KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCTV) - Three Kansas City-area school districts are the subject of the Kansas attorney general’s letter to the U.S. Department of Education concerning policies of social transitioning.
AG Kris Kobach wrote to Education Secretary Linda McMahon that the Olathe, Shawnee Mission, Topeka and Kansas City, Kansas, school districts have not complied with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA.
Kobach’s letter stated that the school districts have maintained policies forcing students to share bathrooms, locker rooms, and other intimate spaces based on a student’s proclaimed gender identity.
“That a Kansas school district would so cavalierly act to hide such information from parents is shockingly irresponsible,” Kobach said.
The letter detailed that the school districts have policies allowing or requiring teachers to conceal from parents information concerning the “social transitioning” of their children.
The attorney general wrote that in December 2023, he sent letters to six Kansas school boards urging them to reconsider such policies. While two school districts revised or rescinded their policies, the four named in the letter did not.
Kobach’s letter comes on the heels of a Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies complaint filed on June 24, which requested an investigation into the same four Kansas school districts for their policies that actively undermine parental rights.
The ACLU of Kansas calls Kobach’s lawsuit a ‘weaponization’ of his office.
We again remind Mr. Kobach that the Constitution specifically protects against government actors and their attacks on Americans – and that includes children in Kansas who happen to be transgender. Mr. Kobach’s latest letter ignores the real concerns of Kansans in order to latch onto this administration and cynically weaponize his office to push his extremist political agenda, disconnected from the law or the facts
Micah Kubic, ACLU of Kansas Executive Director
KCTV5 spoke with parents and community activists, asking for their response to Attorney General Kobach’s letter.
Kristy Blomquist-Peck said she has five kids, all of whom attend schools at Shawnee Mission School District, and said she’s a former student herself.
She called Kobach’s request ‘disappointing’. “Never have I nor my children encountered issues in the locker room,” she said.
She said she agrees with Olathe’s statement, calling it a ‘political agenda.
“If there are families where incidents have occurred, I’m wondering where are they? Why is Kobach writing a letter? No one has a word to say,” she questioned. “Again, we’re supposed to take his word that this is just happening impacting broadly across the district. It doesn’t ring true to my experience as a student, as a parent, and as a past professional in the district.”
Jae Moyer is an LGBTQ+ community activist. They find Kobach’s request ‘unnecessary’ and a ‘waste of resources for residents’.
“What is the real cost of what you’re doing? If you’re getting involved with these types of culture war issues at the federal level or even at the state level, for that matter, what message is that sending to the people that actually voted for you,” they said. “And the people that actually sent you there to serve? And to be a representative in the government.”
KCTV5 had an interview scheduled with Solicitor General Anthony Powell on Wednesday afternoon, but he later cancelled due to a scheduling conflict.
In response, Olathe Public Schools released a statement on Wednesday, saying in part that “To be absolutely clear, it is our expectation that staff work directly with families regarding student-related matters involving their own child(ren). The Olathe Public Schools does not and has never socially transitioned our students.”