Employment Office first lists the student’s name and “birth gender” as recorded on the birth certificate. It then notes the student’s “preferred first name.”

Next, the document lists the student’s concerns and requests. This includes “preferred pronoun,” desired, “non-stigmatizing” bathroom and locker room accommodations, dress code and preferences when it comes to participating in athletics.

The document includes a space for the student (or employee) to sign off, as well as a line for the principal’s signature. There is no slot, however, for the child’s parents to approve or sign off on the gender plan. Instead, it states that the document is part of the students “official record,” but the information will “only be shared with individuals who have a legitimate need to know.”

In excluding parents from approving how a school addresses a child’s gender confusion, the Anchorage School District is operating in accord with its 10-page manual on how to work with “transgender and gender nonconforming” employees and students. This document states that, “Administrators and staff must respect the right of an individual to be addressed by a name and pronoun that corresponds to their gender identity.”

When dealing with parents who may not be on board with a child’s gender identity experimentation, the manual notes that when parents of transgendered students are contacted by school officials, the student must be referred to by their given name and birth-assigned pronoun, unless otherwise directed by the student.

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Anchorage schools exclude parents from child’s gender ID plan document

Joel Davidson
Joel is Editor-in-Chief of the Alaska Watchman. Joel is an award winning journalist and has been reporting for over 24 years, He is a proud father of 8 children, and lives in Palmer, Alaska.