Ludlow school 'hijacked' students from parents over gender identity, lawyer argues

SPRINGFIELD An attorney for a set of Ludlow parents argued before a federal judge Monday that they were hijacked by teachers and administrators who concealed from them that two of their children had adopted new names and pronouns while students at Baird Middle School.

Four parents filed a civil rights complaint in U.S. District Court in April. Two have since dropped out of the lawsuit, according to Mary McAlister, a lawyer with the Georgia-based Child & Parental Campaign that bills itself as protecting children from the harms of gender identity ideology.

McAlister argued on behalf of the plaintiffs during a special session before U.S. District Judge Mark G. Mastroianni at Western New England University Law School. The judge held the hearing after the educators and school administrators asked him to toss out the lawsuit.

Plaintiffs Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri objected when first their daughter and then a second child began adopting new names and pronouns at school in 2020. A counselor, a teacher and other staff supported the childrens wishes as required by state standards and their own policies, according to filings in the case. A lone teacher eventually informed the parents and was later fired over it, McAlister said.

The children were 11 and 12 at the time.

The parents sent an email to school administrators informing them that they were aware of the situation and asked for the school to step aside as they were hiring their own counselors and handling the matter as a family. The school ignored the parents directive, according to the lawsuit.

The claim alleges the schools violated the parents rights to direct the upbringing of their children, direct mental health counseling, and the right to family integrity.

Theyve been hijacked by the defendants, McAlister argued over a motion to dismiss filed by the defendants.

Named in the lawsuit are the Ludlow School Committee, interim superintendent Lisa Nemeth, former superintendent Todd H. Gazda, Baird Middle School principal Stacy Monette, school counselor Marie-Claire Foley and former librarian Jordan Funke.

The educators and school administrators contend they were doing right by the children both under the law and by their own ethical standards to protect and nurture students.

David S. Lawless, a lawyer for the defendants of Springfield law firm Robinson Donovan, argued before the court that the plaintiffs are overreaching in the lawsuit, and that being transgender is not defined as suffering from a mental illness.

In fact, the opposite is true … being transgender is immutable, Lawless said.

Thats not a fact. Its debatable, McAlister countered later in the hearing.

One tenet of the law under which the parents filed their suit requires that school officials behavior must shock the conscience.

Mastroianni repeatedly pressed McAlister on whether she was arguing being transgender amounted to mental illness, and the lawyer bobbed and weaved as the judge persisted.

Is that a mental health issue? Isnt that what youre arguing here? the judge asked.

The American Psychiatric Association deleted transgenderism from its list of mental disorders in 2012.

McAlister responded that since the children spent much time thinking about their gender identities, it affected their emotional well-being.

Under that definition, anything you spend more than 10 seconds thinking about is a mental health issue, Mastroianni remarked.

The judge did not rule on the motion to dismiss but took the matter under advisement.