Missouri attorney general Andrew Bailey is suing the Wentzville School Board for allegedly hiding its transgender bathroom policy from parents.
“Parents have the right to know who is in the bathroom with their children. Members of the Wentzville School Board knowingly and purposefully denied parents that right when they shrouded the transgender student bathroom usage policy in secrecy, directly violating the Open Meetings Law,” Bailey said in a statement. “My office is sending the message that Missourians do not co-parent with the government. We will enforce Missouri’s open meetings statute to protect parental rights.”
According to the lawsuit, Wentzville’s board conducted a closed meeting on June 14, 2023, in which it discussed the district’s transgender student bathroom policy because a student requested a gender-based accommodation.
Some members objected to the closed-door discussion, because, they said, the district’s bathroom policy is public business. Missouri law allows school boards to conduct closed discussions “only to the extent necessary for the specific reason announced to justify the closed public meeting,” and specifies that they may “not discuss any business in a closed session […] which does not directly relate to the specific reason.”
The board held another closed-session meeting on July 25, 2023, in which it again discussed the transgender bathroom policy. The same members objected but were shut down by other members. During that meeting, one official said of the policy that, “quite frankly, it’s not the parents’ business,” after “objections were made about discussing the policy in open session.” The superintendent also urged the board not to publicize the transgender bathroom accommodation as official district policy, because it “would make us a lightning rod for litigation.”
“The Board members discussed amongst themselves their specific policy positions and deliberated the details of the proposed policy/process, while in closed session, which went beyond the scope of information authorized to be closed,” the lawsuit says. “At least portions of the discussion were not for the purpose of seeking legal advice, legal actions, attorney work product, or individually-identifiable student or personnel information.”
Wentzville’s board has not discussed the transgender accommodation process in open session yet.
Missouri isn’t the only state with districts facing legal challenges over transgender policies. Michigan parents are suing a district for secretly enacting a policy that allows boys to use girls’ restrooms, after female students discovered an exposed male in their bathroom. Seven California school boards so far have banned policies that allow school staff to conceal a child’s gender transition from their parents.