WAKE COUNTY, N.C. – A dispute involving a transgender music teacher at Middle Creek Elementary School could be headed to court.
The Thomas More Society says it sent Wake County Public School System a demand letter September 15 on behalf of parents seeking religious accommodations for their children. The group says the parents are not demanding that the teacher be fired. (Thomas More Society)
The parents are asking the district to allow their children to opt out of classes taught by the teacher, protect students from discipline over pronoun or courtesy-title use, provide advance notice and opt-outs for discussions involving gender identity or sexuality, and address their concerns involving bathrooms and similar spaces.
According to the parents’ attorneys, music is a required weekly class and families were told that keeping children out would result in unexcused absences. Those assertions come from the parents and their attorneys and have not been established by a court.
North Carolina law separately prohibits gender identity, sexual activity or sexuality from being included in curriculum for kindergarten through fourth grade, while specifically excluding responses to student-initiated questions from that restriction.
The Thomas More Society gave Wake County schools 15 days to provide written assurances addressing the parents’ demands or potentially face litigation.
AUXIO.TV will continue following the district’s response and any resulting court action.