Multiple school districts across Nevada have policies in place to push gender ideology on children and keep their claimed gender identities secret from parents, public records show.
According to records obtained by the education advocacy group Parents Defending Education, at least six public school districts in Nevada have policies and trainings aimed at promoting transgender ideology. At least three explicitly say to hide from parents the claimed alternative gender of their children.
In Nevada, sexual education is not required for school districts, meaning each district decides for itself what to teach.
“Schools are struggling to achieve the basic objectives of reading and math proficiency in their student body, but should we even be surprised when school districts like these waste time on insane and useless lessons like ‘genderbread persons?'” Michele Exner, senior adviser at Parents Defending Education, told the Washington Examiner. “Even worse than pushing this content in classrooms, these radical administrators are also actively working to hide sensitive information from parents. There is an erosion of trust taking place between parents and their children’s schools, and policies like these are to blame for fueling the parental exclusion crisis.”
Exner was referring to the Washoe County School District, which uses training for staff that features a graphic called the “genderbread person” that is used to show children that gender is on a spectrum. The presentation is part of a new program called “Brave Space,” which is “a training segment on offering support to LGBTQ+ students, and a training segment focused on the collective pursuit of cultural proficiency for all students, families and employees,” according to the documents.
The training tells staff to use students’ “preferred pronouns,” saying that using a student’s chosen pronouns can be “validating,” as “being misgendered is painful.”
In a civil rights presentation for Brave Space, one slide said that staff members should “balance between protecting student privacy and duties as a mandatory and/or required reporter.” In 2022, another Parents Defending Education open records request showed the Washoe County district, which did not return a request for comment from the Washington Examiner, had a policy of keeping a student’s claimed gender transition secret from their parents unless the students gave consent.
Clark County School District guidelines state that claimed gender identities can also be kept secret from parents.
“If the student does not want to notify their parents/guardians or if their parents/guardians are not in agreement, it is imperative that the student work with the school counselor to build a communication bridge between the student and the parents/guardians,” a Clark County resource called the “Diverse Gender Identities or Expressions Gender Support Plan Checklist” states. “No staff members should relay the student’s gender identity to the parents/guardians if the student has not approved.”
When asked about its school transgender policy, a spokesperson for the school district told the Washington Examiner that the policy, 5138, includes parents as part of the Gender Support Plan team.
“When a child identifies as being gender diverse, a group or team is convened to develop an individualized plan to address the rights and needs of the student,” the policy states. “The group or team will consist of the parent(s); the student; the Equity and Diversity Education Department administrative team; as well as school personnel determined by the administrator.”
The communications department told the Washington Examiner, “The District provides professional development and training concerning the rights and needs of students with diverse gender identities or expressions on an annual basis for all District employees. In compliance with NAC 388.880, the policy states that parents are to be included in the process. Stating otherwise is factually incorrect.”
However, the gender support plan will include “methods to support the appropriate engagement with the parent(s) of the student,” which appears not to foreclose the possibility of the gender support team withholding information from the parents. When asked about the apparent discrepancy, the school district did not respond.
Douglas County School District has a similar problem as the Clark County School District. One document obtained by Parents Defending Education showed that a parent could be included in a gender support plan, while another listed the protocols a teacher must follow if a student “comes out in class,” which included the stipulation that students would need to provide consent to inform parents.
On a gender support plan document from the Douglas County district, there is a section to choose “yes” or “no” as to whether parents consented to build the plan and another deliberately hiding the new “preferred pronouns” and names a student chooses from parents.
“Therefore, given the sensitive nature of the information, when speaking with parents, guardians, other staff members, or third parties, school staff should not disclose a student’s preferred name, pronoun, or other confidential information pertaining to the student’s transgender or gender nonconforming status without the student’s permission,” the Douglas County guidance states.
Douglas County School District did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
Elko County School District has nearly identical protocols, and one email template provided in response to the records request appears to show how they would be used in practice when notifying district staff members. It states in part, “The student has requested that we not inform their parents at this time and therefor, according to district policy, the parents have not been contacted on this issue.”
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Another template email, which removes that line, would be sent out if the parents are informed. The Elko County district did not respond to a request for comment.
Both Carson City and Humboldt County school districts also have extensive training on how to deal with claims of transgender identity among students, the open records request found. Neither could be reached for comment.