A federal judge allowed a Michigan couple’s lawsuit against the Rockford Public School District, which claimed that the district secretly allowed their child to “transition” without their consent. The opinion states they presented plausible claims that the district violated their parental rights.

Dan and Jennifer Mead allege that school employees treated their middle-school daughter as a boy without their knowledge or consent and hid those actions. The couple filed suit in December 2023, claiming the district’s policies required staff to conceal the use of a masculine name and pronouns from parents.

On September 18, U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney granted in part and denied in part the district’s motion to dismiss. He dismissed the Meads’ free exercise claim under the First Amendment but allowed their substantive and procedural due process claims under the Fourteenth Amendment to continue.

Court documents show the Meads discovered the district’s actions in 2022 after a teacher’s notes mistakenly referred to their daughter by a male name. The couple alleges school officials altered records provided to them to remove such references.

Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the Meads, praised the court’s ruling. “Parents have the right to direct the upbringing, education, and health care of their children—without government interference,” said Kate Anderson, senior counsel at ADF and director of its Center for Parental Rights. “Schools should never hide vital information from parents, yet that’s exactly what the Rockford Public School District did.”

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School officials “deliberately withheld key information and misled us about things going on with our daughter,” Dan Mead wrote in a Fox News op-ed. He added that the district’s actions “encouraged employees to alter official records, concealing the district’s actions from us and furthering the deception.”

The Meads argue that concealment blocked them from helping their daughter during a period of academic and emotional struggles: “Because when school district policies allow – or even require – lying to parents, it’s our kids who get hurt.”

Gays Against Groomers, a group that opposes “transgender” policies in schools, amplified the case on X. They wrote that a Michigan public school “transitioned” a 12-year-old and hid it from her parents. The post quoted Jennifer Mead: “She was led to believe that she was broken, and she is NOT!”

The case, Mead v. Rockford Public School District, will proceed as the parents press their claims that the district violated their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.