LINCOLN- A federal complaint is asking the U.S. Department of Education to investigate whether Nebraska school officials outed a transgender middle school student last fall without parental consent. The new complaint alleges administrators violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, which prohibits schools from disclosing “personally identifiable information in education records” without written parental or guardian consent.

The ACLU states the case revolves around a 12-year-old trans girl’s parents who had a private meeting with school administrators at the start of the girl’s time in middle school in August 2023. They learned shortly afterward from the president of a private organization that he had just learned the girl was trans.

“Under FERPA, whether a student is transgender or not is confidential and protected information,” Grant Friedman, ACLU of Nebraska legal fellow, said in a statement. “Sharing that highly sensitive information without permission is a major violation of trust that can easily risk a student’s safety and well-being.” The ACLU declined to identify the middle school in the complaint or provide a copy of it.

For the full article click HERE