Supreme Court Declines to Hear Florida Parents' Challenge to School Gender Identity Policy

The Supreme Court turned away an appeal from a Florida couple on Monday who alleged their parental rights were violated by a school board policy on students' gender identity. The policy kept the couple's daughter's school from informing them about her request to use a different name and pronouns.

CBS News reported that the high court sidestepped a broader conflict between parents' rights to direct their child's care and school policies protecting student privacy for transgender individuals.

Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch urged courts to address whether a school district violates parents' rights when it affirms a student's gender transition without their knowledge or consent. The justices stated the issue is one of great and growing national importance.

Their call came as the Supreme Court blocked a California law that prevents school districts from requiring teachers to notify parents if their child seeks to use different pronouns.

The legal battle originated with procedures developed by the School Board of Leon County, Florida, in 2018. These procedures aimed to balance concerns of safety, privacy, students' rights and parental notice when a student sought to use a different name and pronouns.

Under the procedures, when students informed school administration of a different gender identity, the school treated them consistent with that gender identity.

For transgender or gender nonconforming students, the procedures required completing a support plan at a meeting with school officials. The procedures noted that in some cases, outing students to parents could be dangerous to their health and well-being, and school officials should ask the students for consent to notify their parents.

CBS News reported that the Leon County School Board created its guide to address these competing interests.

Three years after the Leon County School Board created its guide, Florida enacted a Parents' Bill of Rights. This law prohibited public schools from infringing on parents' rights to direct the upbringing, education, health care and mental health of their children.

To comply, the Leon County School Board revised its procedures in June 2022 to ensure school personnel did not intentionally withhold information from parents.

A student attended a middle school in Tallahassee, Florida. The student told her parents January and Jeffrey Littlejohn that she was confused about her gender and asked to change her name to J and use they/them pronouns.

The parents did not agree, but said she could use J as a nickname at school. The student expressed to a school counselor a desire to use a different name and they/them pronouns. The counselor, social worker and principal then met with the student to complete a support plan and sought various information, including her preferred name and pronouns.

According to court filings, the parents were not told of or invited to the meeting because their child did not ask for them to be there. The parents learned about the meeting through the student several days later, and demanded the school stop meeting privately with their child and treating her as nonbinary. They were later given a copy of the student's support plan, they said in court papers.

The Littlejohns and the school board have made conflicting claims as to whether school officials met with the student again. The Littlejohns sued the school board and district officials in 2021. They alleged that their rights to make decisions about the care and upbringing of their children were violated.

CBS News reported that the trial court dismissed the case, and a federal appeals court upheld the decision. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that while it agreed the school infringed the Littlejohns' fundamental rights, the parents failed to satisfy the standard for proving a violation of their substantive due process rights.

The Supreme Court left the lower court decision in place by turning away the case. Several states have enacted similar measures in recent years regarding parental notification and consent. The Supreme Court's conservative majority has intervened in related cases, such as blocking the California law amid ongoing litigation.

The procedures in Leon County were revised to adhere to the Parents' Bill of Rights, ensuring no intentional withholding of information from parents.