Teacher announces gender transition, planned medical procedure to students without parental consent — then district refuses to provide educator’s scripted statement, lawsuit claims

Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty and a mother of four filed a lawsuit this week against her children’s school district after she claims a middle school teacher announced his gender transition and planned medical procedure to students without parental knowledge or consent. The district then refused multiple public records requests for the educator’s scripted statement, the lawsuit claimed.

On Tuesday, parent Leah Buchman filed a complaint against Eau Claire Area School District after it failed to produce a copy of a script read aloud to students regarding a middle school orchestra teacher’s announced gender transition.

According to the lawsuit, students attending Northstar Middle School were required to gather in the orchestra room on June 5. The students were joined by teacher Jacob Puccio, a school counselor, and the district’s diversity, equity, and inclusion director, Dang Yang.

“The students were told that Puccio was transitioning from male to female and that, going forward, they were to address the orchestra instructor as Ms. Puccio,” the complaint alleged. “The students were then told they could stay to listen to Puccio’s story, or they could go into a practice room while the story was told.”

The suit claimed all students stayed in the orchestra room to listen to their instructor.

Puccio allegedly told students that he had “felt” like “a girl from an early age and experienced childhood trauma because Puccio’s parents and friends did not accept that Puccio was the opposite sex from that assigned at birth,” the lawsuit said. The teacher also allegedly told the children he planned to undergo “a medical procedure” related to the gender transition.

After the announcement, the district released a written statement to be read at multiple schools within the district, including several elementary schools, the suit claimed. Again, parents were not notified that their children would be read the announcement.

In June, Buchman requested a copy of the script Puccio read to the students, but the district refused to comply. Shortly after, Buchman submitted a public records request for the script but was again denied.

The district claimed that the “document could not be disclosed because an investigation was underway into whether any ‘employee acted improperly with respect to the June 6 [sic] events,’” the lawsuit said.

A second public records request was submitted by WILL that same month but again was denied.

“My frustration comes in the fact that the district gave the statement without my knowledge and consent,” Buchman told National Review. “They don’t get to decide how to parent my children. And I have the right to know what was read to my kids.”

Cory Brewer, WILL associate counsel, stated, “It’s ridiculous for a school district to refuse to produce a statement that was read out loud to dozens of minor students in several district classrooms. What was told to these kids should be readily accessible to parents.”

In a statement to WEAU-TV, Eau Claire Area School District said, “After the events of June 5 and the inquiries received from certain parents, it was decided that there should be a formal investigation of the events of that day (and the planning that preceded that day) to determine if there were any missteps under school district policy. With the summer season upon us, the investigation has encountered some issues with witness/employee availability. Work on the investigation is ongoing.”

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