CYPRESS, Texas – Cy-Fair ISD has approved a controversial policy requiring staff members to notify parents if a student requests to change their gender identity at school.
Four members of the school board voted in favor of the policy with one voting against it and one member abstaining.
The policy includes several key provisions:
- Parental Notification: Teachers and staff would be required to notify parents if their child requests a change in pronouns or gender identity unless there are concerns about abuse.
- Gender-Segregated Facilities: Restrooms and locker rooms would remain segregated by biological sex.
SUGGESTED: Cy-Fair ISD adopts policy limiting restroom use to birth-assigned sex
- Sports Participation: Transgender students would be required to participate in sports based on their biological sex, with limited exceptions.
- Exclusion of Gender Identity in Curriculum: Gender identity topics would be banned from district materials, including library books and online resources unless approved by the district.
34 people signed up to speak at Thursday’s board meeting. People who spoke against the plan say it will put transgender students in harms way and lead to other serious consequences with unaccepting parents. Those for the plan touted transparency and parents rights as a big reason for their support.
“There are many supposed rights that a child does not get. Among them, the right to publicly change their identity while enlisting the schools to keep that a secret from their fit parents,” one speaker in support of the plan said.
“I didn’t need a teacher to out me to them because I knew that I was safe telling them myself,” said one person against the plan. “I think that any kids that don’t tell their parents these kind of things have a reason not to.”
Students who said the plan would negatively affect them tell KPRC 2′s Deven Clarke they plan to file a civil rights complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services in hopes of reversing the board’s decision.
Similar policy adopted in Katy ISD
The Cy-Fair policy is similar to one adopted by Katy ISD in 2023. In a 4-3 vote, Katy ISD’s board passed a policy requiring teachers to notify parents if a student identifies as transgender or requests to use different pronouns. This policy has sparked significant debate and even a lawsuit.
