More than 100 years ago, the Supreme Court recognized that the right to direct the care, education, and upbringing of one’s children is both fundamental and predates the Constitution itself. In 2000, it reiterated this premise, saying that the parental right was perhaps “the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests” ever recognized by the court.
In education, though, one would be hard pressed to find school districts that recall the preeminence of this right. Roughly 11.5 million students attend nearly 20,000 schools in 1,100 school districts across the country that have instituted policies hiding a minor’s gender identity from his or her parents.
Schools require parental permission for field trips, sports participation, and dispensing Tylenol. But somehow, in what has become the upside-down world of American education, they can hide critical mental health…
