Ontario School Board Instructs Teachers to Keep Students’ Transitions Confidential from Parents at Their Request

An Ontario school board is requesting teachers to maintain confidentiality regarding students’ gender transitions from their parents if requested by the students, as per documents reviewed by The Epoch Times. This goes against the directive of the province’s education minister, who has emphasized the importance of parental involvement in such matters.

Internal documents obtained by The Epoch Times shed light on how Ontario school boards are guiding school administrators on this issue.

The Thames Valley District School Board, which serves London and other cities, has introduced a system called MyName, which allows students to select preferred names for various virtual systems in the school, such as Google Classroom or the school’s library system. A memo from January 18, 2023, obtained by The Epoch Times instructs administrators not to update the Student Information System (SIS) with the same name without the student’s consent, as the names in the SIS could be visible to parents through accessible portals.

The memo states, “Students may request a MyName change for various reasons, with the most common being that not all students are ‘out’ to their parents, guardians, or caregivers and may not be ready or comfortable to have a Preferred Name in the SIS.”

While this policy has been in place for several years, its continuation is significant in light of both the education minister and the premier stressing the importance of upholding parental rights. The Epoch Times reached out to the school board for comment, but no response was received.

“Parents must be fully involved and informed about their children’s lives. There are often health implications,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce stated at an Aug. 28, 2023, press conference in response to questions about parental notification regarding students’ gender pronoun changes at school.

Premier Doug Ford echoed similar sentiments last year.

Despite these public statements, the Progressive Conservative government has not introduced legislation mandating parental involvement in the same way as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick have done.

The Epoch Times reached out to the education ministry to inquire about its awareness of the Thames board policy but did not receive a response by the time of publication.