Students deserve compassion and protection, but public schools should never treat mothers and fathers as obstacles in decisions involving their own children.
Public schools face difficult questions every day. How do you protect students from bullying? How do you help a teenager who is struggling?
One question should not be difficult: Should a school keep parents in the dark about a major issue involving their own child?
Anne Arundel County Public Schools has finally moved in the right direction. Beginning August 18, employees were told that if a parent objects to a gender-related change in a minor student’s name, pronouns, or use of group bathrooms, the school must follow the parent’s wishes. The rule now applies at every grade level. Under the old guidance, high school students could ask employees to use a different name or pronouns even when their parents disagreed. [1]
That policy was bound to cause trouble because it placed a wall between children and their families.
This is not about giving anyone permission to bully or humiliate a student. Every child deserves to be treated decently. A student who is frightened, confused, or struggling with identity should be met with patience, not cruelty. Schools should stop harassment and offer support.
But support is not the same thing as secrecy.
Parents raise the child, make medical decisions, sit up through sleepless nights and deal with problems long after the school day ends. Teachers and counselors may care deeply about their students, and most do. Still, they are not substitutes for a mother or father.
The old policy allowed two separate lives to develop around the same child. One name could be used at home and another at school. Parents might have no idea that employees were using different pronouns during the day. Whatever someone believes about gender identity, that kind of secrecy is poison to trust.
The change came after two parents filed a federal lawsuit. They allege that school employees used a masculine name and pronouns for their child without telling them, then resisted their request that the child’s legal name be used. Those claims have not been resolved in court, and the district has avoided discussing an individual student. Still, the case raised a question many parents were already asking: When did the school system decide it could shut families out? [2]
Federal officials soon became involved. The U.S. Department of Education argued that the district’s handling of gender-identity records may have interfered with parental rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. FERPA gives parents the right to inspect their minor child’s education records and seek corrections. AACPS has now revised its regulation to make clear that nothing in the policy can take away that right. [3][4][5]
That language should have been there all along.
Teachers union leaders say the new rules are creating stress for educators. That is understandable. Teachers are being asked to handle highly personal situations, often with little training and under intense political pressure. They want students to feel safe, and no decent person should dismiss that concern.
At the same time, a parent’s disagreement cannot automatically be treated as a threat. There must be procedures for the rare case in which telling a parent would place a child in genuine danger. But an exception for real abuse or a credible safety concern should remain an exception. It cannot become an excuse for cutting parents out of ordinary decisions.
AACPS also owes families more transparency. Reports indicate that the parental-approval rule was explained through internal guidance. At the same time, the public regulation still contains broader language about a student’s right to be addressed by a chosen name and pronouns. That leaves teachers unsure of what to do and parents unsure which policy applies. [1][4]
The district should publish the guidance, explain it in simple English, and stop forcing families to learn about major policy changes through leaked presentations.
Republicans are right to welcome this change, but the job is not finished. Parents deserve honest information about their children’s education, discipline, mental health, safety, and school records. Public schools cannot claim to be partners with families while withholding information parents need.
The right balance is not complicated. Treat students with dignity. Protect them from bullying. Take genuine danger seriously. And do not push parents out of the room.
Anne Arundel County schools lost sight of that balance. The new guidance is a welcome return to common sense. Now the district must follow through, make the rules public, and remember who has the first and lasting responsibility for a child: the family.
Endnotes
1. Policy Change and Internal Staff Guidance
“Anne Arundel Schools Now Need Parent Permission to Call Transgender Students by Preferred Names,” The Baltimore Banner.
2. Parents’ Lawsuit Against Anne Arundel County Public Schools
“Anne Arundel Schools Transgender Lawsuit: System Sued Over Social Transition Policy,” The Baltimore Banner.
3. Federal Investigation and FERPA Allegations
“Trump Administration Cracks Down on School Districts Secretly ‘Transitioning’ Students and Hiding It from Parents,” U.S. Department of Education.
4. Anne Arundel County’s Revised Gender-Identity Regulation
“JQ-RA: Safe and Accepting Environments for LGBTQ+ Students,” Anne Arundel County Public Schools, revised August 2026.
https://aacpsschools.org/aacpsboardpolicies/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/FINAL-JQ-RA-2026.pdf
5. Parental Rights Under Federal Education-Privacy Law
“What Is FERPA?” U.S. Department of Education, Student Data Protection Policy Office.
https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/faq/what-ferpa
Cynthia McKinley is a contributor to Direct Line News, a Project of the Montgomery County Republican Club
Direct Line News is a Maryland-based free-access publication committed to the Republican reform tradition.
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