Some excerpts from the long decision in Tatel v. Mt. Lebanon School Dist., decided yesterday by Judge Joy Flowers Conti (W.D. Pa.) (and see also the earlier decision in the case):
This case involves the extent of parents' constitutional rights when a public school permits a teacher to inculcate the teacher's beliefs about transgender topics in first-grade students over the objections of their parents. As noted in this court's October 27, 2022 opinion (the "first motion to dismiss opinion"), this case is not about treating all students with kindness, tolerance and respect.
Here, the parents allege that their children's first-grade teacher pursued her own transgender agenda outside the curriculum, which included: (1) instructing the children in her first-grade class that their parents might be wrong about their children's gender; (2) telling a student that the child could dress like a different gender and be like the teacher's transgender child (who was also in first grade in a different school); (3) telling a student that she, the teacher, would never lie (implying that the parents may lie about their child's gender identity); and (4) instructing students not to tell their parents about the transgender discussions. The teacher allegedly targeted the children's own gender identity and their parents' beliefs about the gender identity of their own children.
When the parents complained, the school district supported the teacher and allegedly adopted a policy (the "de facto policy") that the teacher's conduct could continue in the future without notice to the parents or the opportunity to opt their children out of that kind of agenda (despite providing broad parental notice and opt out rights for other topics). At this stage of the case, these averments must be accepted as true and construed in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs.
The defendants do not challenge the averments about the existence of the de facto policy. Instead, citing Parker v. Hurley (1st Cir. 2008), a decision from the First Circuit Court of Appeals, they argue that in a public school, parents have no constitutional right to notice or to opt their children out of any kind of instruction, regardless of the content of that instruction, the age of the children, or whether the instruction is part of the published school curriculum. See ECF No. 42 at 8 ("Parents have no constitutional right to exempt their children from classroom lessons, including those on transgender issues"). In other words, the defendants argue that parents simply have no constitutional right to notice or to object to any information a public school may present to their children.
