Ohio school district spent $24,000 training teachers to hide students' gender identity from parents and avoid using terms 'boys and girls'

Columbus City Schools, the largest school district in Ohio, spent over $24,000 on consultants who gave presentations to teachers on how to hide the gender identity of students from their parents, taught about "CIS privilege," and claimed that children are not too young to talk about gender.

The district paid $24,200.83, according to TimCast, for activities that included a two-day presentation and workshop. The presentation's contents were obtained by the group Parents Defending Education through a public records request.

The training was explained by Nicki Neily, founder and president of Parents Defending Education, who identified the instructors as "Q-inclusion, which is now known as 'Hey Wes'." She described the website as saying, "Whether it’s company-wide workshops or one-on-one consulting, Wes can support you and your team on queer & trans belonging."

The presentation included information regarding the privacy of student records, which was used to justify teachers not having to tell a child's parents about their gender identity.

"Q-Inclusion’s presentation recommends that educators refrain from sharing students’ new gender identity with their parents and that there be a 'private place within the students records' that is not accessible to parents," Neily wrote, with the presentation attached.

“Transgender and nonbinary students have a FERPA-protected right to privacy; this extends to students’ gender identity, birth name, sex assigned at birth and medical history. This includes privacy rights from parents/caregivers," one of the lesson plans stated.

“Affirmed name should be used, regardless of legal name, on all paperwork and printed materials. Legal name is kept in a segregated, confidential file. If student’s caregivers are not supportive or cannot know about their affirming name, there should be a private place within the student’s records to indicate the name and pronouns that staff and peers should use for the student, aligning with the student’s wishes.”

Another lesson included a session on "CIS privilege," which defined the term as "advantages enjoyed by cisgender people simply because they are cis (and not trans)."

The workshop also included the "Wheel of Power/Privilege," which used the following terminology to describe what the group views as the most privileged and powerful type of person: a white, heterosexual, cisgender, man, post-secondary education, citizen, neurotypical, robust mental health, slim, able-bodied, owns property, rich, and English.

Another slide in the presentation simply gave plain text that read “children are not too young to talk about or know their gender.”

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