Colorado parents question school district policy on daughter's overnight stay with trans student

Parents of an 11-year-old girl are asking Jefferson County Public Schools for clarity on a policy regarding transgender students after their daughter was assigned to sleep in the same bed with a transgender student who was male at birth during an overnight field trip.

Earlier this year, the district assigned the daughter of Joe and Serena Wailes to share a room and bed with a fifth-grade student who identifies as a girl during a cross-country trip to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative nonprofit that focuses on religious freedom, said in a media release. The school failed to notify the daughter or the Wailes family and never attempted to get consent for the arrangement, according to ADF.

ADF wrote a six-page letter on behalf of the parents to the the school district on Monday demanding clarification of the policy regarding room assignments for students including “whether parents of all students will be informed of the sex of their children’s roommates on school-sponsored trips before the trip.” The organization also asked if parents can opt out of any policy for overnight room assignments where children are identified by “gender identity rather than sex.”

ADF requests all documents related to the policy, training materials, emails discussing the policy, and documentation of previously granted accommodations by Dec. 18.

In the letter, ADF said school district policy states “students who are transgender should be assigned to share overnight accommodations with other students that share the student’s gender identity consistently asserted at school.”

The policy doesn’t address a girl being required to share a bed with a boy who identifies as a transgender girl, the organization contends.

“This policy and practice violates the sincerely held religious beliefs of our clients and their children, the parental rights of them and other parents in your district, and the privacy rights of all students,” the letter stated.

The Waileses' daughter discovered the transgender student was born a male during a conversation on the trip, according to the organization. Serena Wailes, who accompanied her daughter on the overnight trip, learned about her daughter’s concern and met with a teacher who was a trip chaperone.

The teacher asked if the daughter could be moved to a different bed instead of another room. The teacher, according to the organization, allegedly told the daughter to lie to the other students in the room and state the reason for the change was to be closer to an air conditioner.

ADF's letter states the other students in the room then expressed concern about the arrangement. Finally, the chaperones moved the transgender student and another girl to a different room, but told the Waileses’ daughter to lie and say a “sick roommate needed more space.”

“Throughout the entire evening, [the transgender student’s] privacy and feelings were always the primary concern” of school employees," the letter states. ADF contends the school disregarded the Waileses’ daughter’s privacy, their parental rights and then infringed on her freedom of speech by telling her not to tell anyone about the transgender student, even though the student voluntarily shared the information.

“Every child should be treated with respect and privacy,” the letter states. “But that respect and privacy must extend equally to all students.”

The school district did not immediately return The Center Square's request for comment.

ADF had no further comment when asked if a lawsuit will be filed regarding the incident.